The Lantern Hill Light Parade

by Meadow Rue Merrill, Drew Krevi (Illustrations)

"You are invited to Lantern Hill Farm,
The harvest is ready, the hay's in the barn..."
So reads six-year-old Molly's invitation to Aunt Jenny's harvest party at Lantern Hill Farm. But when the sky grows dark on the day of the party, Molly is scared. Thankfully, she and her friends have each brought something that glows for a special parade. While marching together, they learn about Jesus, the light of the world, who overcomes the dark and helps us be brave.

Hardcover picture book, ages 4 7, 32 pages, 9 x 9 inches, ISBN 9781628627978.
About the Lantern Hill Farm Series Holidays are an opportunity for celebration and a time to create family traditions and memories. Yet often the emphasis shifts from the reason for the holiday to making the children the center of the celebration. The Lantern Hill Farm series of picture books and board books is designed to provide parents and grandparents entertaining stories with easy-to-recreate family activities that allow the child to be part of the holiday but not the center of it. Books in the Lantern Hill Farm

32 pages, Hardcover

Published July 1, 2019

About the author

Meadow Rue Merrill is an award-winning Maine journalist and the author of the inspirational memoir "Redeeming Ruth: Everything Life Takes, Love Restores." Meadow began her career as a reporter for The Times Record, a daily newspaper in Brunswick, Maine, covering shipbuilding, small-town politics, and education. Over the following eight years, she regularly corresponded for The Boston Globe, while raising kids, mentoring young moms, and folding mountains of laundry. In 2006, she and her family adopted Ruth, an abandoned baby with profound disabilities from Uganda--an experience that changed her family and opened their hearts to other people with disabilities. Most recently, Meadow has written for The New York Times, Harvard University, and The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine. She also has regular columns with The Portland Press Herald, Maine’s largest newspaper, and Down East magazine, where she is a contributing editor. Every week her inspirational blog and newspaper column "Faith Notes," reaches 25,000 readers. Meadow writes for children and adults from a little house in the big woods of midcoast Maine. All personal proceeds from "Redeeming Ruth" benefit orphans and people with disabilities in Uganda.

Reviews

[Linda Klager]

I loved this book written for children ages 1 - 3. The cover has vivid colors and the back of the book explains the story inside the book.

When you open the book directly across from the copyright information is a Bible verse from Psalms 119:105. This Scripture is especially chosen and has great meaning in the story line.

The main character, Molly has received an invitation to Lantern Hill Farm. She and other children were asked to bring an item with them that glowed. The children had so much fun, but had to stop playing when it started to rain.

Aunt Jenny taught the children a valuable lesson and encouraged the children to trust in Jesus.

I have a 14 month old granddaughter and this would be a good story to share with her. This colorfully illustrated board book will hold up well in the hands of a toddler.

I give this book 5 stars.

[Michele Morin]

When autumn lands with all its beauty, it’s reassuring that family celebrations around apples and pumpkins and brightly colored leaves will counteract the dread of encroaching darkness and falling temperatures. As the days grow short and the nights longer, Meadow Rue Merrill offers a sweet picture book story featuring an alternative fall celebration that focuses on the Light.

The Lantern Hill Light Parade invites readers to join Molly and her family for an autumn party in which Aunt Jenny’s festive preparations reassure the kids that they need not fear the darkness. The truth of God’s Word and the love of Jesus fill our hearts with a love that shines brightly in a dark world.

And perhaps it’s not only the kids who need this reminder… ?

When Jesus called himself the Light of the World, he was speaking into a context of oppressive political occupation and legalistic religious claustrophobia. The nation of Israel had been looking for a light for hundreds of years, and his Gentile listeners had no hope at all. It’s a great joy to read words of light and life in a season of frightening traditions–and a broader context of spiritual darkness.

Many thanks to Meadow Rue Merrill (a Maine author!) for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which, of course, is offered freely and with honesty.

[Jane]

The Lantern Hill Light Parade is designed as a book for fall that does not center on Halloween.The book is a story set at a Fall Festival. Decorating pumpkins, bobbing for apples, and scarecrows often find a place at Fall Festivals. Meadow Rue Merrill includes them in this story as well as looking at the Light of the World.
Drew Krevi created colorful, whimsical illustrations which complement the text. Young children will enjoy looking at the pictures while listening to the story. They may also be able to re-tell the story by looking at the pictures.
I will be adding The Lantern Hill Light Parade to my K-12 Christian School library. I think the primary grade teachers will appreciate the Christian message of the book.
I want to thank Interviews and Reviews and RoseKidz Publishers for the complimentary copy of The Lantern Hill Light Parade. This is my honest review.