Hi, Meggie!! I don't mean to be a bother, I just have a super duper quick question about a Christmas present: I was thinking about buying my best friend one of your books for Christmas, but I wasn't sure which one would be best. She's been in the hospital and out of school for the past month battling an eating disorder, and she's finally starting to come around the bend. She's a big fan of your poetry, as well, so I was just wondering which book do you think would be best to help her? Thank you!

Hello! :) Don’t worry; you’re not being a bother at all!

Well, each and every poem in Survival Songs is centered around the general theme of survival, and there is a poem in that book about a boy with an eating disorder. However, in that poem he does not recover from it.

Healing Old Wounds With New Stitches has a poem about a girl with an eating disorder, but she does recover. Also, this book is split into two parts: the first part containing 13 poems about grief, loss, death, sadness, etc, and the second part containing 13 poems about the joy of life, healing, and recovery.

So since your friend is starting to recover, I would suggest Healing Old Wounds With New Stitches because the first part transitions from struggles to recovery, so the whole collection of poems would kind of mirror her recovery journey, if that makes sense. Plus the eating disorder poem actually has a happy ending.

Just my two cents haha. :)

Tell her I wish her the best of luck in her recovery, and I hope you both have a wonderful Christmas!