Twelve-year-old Toby and her six-year-old sister Anne must live with a foster family until their mother recovers from a nervous breakdown suffered after the sudden death of her husband [in Toby Lived Here]…. Toby's secretiveness about her mother's illness and her concern about having inherited a tendency toward such illness herself are sensitively presented so as to evoke empathy among young readers and compel an awareness, often lacking in our society, about emotional disorders. Although this book's theme is geared toward the adolescent, its reading level permits a wider audience….

Jeanette Cohn, "'Toby Lived Here'," in Children's Book Review Service (copyright © 1978 Children's Book Review Service Inc.), Vol. 6, No. 13, July, 1978, p. 130.