Author Lisa Graff has spent her writing career crafting a niche of children’s literature that covers a broad spectrum of emotions, traumas, triumphs, and experiences in ways that children can relate to. These novels shy away from a heavy-handed approach of directly communicating messages. Rather, they create a broader picture of a story and allow readers to interpret what’s being said about topics like death, discrimination, body issues, trauma, divorce, and grief.

Lost in the Sun, like Graff’s other middle grade novels, addresses serious topics without being too grim. Her debut novel, The Thing About Georgie, follows the story of a child with dwarfism who grapples with being seen beyond his size and faces a changing family dynamic. Like Trent, the protagonist of Lost in the Sun, Georgie is about to have a new sibling and must handle what that means for him. In Graff’s 2014 novel Absolutely Almost, protagonist Albie’s primary conflict is not feeling good enough for anyone or anything, similar to Trent’s feelings of guilt and self-loathing. Graff’s 2023 novel Rewind follows 12-year-old McKinley through a fantastical story that hinges on her growing and changing, similar to how Trent’s primary journey focuses on his mental growth.