Lightship

2008, Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Award, Honor Book2007, Cybils, Winner2008, Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award, Honor Book2008, Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens, Recommended2009, Buckaroo Book Award, Nominee

You may never have
heard of a lightship.

Once, lightships
anchored on waters
across America,
on the oceans
and in the Great Lakes,
floating where lighthouses
could not be built.
Smaller than most ships,
but more steadfast, too,
they held their spots,
through calm and storm,
to guide sailors
toward safe waters.

In these pages
one lightship
and her crew (and cat)
again hold their place.
The crew goes
again from bow to stern,
from keel to mast,
to run their engines,
shine their lights,
and sound their horns.

They run the small ship
that guides the large ships.
They are the crew (and cat)
that work to make the ocean safe,
that hold their place,
so other ships can sail.

Come aboard

Hardcover.

About the Author
Brian Floca is the author and illustrator of the acclaimed picture books Locomotive, winner of the Caldecott Medal and a New York Times bestseller; Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11; and Lightship, each a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book. He is the illustrator of numerous additional books, including Avi's Poppy series. You can visit him online at BrianFloca.com.