Kris Coronado is the author of the new children's picture book Lighthouse Ladies: Shining a Spotlight on Hardy Heroines. She lives in Richmond, Virginia.
Q: What inspired you to write Lighthouse Ladies, and how did you choose the women to include in the book?
A: I was researching another book and while reading an old newspaper, I saw a couple sentences about a lonely woman lighthouse keeper off the coast of Maine. I stopped immediately and thought: “A lady lighthouse keeper?!” I was intrigued and had to know more. I tucked away the idea to dig into the future and once I started researching, I couldn’t stop!
In terms of the four women I chose, I wanted to showcase women in different regions of America while also highlighting women who came to lighthouse keeping in different ways. Some were appointed in their own right (although they usually had some sort of connection to get the position), while others were wives and daughters of keepers who stepped into the role whether officially or unofficially.
Including Ida Lewis was a given, as she was a celebrity of her time. After her heroic rescue featured in the book, Ida became a national sensation and Newport, Rhode Island, even went on to proclaim July 4 “Ida Lewis Day.”
As for Juliet, I was reading through a list of lighthouse keeping women from the United States Coast Guard’s Historian’s Office, and started looking at women keepers in California. I Googled “Juliet Nichols” and jackpot! There were a couple pieces written about her by lighthouse publications, so I got a taste of her story about her battle with the fog in San Francisco Bay and knew there would be something wonderful to feature there.
It’s also important to note that while all lighthouse keepers weren’t men, they also weren’t all white. The Chesapeake Bay region, for example, had a fair amount of black lighthouse keepers, one of whom was William Parker in Chincoteague, Virginia. In Lighthouse Ladies, I feature his wife, Venus.
What compelled me about her story is showing the roles wives played in lighthouse keeping, an often unrecognized job. Also, when we think about lighthouses, we often think of them associated with some idyllic scene. Not being stranded in a lighthouse blocked by ice floes in the middle of winter. The atypical nature of her daunting scenario was captivating.
Julia Toomey, in O’ahu, had a biracial Hawaiian background and her story was a great way of demonstrating the role daughters and family played in lighthouse keeping.
Her story, like Venus’s, also demonstrates that some of the hardships these women experienced weren't necessarily physical, but emotional as well. Requiring an inner strength to recover from what must have been a daunting blow. To have a father die so tragically must have been extremely hard for Julia, I cannot begin to imagine. But Julia, then a young teenager at the time, carried on.
Her family left the lighthouse, but she went on to live a fulfilling life. I interviewed her daughter, Loke, for the book and it was great to hear anecdotes about Julia dancing the Charleston and climbing trees well into her late 60s.
Q: What do you think Islenia Mil's illustrations add to the book?
A: When my editor told me Islenia would be illustrating the book I was THRILLED. The vitality and energy of her art is captivating. I didn’t quite know how she would illustrate Lighthouse Ladies, but I knew that whatever she did would be absolutely stunning. And I was right!
Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?
A: There were piles upon piles of research put into this book. I have all of my research notes typed up – over 87 pages, single spaced! I read old newspapers online, pored through lighthouse instruction manuals, reached out to museums and lighthouse experts, read lots of books relating to lighthouses and the people who kept them.
I also reached out to the National Archives, which houses a lot of the U.S. Lighthouse Board’s documents, to have them look up Juliet Nichols’ logs and verify that she banged the fog bell for over 20 hours every 15 seconds. That was one of my favorite finds. They sent me a photo where you can see she wrote about it in the margin of her logbook like it was no big deal!
I’d say that was one of my favorite surprises. That astounding heroism can be so nonchalantly written in the margins and could be so easily overlooked. I was glad to be able to give Juliet her proper due!
Q: The Booklist review of the book says, “The text first gives an overview on the demands of keeping a lighthouse, from cleaning the lamp and trimming wicks to making sure the light burned steadily. But the emphasis is on the perils inherent in lighthouse keeping, shown in stories of four women, spanning from 1869 to 1925, each of whom responded courageously to emergencies.” What do you think of that description?
A: I’d say that’s accurate, as that is the featured timeframe of the women featured in Lighthouse Ladies. And yes, the book does give an account of the perils these women faced, but my emphasis is more on the strength of these women – and the many other lighthouse keeping women who came before and after them – to persevere against impossible odds.
These women were strong, brave and undaunted against life’s challenges. Something I’d like to instill in my own daughters today. We all can find that inner strength when the occasion calls for it.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: This summer, I am taking a break from writing and researching because I am with my 6- and 9-year-old daughters full-time. It’s swim team season! In the fall, I will be diving headfirst into my next nonfiction project. I have plenty of finished nonfiction projects in the pipeline, but nothing I can talk about publicly just yet.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: In late June, a Lighthouse Ladies educational guide will be available for those who are educators and want to plan ahead for the upcoming school year. Parents are also welcome to download it as a fun summer activity for their kids. It’s free and will be able to be found at Kriscoronado.com.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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