The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole by Michelle Cuevas

I picked this one up on a whim after seeing it pop up briefly in my Twitter feed.  I had no idea what it was about but I figured I was in for a whimsical, hypothetical tale that would basically compare raising a black hole to caring for a pet.  I thought I was in for some humour and a light, easy read.  I was only partially correct. 

Stella Rodriguez is a space loving, smart, funny, eleven year old living in 1977.  She has a mom and a little brother named Cosmo.  Her Dad just recently passed away.  After a quick trip to NASA, she ends up with a black hole following her home.  She quickly realizes she can train it and when it "eats" things just disappear into the nothingness.  It is a great solution for garbage day, to dispose of annoying brother things, and to get rid of all the memories of her Dad that make her heart hurt.  The thing is, you can't just dispose of these things in a black hole, eventually you end up in the black hole which leads to lessons learned and hearts mended.

The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole is a touching, heart warming story about loss and healing.  It gets to the heart of how we grieve and the heart breaking emptiness someone's death can leave in our lives.  It is the absolute perfect story for anyone who may have experienced a recent loss but also a really great message us all because, at some point in time, we will all experience heartbreaking loss.