In this fourth visit to a close, multi-species family of lighthouse tenders, a distressed sea turtle washes up on the rocky shore. Having swum so far from her accustomed South to see the glorious lights for which she’s named, Aurora desperately needs warmth and help to get home—both of which, along with plenty of TLC, the clever cat Pandora, the old canine salt Seabold, and the trio of orphaned mice Whistler, Lila and Tiny are happy to offer. Muffled (except for Aurora) in baggy human clothing, the figures in McDaniels’s elaborate, accomplished graphite drawings exude personality, adding animation to Rylant’s measured but understated writing. Amid a chorus of goodbyes and well-dones, Aurora departs homeward at last, in a rope sling beneath a flock of migrating pelicans—a final image that will stay with the young audiences and recent easy-reader graduates drawn to these tales of castaways from diverse backgrounds making a home together. (Fiction. 8-10)
