Blackall, Sophie. Hello Lighthouse. Little, Brown, 2018.

Sophie Blackall's Hello Lighthouse uses circles to demonstrate movement and the passage of time, depict scenes of everyday life, and portray a sense of stability.

The large circle placed firmly at the center of the double-page spread, split in two by the gutter, creates a symmetrical composition. By showing action inside the circle and out, the design choice demonstrates movement and the passage of time. Inside, the lighthouse keeper and his wife attend to everyday activities, while outside, the waves in the sea swell. The text spins around the image and reads, "[i]nside the lighthouse, the woman walks around and around the room," as the illustration portrays the keeper's wife paused in various stances, stretches, and positions, until she is finally united with her husband in a loving, comforting embrace. As for her husband, "[h]e tends the light and writes in the logbook," tasks the dutiful keeper complete daily, on a cycle. He also "boils water and helps her breathe in and out," kindnesses a devoted husband regularly goes round and round to perform as a couple awaits the arrival of a child. The repetition of these everyday acts is reinforced not only by the circular shape of the image itself but also by the shapes within it, including the woman's pregnant belly, pearly dress detail, rosy cheeks, and hair wrapped in a bun.

To demonstrate security, the circle is framed by the thick nautical rope from the tender (that brought the keeper his wife). The durability of the rope emphasizes the stable life the keeper and the woman lead and the strength of their relationship. The dynamic capillary-shaped waves in the sea surround the circle and swell, like the woman's belly, as the sea darkens and extends farther from the circle and into the unknown. As Moebius points out, "an abundance of [capillary-like squiggles or bundles] often signals vitality or even a surfeit of energy" (142). Indeed, the rolling waves are lightest, almost glowing, around the circle, and darkest at the corners of the page, creating energy at the page turn. Complementing this lively image, the words in the last sentence trail off, leaving the reader, too, expectant for the baby's arrival.

Works Cited

Blackall, Sophie. Hello Lighthouse. Little, Brown, 2018.

Moebius, William. “Introduction to Picturebook Codes.” Children’s Literature: The Development of Its Criticism, edited by Peter Hunt. Routledge, 1990, pp. 131-147.