Breathing Room by Barbara Elmore

Winner of The Texas Institute of Letters Award, Best Book for Young People.

Breathing Room focuses on Texan Alberta Samantha Sims, a sixth grader who suffers from asthma. In school she feels awkward and lonely, but as the school year progresses she not only learns to cope with the reality of asth­ma, she triumphs over it. She finds a way to conquer her loneliness as well.

As Alberta’s story unfolds, we move forward with her from negative feelings about her over-protective mother, Mary Lou, and her quiet stepfather, Roger, to more open relationships and understanding. Rather than stewing alone in her thoughts, Alberta begins to speak her mind so that others can react to her needs and opinions.

Through Alberta we meet professional allergists and glimpse the school nurse, who seems more concerned about drugs and their abuse than necessary medication. And we meet Bethesda, a savvy, well-dressed classmate who becomes Alberta’s best friend.

As Alberta expresses herself more, she begins to make things happen. She forges a true friendship with Bethesda, who finally shares a secret about her mother with Alberta. She re-evaluates her stepfather and finds he is a true friend as he responds to her needs and provides a bridge and another perspective to Mary Lou. And she finally perceives Mary Lou’s facet of protective mother as part of a person who can also be understanding.

Freed from asthma’s symptoms by effective medication, Alberta becomes a member of the school cross-­country team and builds on her own physical abilities and positive self-perceptions.

Author Barbara Elmore is a former newspaper journalist and is now a freelance writer of books and articles in Texas. A lifelong asthmatic, Breathing Room draws from her own experiences.