A review by aylea
The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry by Anna Rose Johnson

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 Lucy is sent to live with a family of lighthouse keepers stationed on Lake Superior. The problem is that she has no interest in living on water when her father died in a shipwreck, possibly searching for a lost necklace that might not even be real. As she’s trying to fit in with the large, hard-working family she now lives live, she struggles to fit in with her daydreaming ways and fear of the water. Lucy wants to find the necklace to feel like her Papa is still around, but she quickly learns she isn’t the only person searching for it, and her search could put the Marin family she lives with out of their home. 

 

This book manages to capture the cozy feeling of reading a book by L.M. Montgomery. Like Anne of Green Gables, Lucy of Lake Superior is a daydreamer who wants family but can get caught up in her own world and forget to pay attention to what is right in front of her. Lucy gets into trouble and isn’t always understood, but she manages to come out on top with her refusal to give up and kindness. Like Anne (and myself as a child), Lucy tries to deal with her fears and challenges through her imagination. 

 

The Martins, in spite of the large number of them, are full of life and character. Lucy grows her relationship with each family member in different ways because they are individuals. Mr. and Mrs. Martin are absolute angel parents to their biological children and the child they take in, even when it is necessary to discipline them. The family is imperfect but good people, and the kind of family Lucy and readers happily want to belong to. Everyone has so much heart and spirit. 

 

The book doesn’t remind me of L.M. Montgomery just because of the characters. The book has a sort of old-fashioned, friendly feel like in books I loved growing up like The Boxcar Children, The Five Little Peppers, Little House on the Prairie, and others that were considered older even when I was reading them. It’s a delight to find a similar book published today. Fans of those books or more recent books like The Penderwicks may enjoy this book. 

 

The book also weaves in Ojibwe history and language naturally, as well as the history of Lake Superior. It’s not a major feature, but readers won’t be able to help learning a little bit about why lighthouses were used on the lake and about some indigenous history. 

 

For me, one potential flaw of the book is its length. It’s short, so it doesn’t have as much time to develop Lucy’s relationship with the Martins or spend a lot of time helping Lucy get over her fears or anything else. There isn’t a lot of explanation, so you have to take everything at face value, which is mostly a flaw because Lucy herself doesn’t always know how to do that.  The ending also maybe wraps up a little too nicely compared to a lot of stories today, but it fits well with the cozy, older style of books. 

 

This is a sweet, charming story probably best for upper elementary school students or readers who want to feel a little bit like they did the first time they read about Anne Shirley.