Lights along the River
by Pat Lamondin Skene
Electricity is a given to most children today. This book is a gift to the current generation showing the modern changes that only happened recently. They can see that only a generation ago did the change to lives happened with electricity and indoor plumbing.

Lights Along the River is such a darling little book! The author based the story on her own childhood experience of getting electricity in her Ontario hometown in the 1950's, and you can really feel how the story reflects her life. The art is stunning, and I found myself re-reading it immediately. I loved this book, and I would recommend it or buy it for the children in my life!

This book is so beautiful, the artwork is just pure delight to look at!
The images are bold and colorful, yet feel very clean and neat.
The text is perfect for the drawings, simple, yet filled with meaning.
This book also is a loving reminder not to take everything for granted, or at least a loving nudge towards a conversation about it with the children.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

This book reminded me of books by Robert McCloskey, Jan Brett, and Jane Yolen, who were some of my favorite authors to read as a young girl. I thought the illustrations were very cute, and the story was very well executed. If I had a child, I would purchase this book for them.


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My son and I really loved this historical fiction about when this family first gets electricity! It’s hard to imagine life without it now so it was fun reading a first hand experience. Beautiful pictures too!

This book has such beautiful drawings, wow! The story is nice and teaches children about life when you don't have electricity yet and about how life changes in many ways when you do get it. It's a cute book!

This is a picture book about what it is like to go from having to pump your own water, and light a lantern at night, to having electric lights, and indoor plumbing, as so many things that we take for granted, in our modern lives, and this was less than 70 years ago. This was in the author’s lifetime, when this happened to her.

Patsy, the protagonist, loves the idea of electricity, and does enjoy it when it comes about, but at the very end of the book she laments what was also lost. That they do not read, or tell stories, or dance as much.

This is an interesting look at a time, not so long ago, that most children can’t even imagine it. It is almost like reading Little House on the Prairie books.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book will be published the 14th of May 2024.

What an adorable story! The main character looks like my daughter, which was so sweet! I love this book because it shows that it’s the simple things that make life special & that technology is only meant to enhance the parts of our life that we already enjoy, not to take it over!

I loved the focus on family time in this book, and how we can grow with change, but it doesn’t need to change us. The kids who loved to play together before, found it easier to do fun things with the lights on! It made playtime longer and more fun! They could jump and jump now without fear of knocking over the lanterns.

Change can bring joy, if we embrace it & set boundaries within it! I loved how this story was based on a true story, and it would be a great book for schools and homeschool moms. It offers a bit of history, education in technology advances and gives a sweet portrait of a family adapting to new ways of life! Maybe children who read this story can be encouraged to feel that new things aren’t scary, they won’t change how we live (unless we let them), and they can bring about positive outcomes!

This is a great book to explain to children how life used to be. I read it with my niece and nephew and explained that this is what life was like when Grampy was little and how they didn’t have electricity. They were enamored with the idea of using an oil lamp instead of turning on a switch on the wall. All the way through we made connections to my parents and grandparents and how this was similar to their life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orca Books Publishers for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel. #NetGalley #LightsalongtheRiver

Che lettura stupenda da fare con mia nipote di 10 anni e vedere l impatto dell elettricità anche su una bambina e come vede lei i cambiamenti. L ho visto molto istruttivo e anche per me che sono un adulta l ho trovato veramente molto interessante. Leggetelo con i vostri figli e nipoti. Assolutamente. E i disegni? Fantastici

So lovely. I loved this sweet story, and so pleased to get to the end and find it is nonfiction!!! That makes me love it even more.

I absolutely loved the illustrations in this book. I loved hearing all the information from the past and how things were before they got electricity. My only negative is that the storyline jumps around quite a bit and provides little details throughout that are seemingly random (even though realizing it’s a blast from the past with different facts being added in). Overall it was an interesting read though.

The illustrations were really good and bright in this book.Bruce and Estelle were characters that showed excitement in little things .These days we would not know how to live without electricity.I loved the excitement that had when they were home with lights in the kitchen .It was described where i f could picture their faces.Thank you net galley for chance to read this book.

Lights Along the River by: Pat Lamondin Skene

I was drawn to this picture book due to my knowledge of the area when I have camped there. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and so pleasing to the eye! The story is told in a way that is appealing to the target audience (6-8 year olds). This storybook was written by Pat Lamondin Skene, who is Metis, so she gives a first hand account of her family life at the time as well as some other details about her community before and after they have electricity.
This would be a great addition to a school, classroom or public library.

Thank you Net Galley, Orca Books and Pat Lamondin Skene for the opportunity to preview this book as an ARC.
The book will be released May 14, 2024.

This is such a cute tale from Patsy’s perspective on the day she and her family get electricity! Patsy, Elle and Bruce are such cute characters! It’s also informative for children as well as a good tale! The illustrations are perfect! Such a great little story!