Stocker, Shannon. Stronger at the Seams. Blink, 2024, 9780310162351 $18.99. 288p. Grades 6-9

Description: Twyla is entering high school excited for the next four years, but when she starts to feel extremely nauseous and get chronic headaches her father takes her to the doctor. What is passed off as constipation only continues to get worse. Twyla doesn’t want to be benched from the field hockey field so she tries her best to hide her symptoms from her family and friends. Her symptoms continue to worsen, yet no one is listening to her, so she decided to take matters into her own hands and research her symptoms herself.

Thoughts: What a beautiful, yet heartbreaking read. Stocker did a phenomenal job bringing to light the difficult yet necessary nature of advocating for yourself and grieving a parent. This would be a phenomenal read for any student who may struggle to advocate for themselves and their needs.

Realistic Fiction

Tags: Chronic Illness, Field Hockey, Diverse Family Structure, Cancer, Brain Tumor, Coming of Age, Friendship, Family, Self Advocacy, Loss of a Parent

I absolutely LOVED this beautiful, heartfelt, and important book! Shannon's writing is exquisite. Children will feel seen and cared for.

4.75 of 5 stars.

I genuinely can’t remember the last time a YA novel tugged at my heart strings this much!
What an anxiety-ridden time to be alive anyway, but to deal with unknown medical issues in high school? Yikes. Stocker beautifully captured the uncertainties of beginning high school, the grief of losing a parent, & the frustrations of voiced but unheard medical concerns.
Wanted a little more closure/understanding of Twyla’s spirituality re: Angela & Sophie.

I feel like this is a great book for those aged 12-14. It deals with friendships, what it's like to suddenly be a 'sick kid' and it's a great introduction to being someone navigating the health care system.

As someone who has been ignored, mis-diagnosed, and put in the 'too hard' basket my entire life in regards to medical things, I can relate to that aspect.

There were parts of this book that felt a little rushed, and other parts I thought could've been fleshed out more. Especially regarding Angela.


The vexation kicked in with the HP references. There was no need to refer to round glasses as "Harry Potter" glasses. Round glasses works fine. And "Doctor Dumbledore"? Seriously. Also absolutely unnecessary. Gandalf also would've worked. Old white man with white beard would've worked. Doctor Santa also would've worked. Zero excuses, and an entire star deducted for this. It's 2024 - there are zero excuses for HP references anymore.

I'm glad Twyla got diagnosed and treated - that is the hardest part of any illness. It was also great to see the misdiagnoses being properly addressed. Twyla constantly said she knew her body, and she knew that something else was going on. But ultimately, it was something unrelated that happened to get her treated - doctors just suck when it comes to doing things that are harder.

But the ending was a little rushed.

Oh. And Twyla's friends? Absolute wankers. Talking about her behind her back? Constantly hanging out without her? Texting their group chat to say having Twyla around was bad luck? Only to swoop in and say they thought they were the bad luck? They were so horrible. I wouldn't have forgiven them.

So apparently I had a lot more thoughts than I realised.

It was good, on the whole. And definitely something younger kids will enjoy - like I said, especially if a kid is "suddenly sick".


The audio was fantastic. The narrator did a brilliant job.

Such a cute book …loved how wolfie’s disability is thrown in too ….autism is a new topic for me ….writing is full of information that is very intriguing to me

This is a wonderful book! It follows the story of a teen experiencing unknown medical issues while navigating school and the worries of being a teenager . I love how it shares the importance of self-advocacy, communication, friendship, and compassion, all while being filled with excitement, drama, emotion and suspense that makes you want to read more.

this book shows how fantastic disabled and chronic illness fiction can be.
thank you so very much to netgalley, author shannon stocker, narrator kate rudd, and blink publishers for the audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review.
as someone who is chronically ill and disabled this book was so REAL. twyla’s journey to answers, is very relatable.
marker spoiler for the gastroparesis but i was wondering the whole time because my mom has it. i liked seeing the relationship with wolfie, my son is wolfies age and i thought it was cute how they interacted as siblings and how they processed the story.

This was one of the most beautiful books I have read in a long time. While it’s marketed at YA, I think anyone could enjoy this book, and I think it would have a particular market amongst parents.

The writing was beautiful, but it was the story itself that had so much heart, with the MC Twyla wonderfully fleshed out and incredibly authentic as a teen character. I also thought Twyla’s search for answers and attachment to certain solutions (whether true or not) was so realistic. There was also much grace in the representation of illness and grief, and an important message about validation and self advocacy.

I feel quite emotional after reading, so I know that this book was a high ranking one for me.