The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart
Published by Delacorte Press on March 15, 2022
ISBN: 1984848860
Pages: 400
Genres: Mental Health, Realistic Fiction
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Goodreads

After The Night on the Bathroom Floor where Lily found her sister, Alice, in a pool of blood, bleeding from her wrists, Lisy has taken it upon herself to hold her family together by being “perfect”–perfect grades, winner on her track team, not a care in the world. The reality is that Lily is breaking down on the inside, and some of it is making its way into her life. Panic attacks and self-harm increase. It only gets worse after Alice returns home from time in rehab with a bi-polar diagnosis. Unable to connect with “new” Alice and afraid of losing her again, Lily turns to new student Micah, her partner on a school project and a friend of Alice’s from rehab, to cope. Micah is a positive influence on Lily, but he has mental health troubles of his own to deal with. MIcah slips in and out of bouts of depression, anger, and  violence as he deals with bullying at school and his family history of suicide. Lily eventually reaches a breaking point and has her own brush with suicide. Luckily, her family, friends, and Micah are able to pull her back from the literal edge. In the end, everyone is getting the help they need.

The moral of this story is: you never know what’s going on in someone’s life and mind, and it’s important to ask for help when you need it.  Stewart handles depression, suicide, anxiety, bi-polar disorder, and self-harm with genuine and honest storytelling that so many teens will relate to. This book is a must purchase to help teens feel like they can talk about their own struggles and maybe even that they are not alone.

A few resources are shared in an author’s note at the end.

Reviewed by Kara Reiman, Maine State Library