Horn Book Review
(Preschool, Primary) What's a lonely lad to do on a rainy day? This one finds a key that unlocks a trunk that hides a ladder that leads to a tunnel from his mansion home to the distant lighthouse first glimpsed (just barely) on the title spread. There, in bright sun, he plays with children and a dog -- flying kites, building sandcastles, playing tag. At sundown the boy puts his shoes back on, reties his tie, and goes home for a solitary, formal dinner; but the next rainy day brings the lighthouse children to his house (where the sun is now shining) to share his toys. This wordless book is close kin to Lehman's 2005 Caldecott Honor, The Red Book (rev. 9/04): again, clean, rectilinear compositions connote confinement of place and spirit, though the heavy, rough-edged drafting has a softer effect here, lightened by vistas of sea, sky, and happy children. The motif of an imaginative journey to a place virtually the opposite of the one escaped also recurs, though with significant differences: except for the not-quite-impossible tunnel and mood-reflecting weather, this is a realistic tale of finding friendship -- or, perhaps, of overcoming sadness. Its logic is less intriguing than The Red Book's, but it's more accessible. And there are plenty of significant visual details and connections to mull over as viewers put these curious events into words. Copryight 2007 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Boredom leads to excitement when a little boy, trapped by rain, finds wonder and escape in an unlikely place. A bouncing ball leads the lonely child through his Edwardian-era stately home to a key, and then to a steamer trunk, in which he discovers a ladder. The intrepid explorer descends into a tunnel, then ascends a staircase into a glorious sunny day, where he finds a trio of new friends. He does not seem to notice, though readers will, that he has emerged into the modern day, but the universal vocabulary of childhood easily breaks temporal barriers. Lehman compacts a wealth of storytelling into her wordless narrative, large single panels speeding up to two six-panel pages as the tie-clad boy makes his way down the ladder and through the tunnel, then slowing down again as he enjoys the wonderment of his experience and his new friends. Pronounced black outlines contain the action with such definition that the rare full-bleed spread is all the more effective when it occurs, punctuating the boy's escape. Another surrealist triumph from a vigorous emerging talent. (Picture book. 4-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.