Lolo's Light is the story of a girl who takes on a babysitting job for her sister who is unable to. The baby lives down the street. The middle schooler is there to monitor since the parents had already put the baby to bed. Tragically, the baby doesn't wake up in the morning, and the girl is left with feelings of guilt and shame.

What a weighty topic to address in middle grade fiction. We don't get a lot of books that discuss the death of small children even for an adult audience. The guilt and grief over the death of a child and the senseless nature of SIDS are big ideas to address with children. While Scanlon handles it with sensitivity I would urge caution.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book.

Lolo's Light is absolutely heartbreaking. It's clear to any adult reader that the center of this story is a tragedy that could never have been predicted or prevented, but to young readers, they may read it differently. I so felt for Millie. This is a hard one to recommend to students, as some may not ever want to babysit after reading this, but it's a worthwhile read.

A heartbreaking but lovely story about a girl grieving after the SIDS death of a baby she was babysitting. I love how vividly and realistically her grief is shown, and that it's okay to grieve. It shows a healthy way to get through something so traumatic.

This was a beautiful exploration of grief and the way it manifests for a child in middle school. Liz Garton Scanlon manages to immerse the reader in Millie's grief after an infant she babysits dies overnight. Scanlon captured the difficulty of trying to care for someone who has experienced a terrible loss and the uncertainty of when/how to navigate back to "normal." I especially appreciated the way the adults in the novel were not immediately able to solve the problem of Millie's grief. She was surrounded by caring adults that were absolutely doing their best to help her, but they were also at a loss for how to support her sometimes. Lolo's Light is ultimately hopeful despite the difficult subject matter.

I honestly cried a lot while reading this book. Young kids who have dealt with tough topics like death in their own lives will relate heavily to this book. The author really did an incredible job of exploring these sensitive themes and making them age appropriate. I would lend this book to students in upper middle grades and lower high school grades with care.

The main character Millie grapples with the loss of the infant she was babysitting. SIDS can be hard to understand and Millie places a lot of blame on herself. This story shows her journey with understanding death and overcoming her grief. Finding the way back to yourself is not easy!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

Touching book about guilt, responsibility, resilience, and hope as Millie copes with consuming grief when the baby she had been babysitting for dies. As time passes, Millie doesn’t feel like any of what’s happened is real. When she realizes she’s been sad, she knows there’s hope and that it’s okay to be sad, that it’s part of growing up. Her teacher had said even when “you’re doing you’re best you’re not in control of what happens in the end.”

This is a tough topic to put in a middle-level book, but I think the author does a nice job of writing where this age is going to be. SIDS and self blame will be understood by many that babysit at this age - that fear that someone else's child is in your hands. The walk through overcoming her grief was done so well in first person - helping someone outside of the situation to understand not only what it looked like from her friends' and family's point of view, but from her own. This was a hard topic and I think the balance of keeping a serious tone while also keeping it readable to this age group was well done. I will keep this on my shelf for kiddos are handling grief this big.

"Lolo's Light" tackles a topic that is difficult for most people to grapple with, death. Scanlon crafts a heartbreaking, poignant story of a young girl sorting through her emotions after the tragic, sudden death of an infant she was babysitting. Millie was a happy-go-lucky kid taking improv classes and cracking jokes and she is suddenly faced with stunning grief.

The book honestly demonstrates how loss affects each person differently and how individuals vary in how long it takes to process and come to terms with it. I would recommend it to grades 5 and up.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

As someone who feels easily guilted, this synopsis caught my eye. A great read for self introspection! I wish other books had honest confrontations like this.