Wick is the steady one. First to come, last to leave, and always - always - carrying the lantern.
Every night he climbs the path and lights the Great Lantern so nobody in Lantern Hollow is lost in the dark. Somebody has to. So he does.
Then comes the storm - not a wicked storm, just a big one - and the whole Hollow calls his name at once. Wick mends the window. He patches the roof. He catches the garland. And each time he gives a little warm light away, he does not stop to take any back.
Helpers don't, you know.
Alone at the Great Lantern with nothing left to pour, Wick's light gutters small and blue, and he sits down in the wet dark because he cannot carry one more thing. He has never once been the one who was carried.
It isn't a lecture that reaches him. It's the littlest Light of all - who has no words - climbing into his lap, taking the heavy lantern out of his hands, and setting it down. And Wick learns the word that was never for him until now: Rest.
Wick's Heavy Lantern is a warm read-aloud for the helper children - the ones who will run themselves down to empty before they ask for anything. Wick doesn't learn to help less. He learns that setting something down is not the same as dropping it, and that a light that rests still shines.
Gently rooted in a simple promise - "Come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28), tucked in the back - it never preaches. The fourth book in The Little Lights of Lantern Hollow, a series where every Light shines a little differently, just like every child.
• Ages 3-7 • Read-aloud bedtime story • For helper kids, big siblings, and little perfectionists • Gentle faith-friendly message • Full-color illustrations on every page