When Sarah wakes up in the middle of the night, goes to her parents’ room, and asks her father to take her to the lighthouse, we might expect some of the yelling and stomping that typically takes place in a Munschian tale. But Sarah’s dad gets out of bed, and so begins a gentle nocturnal father and daughter adventure. The illustrations as well have more subtlety than most of Munsch’s 40-odd picture books. In place of Michael Martchenko’s exuberant drawings are lush, evocative paintings by artist Janet Wilson, whose previous titles include Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt. Wilson’s quiet interiors and moody blue seascapes are deftly matched to Munsch’s text, and her coltish Sarah is a charmer.

We piece together the background: Sarah’s grandfather has just died – so recently that the flowers from the funeral are fresh. Sarah has heard stories of her father going to the lighthouse with his father, and this is her way of trying to connect to the grandfather she loved. She and her dad add new wrinkles to the tradition: a doughnut stop, for example. Their pilgrimage becomes both a way of holding on to Grandpa and of letting go.

Subtitled A Story of Remembrance, this is a simple story about loss and the comfort of bonds between generations. Like Munsch’s phenomenal Love You Forever (15 million copies sold in North America), it plucks at heartstrings. It, too, may play well to grandparents, but others will also buy it for kids. They won’t find it as funny as The Paper Bag Princess or I Have to Go, but it’s a good book all the same.