Chronicle Books | 978-1797212944
Days before school is to begin, 12 year old Millie Donally’s neighbors – the Acostas – ask Millie to babysit their 4 1/2 month-old daughter, Lolo. This is a first, a milestone that is both exciting and daunting. Millie’s older sister, Tess, is the one who usually watches Lolo. But Tess has a recital and all Millie will have to do is “…listen for her and ‘keep the house company.'” What could be easier?
The Acostas put Lolo to bed, the house quiets, and Millie settles in downstairs to wait for the Acostas’ return.
When light changes from dusk to dark, Millie tiptoes upstairs to check on Lolo, before returning downstairs to watch TV. The evening passes and soon the Acostas are home and Millie is, too, pinching herself, “… proud and newly rich,” her first babysitting job a success.
Mr. and Mrs Acosta lock up, look in on Lolo – “her belly rising and falling – and soon, they too are asleep, knowing that sometime in the middle of the night, Lolo would wake, hungry.
“But the thing is, that didn’t happen.
Lolo didn’t grow hungry. She didn’t fuss or cry or make cooing noises into the monitor above her bed. Because sometime between the moon coming up and the middle of the night, when Mrs. Acosta slipped out of bed to see why the house was so, so quiet, Lolo Acosta stopped breathing.”
From the flap:
There’s nothing she could have done. And there’s nothing she can do now.
So how does she go on?
She does what you’ll do. She finds her way.
This poignant and profound coming-of-age story portrays a tragic experience of responsibility and its poisonous flip side: guilt. Emotional and important, this is an honest and empathetic portrait of a girl at her most vulnerable—a mess of grief, love, and ultimately, acceptance—who must reckon with those most difficult of demons: death . . . and life.
LOLO’s LIGHT by Liz Garton Scanlon is a heart-wrenching and difficult story, but it’s one of the “truths” about growing up – painful and difficult things can happen to any one of us, at any time.
Brilliantly and sensitively told, LOLO’S LIGHT is a book about grief, growing up, and learning that even in the most difficult times, we can look for the light – in our families, friends, and loved ones – to carry us safely through.
***
- READING GUIDE to accompany Lolo’s Light
- Interview with the author on Mr. Shu Reads.
- Review of Lolo’s Light on BookPage
- BookPage Interview with the author (below)
