Lola by Karla Arenas Valenti

Lola is a sensitive exploration of loss with striking visual imagery and an unusual plot.

Lola by Karla Arenas Valenti. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2024. 256 pages.

• Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-12
• Recommended For: ages 8-12

Lola: The Story

Lola’s house is unusual: it is built around a magnificent tree. The tree blooms in different colors at different times of year, and the flowers are unlike any flowers from other trees in Mexico City. Lola loves the garden and tree, and she is terribly worried when she notices gray patches. The gray areas grow and start flaking off. It looks like tree parts are dying! Even scarier—Lola notices some similar-looking gray patches on her beloved older brother Alex. He’s been sick ever since The Thing That Happened, but this new dimension is extra frightening.

Lola can see all sorts of interesting, otherworldly creatures, like her friend Cualli. Cualli is a chaneque, a small creature that comes and goes in the garden. Together, Lola and Cualli seek help for the tree (and Alex). Their journey begins in our world but soon expands to include a new-to-Lola world, Cualli’s original home. There she finds many wondrous things… and even more patches of gray sickness.

Lola and Cualli realize what the problem is: the young queen over Caulli’s world is the reason the gray is spreading. She’s unwilling to give the signal for winter because she can’t bear to face the season of death and dormancy. She is still grieving her mother, and she’s afraid that winter’s arrival will erase all signs of her mother’s garden.

Lola helps the young queen realize the truth, that caring for the queen’s mother’s garden is a better sign of love and remembrance than allowing the garden to decay unnaturally. The gray patches were a sign of an in-between-state, in a sense. Sometimes, death is the path to life.

Lola: It’s Complicated

Lola is a strikingly original story, one that will make readers think and puzzle over, both while they read and after. Mexican imagery and folklore isn’t as well-known in mainstream America as you might expect, given that Mexico is one of our closest neighbors. As such, this book will feel more like fantasy than magical realism. To spoil it utterly {I’m sorry!}, Lola is a ghost narrating the story. She herself drowned when her brother was supposed to be watching over her. Her brother’s grief has been keeping her around, even in her spirit form. She’s not an actual ghost so much as a presence. And Alex doesn’t heal until he embraces that she’s truly gone, and then he becomes free of the Darkness.

Grief is a terribly complicated process, and individuals experience it differently. Lola is an interesting exploration of grief in a way that doesn’t feel heavy or overly sad. It’s a book worth reading and discussing, but it’s also a book I’d very much want to read alongside (or before) my child so that we could talk about it. Deeply sensitive children are likely to be quite affected by it.

Considerations:

• Worldview/Spirituality: The religion in this book is tied to cultural expressions and understandings in Mexico. But there are some interesting overlaps with Christian beliefs in the sense that dying must come before really living; that an in-between-state is not okay.

Bottom Line: Lola is a thoughtful book to read together; look for it at your library.

Related Reading From Redeemed Reader

• A Review: What Came From the Stars by Gary D. Schmidt also explores grief using otherworldly elements.
• A Review: The Many Worlds of Albie Bright is another middle grades book exploring grief, but in a completely different way.
• A Review: If Lola piques your interest about Mexico, and other countries, check out Indescribable Atlas.

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