Miss Maggie McCullen is the lighthouse keeper of Port Carrick, where she lives with her cat, Sailor Boy, the narrator of this tale. After a long and happy life with Miss Maggie, Sailor Boy decides to stick around
for the hereafter and continue to help his owner with her lighthouse duties. The scraggly Siamese, who can choose to be visible or invisible—a fact that doesn’t bother Miss Maggie in the least—bounds around the
island, gleefully teasing visitors and accompanying Miss Maggie each night as she lights the lighthouse beacon. One stormy night, Miss Maggie trips on her way up the lighthouse tower, and it’s up to Sailor Boy
to fetch help for her and see that the beacon gets lit. Dusky plums and luminous golds flood Barry’s scratchy watercolors, through which the semitransparent Sailor Boy perches and pounces. Bunting’s
endearing ghost story is as cozy as they come, and young readers will appreciate both the fullness of the narrative and the notion of a beloved pet “living” past the grave.