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

3.0

 I enjoyed this story of a highly imaginative orphan whose daydreaming often leads to trouble. She had shades of Anne Shirley, although Anne has more charm and is more sympathetic than Lucy. I think this story missed a great opportunity in educating its readers about the Ojibwe people and culture. It's mentioned many times that the Martin family lighthouse keepers and Lucy are descendants of the Ojibwe and Mr. Martin is teaching some of the old language to the children so they can hold on to their heritage. I loved this representation, but as someone who knows nothing of the Ojibwe myself, I did not learn anything about them from this book. It was very surface and the story suffers from it.

I also felt so sad for poor Lucy. Her mistakes are so huge and no one helps her learn from them. It guilts her into thinking she must make herself useful to be accepted by this new family and I felt that was a very melancholy takeaway for such a young girl.

The lighthouse, the island, the sea, the searching for shipwrecked treasures, all of this was compelling and evocatively written, I just wish some things had been more developed in this story.