Abbie Against the Storm: The True Story of a Young Heroine and a Lighthouse [Hardcover]

Marcia K. Vaughan (Author), Bill Farnsworth (Author)

Book Description

In this true story, 14-year-old Abbie Burgess has to tend the lighthouse while her father is away. When the worst storm in 200 years breaks out, Abbie must keep the lights burning. Through her own resourcefulness, she manages to protect both the incoming ships and her own family.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 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 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Aladdin/Beyond Words (December 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582700079
• ISBN-13: 978-1582700076
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #810,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Dramatic and Moving Story, December 30, 1999

By 

Susan Davis (New Mexico, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abbie Against the Storm: The True Story of a Young Heroine and a Lighthouse (Hardcover)

As a professor of Creative Drama and Children's Theatre at the University of New Mexico, I am always looking for books that students in our children's classes will enjoy acting out. ABBIE AGAINST THE STORM is a rich and exciting source of dramatic action and historical fact as well as being a lively and moving reading experience. Abbie is a magnificently brave teen-age girl who struggles against her own fear and self-doubt as well as struggling with the raging forces of nature. Vaughan paints wonderful word pictures with sound and visual imagery. Her use of words suggest how spoken language may have sounded in the mid-nineteenth century. Bill Farnsworth's gorgeous illustrations are equally dramatic and embody the strong spirit of Abby, the wildness of the sea, and the individuality of each character. This is a wonderful book for young readers. It will introduce them to a different era through the eyes of a woman who lived over a century ago. The epilogue that gives historical facts about the real Abby is an excellent addition to the story and makes it resonate with even more meaning.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Senior Citizen Chooses this book for grandchildren, December 27, 1999

By 

Claude M. Pearson "Fellow lawyer and author" (Tacoma, WA U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Abbie Against the Storm: The True Story of a Young Heroine and a Lighthouse (Hardcover)

Abbie is a young girl who actually lived in another century. Her lighthouse did not have electricity but only whaleoil lamps. This made her job of polishing mirrors so important. The book describes the storm so well that you can almost hear the wind howling. Her courage in fighting against the storm and saving her family and her chickens are things that my grandson will relate to. The pictures make even an old person love Abbie Burgess because they illustrate her bravery.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely...just right for my 7 year heroine., May 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Abbie Against the Storm: The True Story of a Young Heroine and a Lighthouse (Hardcover)

I chose the book because our family had stayed at a lighthouse in a big storm a couple of years ago. The wind was howling and the rain was coming down and it was very frightening to my kids.

So, when I saw this book, I thought wow - this could be good.

My daughter and I read this book together. I liked the story and the struggle that this young woman went through. The pictures were great!

Later in the week I saw her play on the play structure pretending it was a lighthouse. Obviously it touched her imagination - the mark of a good book.