Abbie Against the Storm (CL)
(Not for Online)

Set on an island off the coast of Maine in 1856, this fictionalized account of an actual incident centers on a 17-year-old who diligently assists her father, the keeper of twin lighthouses that flank a stone house. After a supply ship fails to appear and her father sets out in a small dory to fetch food, he leaves Abbie in charge. She rises to the task when a fierce storm descends, tending the flames of the 28 lanterns that illuminate the towers, scraping ice from the exterior glass and rescuing the hens from impending disaster. The hens' eggs keep the family alive during the stormy four weeks that pass before her father's return. Abbie proves herself a vigilant lighthouse keeper: "Not once in all that time did the lights fail. Not one ship floundered. Not one life was lost." Vaughan's (Animal Fair series) straightforward narrative conveys the danger of the storm as well as the heroine's bravery and stamina, but youngsters may pick up on the plot's loose strands. Though she introduces Abbie's three sisters, their mother is mentioned much later in the story, almost incidentally ("Mother's coughing grew worse"), and the fate of twice-mentioned older brother Ben is never resolved. Farnsworth's (The Christmas Menorahs) resplendent paintings of the turbulent seas heighten the drama and lend the tale immediacy. Ages 4-8. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

Gr 1-4-In 1856, during a ferocious storm, Abbie Burgess single-handedly maintained the lighthouse on a tiny island off the coast of Maine. Combining realistic paintings with lively writing, this oversized picture book turns her exploits into thrilling, almost cinematic drama. Readers meet the 17-year-old on the day she moves to the island with her parents and sisters, a resolute girl determined to help her father mind the lights in their twin towers. When Papa sails to the mainland to replenish their dwindling supplies, he leaves her in charge. An unexpected storm blows up. At its height, huge waves wash over the island, sweeping away outbuildings. For four weeks, Abbie keeps the lights burning, cares for her ailing mother and frightened sisters, and runs the station until the dangerous seas subside and her father can return. Vaughan's fictionalized biography brings the young heroine to life, while the illustrations make the violently changing moods of the sea so palpable that readers can feel her danger and celebrate her courage. Peter and Connie Roop's Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie (Carolrhoda, 1985) reduces the story to pedestrian controlled vocabulary and the art pales by comparison. The courageous teen also merits a chapter in Candace Fleming's well-researched Women of the Lights (Albert Whitman, 1996). Even if the other titles are owned, this one merits purchase.-Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams Copyright 2000 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.