Kate's Light by Elizabeth Spires

Kate's Light by Elizabeth Spires

The heroic true story of one of the Eastern seaboard's first woman lighthouse keepers, illustrated by a Caldecott Medalist.

Living in the isolated Robbins Reef Lighthouse, overlooking turn-of-the-century New York Harbor, Kate Walker spent her life minding the light, keeping passing ships from running aground on the dangerous shoals. Originally the assistant to her lighthouse keeper husband John Walker, after his death Kate convinced the Lighthouse Board that she was able to manage the hard work on her own.

For more than three decades, Kate lived a solitary life, often totally isolated from the mainland by rough seas and dangerous storms. Tending to the lamps and ringing the heavy warning bell, she helped ships avert disaster-- and saved many sailors from the cold, choppy waters when disaster struck.

Elizabeth Spires describes the joys and hardships of a life at sea, detailing pivotal moments in Walker's life to show her indomitable spirit, and celebrates the determination that drove Kate to keep her home and her livelihood. Paired with Emily Arnold McCully's atmospheric, vivid watercolor-and-ink illustrations of lonely lighthouses, sun-dappled afternoons, and wrathful storms, this gripping picture book brings turn of the century New York to life.

Additional material in the back of the book includes a biographical note about Kate Walker, historical photographs of Kate and her home at Robbins Reef Lighthouse, reproductions of an historical map of New York Harbor, and a list of sources for more information.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Spires, Elizabeth: -

I was born in Lancaster, Ohio, in 1952 and grew up nearby in Circleville. By the time I was twelve, I had decided to be a writer. My plan (influenced by my admiration for Flannery O'Connor) was to become a short story writer. For some reason, that never happened. Instead, in college at Vassar, I began writing poetry seriously. This has led to my publishing four collections of poetry for adults (Globe, Swan's Island, Annonciade, and Worldling). My daughter, Celia, who is seven, defined poetry one day (very appropriately, I thought) as playing with words. I have played with words, I believe, in my writing for children: in two books of riddles, With One White Wing and Riddle Road, and, of course, in The Mouse of Amherst. Ever since I was a girl, I have admired and loved Emily Dickinson's poetry. I have memorized many of her poems, and recently wrote a short piece on my first encounter with Dickinson for The Bulletin of the Poetry Society of America. Although I didn't analyze my reasons for writing The Mouse of Amherst while I was writing it, I think now that I wanted to express the depth and complexity of poetic inspiration, friendship, and apprenticeship. That's thinking of it purely in adult terms. But I hope children will identify with Emmaline, the novice poet, and perhaps be inspired to write some poems themselves . . . for no reason other than the sheer joy of expressing themselves when they feel an emotion or idea bubbling up inside them. Ideally, I hope my writing for children will lead them somewhere they have never been imaginatively, and that it will help them believe and delight in the power of words and language! Elizabeth Spires' work includes The Mouse of Amherst (1999), A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the year, I Am Arachne (2001), and her latest novel, I Heard God Talking to Me (2009)

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780823443482
ISBN 10	0823443485
Title	Kate's Light
Author	Elizabeth Spires
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Holiday House Inc
Year published	2021-01-12
Number of pages	40
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable