When an old lighthouse keeper and his wife leave their seaside home, they find a way for their old friends, the seagulls, to find them.

This story is cute, but strange. The elderly characters have a lot of potential, yet are left unexplored. The perspective, point and plot line are confusing. I love Syd Hoff's old-school cartoon illustrations, full of expression. However, I wasn't sure why he told this story, without addressing more real world aspects of a situation like this (a damaged lighthouse) both from a "business" and "personal" perspective of the couple. I think this would prove confusing for new/struggling readers. ( )

No awards for this book. This book is good for kindergarten to 2nd grade. The book is simple and fun for kindergartners and it is also a challenging book for the students who are just starting to read. The Lighthouse Children is about an old couple who don't have any children of their own but they are not lonely. They feed the seagulls and take pictures of them and they even named them all. But seagulls can't stay in one place so they migrated somewhere and then the couple moved to a town further from the ocean. The couple was happy but they missed their birds so they decided to put lights on their roof like a lighthouse so their birds can fly back to them. The next day their seagulls flew to their house and the couple realized that the birds are their children. This book deals with friendships. For the kindergartners we can read the book out loud and they can examine the pictures and all the funny names the birds have. After we read they can draw the seagulls and they can make some rhyming names for the birds. For the older students we can read the book together and then they can talk about where they think the birds migrated too.

Sam and Rose live in a lighthouse by the sea. Although the elderly couple has no children, they’re incredibly devoted to the 100 sea gulls that fly to the lighthouse each day. They feed the gulls and watch out for them as the birds play in the ocean. Every night the sea gulls fly away, but they faithfully return the next morning to see Sam and Rose.

When a terrible storm completely destroys the lighthouse, Sam and Rose move inland. They enjoy their new home and new neighbors, but miss their beloved sea gulls. Rose devises a plan to lead the gulls to their new home. Ultimately, they are joyously reunited with their “lighthouse children”.

It may be puzzling to an older reader why the couple, who have just lost everything, would leave what little they do have left (their “children”, as they lovingly refer to the sea gulls). While the art is bright and engaging, the lighthouse looks more like a baby’s bottle than a lighthouse beacon. However, the sweet story, colorful art and rhyming names of the sea gulls (“Hank, Frank, Molly, and Dolly!”) in this easy reader will be very inviting to young children. ( )