A Breath Too Late (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781250238795)

For fans of Girl in Pieces, All the Bright Places, and Girl, Interrupted comes a haunting and breathtaking YA contemporary debut novel that packs a powerful message: hope can be found in the darkness.

Raw, heartbreaking, and poignant. --New York Times-bestselling author Kathleen Glasgow

A Chicago Public Library and Kirkus Best Book of the Year

Seventeen-year-old Ellie had no hope left. Yet the day after she dies by suicide, she finds herself in the midst of an out-of-body experience. She is a spectator, swaying between past and present, retracing the events that unfolded prior to her death.

But there are gaps in her memory, fractured pieces Ellie is desperate to re-assemble. There's her mother, a songbird who wanted to break free from her oppressive cage. The boy made of brushstrokes and goofy smiles who brought color into a gray world. Her brooding father, with his sad puppy eyes and clenched fists. And Ellie's determined to find out why a piece of her was left behind.

Told in epistolary-like style, Rocky Callen's deeply moving A Breath Too Late sensitively examines the beautiful and terrible moments that make up a life and the possibilities that live in even the darkest of places. Perfect for fans of the critically-acclaimed Speak, I'll Give You the Sun, and If I Stay.

An exquisitely played love song to life, in all of its hurts, wonders, memories, and loves. -Jeff Zentner, Morris Award winning author of The Serpent King and Goodbye Days

A haunting story, punctuated with brilliant points of hope and light. This is an important story. A necessary story . . . Callen's writing radiates with passion, honesty and love. --National Book Award finalist and Printz Award-winning author An Na

Author: Rocky Callen
ISBN-10: 125023879X
ISBN-13: 9781250238795
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Language: English
Published: 04/28/2020
Pages: 272
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.70w x 1.00d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.5
Point Value: 7
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 515206 / Breath Too Late


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 03/15/2020
School Library Journal 05/01/2020 pg. 62

About the Author

Rocky Callen, the daughter of an Ecuadorian immigrant, has long lived a life of service ever since she was a 13-year-old advocating for the undocumented immigrants in her community. She interned at NASA at 12 years old, started lobbying congress at 13, and wrote and produced student radio stories at NPR at 14.

A behavioral therapist for over ten years, she received an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives outside of Washington, DC with her husband, daughter, and baby boy. Rocky founded the Bleed Ink Foundation, a creative hub and resource center for writers, and the HoldOn2Hope Project, which unites creatives in suicide prevention and mental health awareness. A Breath Too Late is her debut novel.