Lightship by Brian Floca - review

Here is a ship
That holds her place

Brian Floca's spare, rhythmic rhyming text leaves room for the sound of the gulls and the smell of salt air to come creeping in as you read this book. He uses unexpected perspectives and a limited palette to describe life on board a lightship, a ship anchored to serve as a warning in waters where no lighthouse could be built.

Endpaper bonus: a labeled cutaway drawing of the ship. There are no lightships today, which makes this book seem all the more precious.