The Deepest Breath

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: The ocean and all the things that live there and why it's so scary The stars and all the constellations How phones work What happened to Princess Anastasia 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.

I spent most of this beautifully written verse novel blinking back tears. Grehan has created one of those rare gems, a book that feels so utterly real and involving that the reader lives every page with the main character.' - Sarah Webb, author A warm and sensitive LGBT story for young readers from an award-winning author. Stevie is eleven. She loves reading and sea creatures. She lives with her mum, and she's been best friends with Andrew since forever. Stevie's mum teases her that someday they'll get married, but Stevie knows that won't ever happen. There's a girl at school that she likes more. A lot more. Actually, she's a bit confused about how much she likes her. It's nothing like the way she likes Andrew. It makes her fizz inside. That's a new feeling, one she doesn't understand. Stevie needs to find out if girls can like girls - love them, even - but it's hard to get any information, and she's too shy to ask out loud about it. But maybe she can find an answer in a book. This second verse novel from the winner of the 2018 Children's Books Ireland Eilis Dillon (first book) award is a sensitive and reassuring exploration of LGBT identity for younger readers.

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: The ocean and all the things that live there and why it's so scary The stars and all the constellations How phones work What happened to Princess Anastasia 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.