Little Red Lighthouse - The Little Red Lighthouse and The Great Gray Bridge

The Little Red Lighthouse and The Great Gray Bridge

Published in 1942, this children's book uses the story of the building of the George Washington Bridge next to the small lighthouse to affirm the idea that even the small are important. The book begins by introducing the lighthouse and its job of warning the boats on the busy Hudson River of the rocks nearby. Every night a man climbs up to the top of the lighthouse and turns on its flashing light. When there is fog, the man additionally turns on the lighthouse's fog bell. The lighthouse is pleased with and proud of its important job.

In the middle section of the book, the lighthouse watches, mystified, as men build a great gray bridge right next to it. When the bridge is finished, it towers above the lighthouse, which now feels small and unimportant. Even worse, one night a light begins to flash atop the bridge's tower, and the lighthouse is convinced that it is no longer needed.

That night, a storm whips up and fog clutches at the boats. But the man does not come to activate the lighthouse, confirming its fears that it will never shine again. But the boats cannot see the light high atop the bridge, and without the lighthouse's light or bell, the "fat black tug" crashes upon the rocks nearby. The bridge calls to the lighthouse, reassuring it that it is still needed, "each to his own place." The man finally arrives, complaining that some boys had stolen his keys. The lighthouse resumes its job, glad that it still has work to do. Though it now knows that it is small, it is still very proud.

The book ends by encouraging the reader to go to Riverside Drive in New York City and "see for yourself" the lighthouse next to the bridge. The "great gray bridge" is clearly the George Washington Bridge, though it is not named in the book. Construction on the bridge began in 1927, only six years after the lighthouse was erected at its current location, and concluded in 1931.