Lolo's Light by Liz Garton Scanlon - ADVISABLE

Lolo's Light by Liz Garton Scanlon, 232 pages. Chronicle/Blue Apple. 2022 $17. 

Language: G (1 swear); Mature Content: G; Violence: G.

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

When 12yo Millie’s high school aged sister has a piano recital and can’t tend the neighbor’s 4 month old baby, the Acosta’s ask Millie. Millie is a responsible older sister, and loves baby Lolo. Everyone does, she is so cute and sweet. The Acosta’s put Lolo to bed before they go, and Millie checks on her, and everything is fine when the Acosta’s return, but sometime in the night Lolo stops breathing and by morning she has passed away. Millie is beside herself with grief, and feels responsible. It only gets worse when her science teacher assigns the students to incubate a clutch of eggs. 

I cried, for both the Acosta family as well as for Millie. A well written, heartbreaking story about grief and loss. The culture or race of the main characters was not evident. 

Lisa Librarian