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The Deepest Breath - Hardcover | Diverse Reads

The Deepest Breath

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An accessible and beautifully written middle grade novel-in-verse by award-winning Irish author Meg Grehan about Stevie, a young girl reckoning with anxiety about the many things she has yet to understand—including her feelings about her friend Chloe. Perfect for fans of Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World, Star Crossed, and George.

Eleven-year-old Stevie is an avid reader and she knows a lot of things about a lot of things. But these are the things she'd like to know the most:

  1. The ocean and all the things that live there and why it's so scary
  2. The stars and all the constellations
  3. How phones work
  4. What happened to Princess Anastasia
  5. Knots

Knowing things makes Stevie feel safe, powerful, and in control should anything bad happen. And with the help of her mom, she is finding the tools to manage her anxiety.

But there’s one something Stevie doesn’t know, one thing she wants to understand above everything else, and one thing she isn't quite ready to share with her mom: the fizzy feeling she gets in her chest when she looks at her friend, Chloe. What does it mean and why isn't she ready to talk about it?

In this poetic exploration of identity and anxiety, Stevie must confront her fears to find inner freedom all while discovering it is our connections with others that make us stronger.

ISBN-13: 9780358354758

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Publication Date: 02-16-2021

Pages: 192

Product Dimensions: 8.30(w) x 5.60(h) x 0.70(d)

Age Range: 8 - 12 Years

Meg Grehan is a writer originally from County Louth, but is now hiding away in Donegal in the northwest corner of Ireland, with a very ginger girlfriend, an even more ginger dog, and an undisclosed number of cats (none of whom is ginger). In 2018, she won the Eillís Dillon award from Children’s Books Ireland. She is currently studying film and likes cake and rain; dislikes going outside. Website: megcathwrites.wordpress.com Twitter & Instagram: @megcathwrites

Read an Excerpt

one

      I know a lot of things
      About a lot of things
      But the thing I know the most about
      Is me
      Stevie

      I know that I am eleven years and two months old
      And that my hair is brown
      And my eyes are green
      And I’m allergic to peanuts

      I know I have a mum
      Whose room is right next to mine
      And that sometimes we tap and scratch on the wall at night
      Morse code is good for scaring nightmares away
      I know that

      I know I have a dad
      And I know that he lives far away
      And I know that’s not my fault
      And I know that that’s
      OK

      I know that I have a funny name
      Because the doctors said my mum was going to have a baby boy
      But then I popped out
      A slimy wriggly baby girl
      And she liked the name too much by then
      So Stevie it was
      And Stevie I am

      I know I like the color purple
      And things that sparkle
      And science and books
      And cats and stars and space

      I know that I broke my pinkie finger once
      And that now
      It sticks out funny

      I know I’m afraid of zombies and clowns
      And not much else
      I know I can be brave
      But that sometimes it’s hard

      I know a lot
      About me

      There’s only one thing
      In the whole of me
      That I don’t know

      It’s something funny
      It’s in my chest
      And sometimes my tummy
      And always my head
      It’s a fizzy feeling
      Warm and squishy
      And it makes me blush
      And it only happens
      When I look at my friend
      Chloe

      And I don’t know what it is
      Exactly