Newbery Medalist Cynthia Rylant brings the peaceful sounds, sights, and characters of the coast vividly to life in the first book of the Lighthouse Family series, in which Pandora and Seabold discover what it means to be part of a family. Life with just the sea can be lonely. Just ask Pandora or Seabold. They’ve lived most of their lives with the sea, and they’re quite used to being alone. Or they were. But one extraordinary day, the same sea that brought Pandora and Seabold together gives them the ingredients for an adventure that neither of them had considered before—an adventure called “family.” Grade 2-4-Pandora the cat is a lighthouse keeper, a lonely avocation until Seabold the dog is washed up on shore during a terrible winter storm. She rescues and nurses him back to health, and he is content to remain for a long winter's respite from his travels in the no-longer lonely lighthouse. "Pandora and Seabold told each other stories of their lives and things they had read or seen and what they liked most in the world, or least." Through spring and summer, the two friends share a life, and "Everything at the lighthouse is different." But as September approaches, Seabold readies his boat to return to the sea, and "Pandora felt a small emptiness in her heart." One early fall day, a fierce storm blows in, and with it comes a small, strange vessel. Seabold rescues its occupants, three tiny orphan mice, and Pandora nurses them back to health. They join the dog and cat at the lighthouse, "And after that day, everything was changed.- The lighthouse had a family." This kindhearted Victorian tale, with charming illustrations reminiscent of the work of Beatrix Potter, offers up just enough danger to save it from outright mawkishness. The Storm will captivate young chapter-book readers. Dona Ratterree, New York City Public Schools Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Gr. 1-3. Rylant explores the pursuit of happiness in this first installment in a new series of chapter books titled The Lighthouse Family . Pandora, a kindhearted cat, lives all by herself in a lonely lighthouse, devoting her days to helping those lost at sea. During one terrible storm, a salty dog, Seabold, and his boat, Adventure, crash onto the lighthouse rocks and into her life. Although Seabold is used to a solo life at sea, he is deeply comforted by his new cozy life of hot cereal, apple scones, and Pandora. What do they like best? Seabold is sure it's the Northern Lights; "Penguins," says Pandora. And when three baby mice wash into their world, well, the newly created family lives happily ever after . . . at least until the next book. McDaniels' soft pastel sketches are as lovely and soothing as the story itself. A simple, timeless tale that will make children feel they have found safe harbor. Karin Snelson Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "Publishers Weekly" It's smooth sailing for Rylant's sweet, sea-inspired tale...(which) will keep young readers turning the pages-and on the lookout for future titles in the series. Cynthia Rylant is the author of more than 100 books for young people, including beloved series Henry and Mudge, Motor Mouse, and Mr. Putter & Tabby series. Her novel Missing May received the Newbery Medal. She lives in Oregon. Preston McDaniels is the illustrator of the Phineas L. MacGuire series and Cynthia Rylant’s Lighthouse Family series. He lives in Aurora, Nebraska, with his wife and two daughters. Storm In a lonely lighthouse, far from city and town, far from the comfort of friends, lived a kindhearted cat named Pandora. She had been living at this lighthouse all alone for four long years, and it was beginning to wear. She found herself sighing long, deep, lonely sighs. She sat on the rocks overlooking the waves far too long. Sometimes her nose got a sunburn. And at night, when she tried to read by the lantern light, her mind wandered and she would think for hours on her childhood when she had friends and company. Why did Pandora accept this lonely lighthouse life? Because a lighthouse had once saved her. When Pandora was but a kitten, she and her father had gone sailing aboard a grand schooner, bound for a new country. Pandora’s mother had stayed behind, with the baby, to join them later. And while they were at sea, Pandora and her father were shaken from their beds one night by an awful twisting of the ship’s great bow. “Stay here, Pandora!” her father had commanded. “Stay here and wait until I come for you!” They were in a terrible storm. The wind was howling, and the waves crashed hard upon them. Worse, a deep fog had spread itself all over the water, and it is fog that will bring a ship to its end. Fog that will blind a sailor’s eyes until his ship has hit the jagged shore and torn itself to pieces. Pandora’s father knew this as he strained with the others to keep the ship’s sails aloft and his daughter trembled in her bed. He knew what somber dange