The Deepest Breath

Summary

Eleven-year-old Stevie is an avid reader and knows a lot of things about a lot of things. She knows how to send Morse code through her bedroom wall to hermom. She knows the names of the constellations. And she knows that an octopus has three hearts and nine brains. Knowing things makes her feel safe, powerful, and in control should anything bad happen. But there’s one more thing Stevie doesn’t know, one thing she wants to understand above everything else, and one thing she isn’t quite ready to sharewith 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.