The Storm (The Lighthouse Family) Paperback – September 1, 2003

We loved this book. So wholesome with good life lessons about serving others, bravery and being content with what God has lead you to. Read with our 2nd grader and our 3rd grader was able to zip through quite easily on her own

We read a lot and have struggled to find the right chapter books to read out loud to our 6 (almost 7) year old. He can read the Magic Tree House series on his own now, so we were looking for something slightly more advanced in terms of vocabulary and number of words on a page to read TO him. Many of the books we've tried have had subject matter too dark for a 6 year old (Lemony Snicket, Winn-Dixie, Edward Tulane, Swiss Family Robinson early classic version, etc. - they all seem to include kids or parents dying).This book was perfect. It included just enough new words for his vocabulary - not so many to make the story difficult to understand but enough to stretch his mind a bit. :-) The story itself had the perfect balance of drama/adventure and simple peace and goodness. I don't know just how to explain this, but the book itself just has a cozy feeling...it makes me want to snuggle up close to my son for an old-fashioned wholesome read.I was surprised at how different this was in writing style from Rylant's books for younger readers (Henry and Mudge, Mr. Putter and Tabby). We liked those too, but the style here is much different. It's not just a longer story. The words chosen give the sense that she carefully crafted each page. I can't say enough about how much we loved this book and are looking forward to reading the others in the series.I think the vocabulary would make this a little tougher for our almost-5 year old, so I'd recommend this for 6-9 year olds, depending on whether you're reading TO them or whether they're reading these on their own.

I have a rising 2nd grader (just turned 7) who reads Magic Treehouse easily and would be content to stick with that, but I have been feeling like it isn't challenging her to grow her reading skills. This book has much more challenging words, and still has short chapters, so it isn't too overwhelming for her. We alternate back and forth between her reading a chapter and me reading a chapter. This is a really sweet story and she is surprising herself with what she's able to read.

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My 4 year old daughter is obsessed with families. She just loves this story. It is very cute and wholesome. Highly recommend. I actually bought the book for my 6 year old and she liked it too.

My 7-year old daugther enjoyed the book and wrote a book report for her class. She loves animials so that the story about a dog, a cat and three mice was really good for her. The pictures in the book aren't color, and the story doesn't have much humor either. Very enjoyable for a 2nd grader.

The storm is a simple story about family. I would recommend this book to children around the age of 8-10. I gave 5 stars because I liked the book.

Cynthia Rylant is a marvelous author and obviously quite prolific. She is the author of the "Poppleton," "Henry and Mudge," and the "Cobble Street Cousins," series as well as numerous other books. I bought this particular series for my nieces (ages 4 and 7). They are short, almost novellas, but Rylant does not "talk down" to her audience instead exposing our young ones to higher level vocabulary. The adventures the Lighthouse Family have, especially the three orphaned/adopted young mice, are exciting, but quiet; no extreme violence, fearful chases or shoot 'em up. They make great bedtime reading.