BOOKS
SUGAR WAS MY BEST FOOD: Diabetes and Me
With Adair Gregory and Kyle Carney GregoryIllustrated by Mary Jones
Adair Gregory is diagnosed with diabetes when he is nine. In this true story, 11-year-old Adair admits that he first thought "DIE-a-bee-tees" meant he was going to die. At first, he is too weak to ride his bike or run track. He can hardly ever eat candy, his "best" food. Often Adair feels confused, alone and scared. Over time, Adair gets used to pricking himself to test his blood-sugar level. The doctors teach him how to give himself two insulin shots a day. Little by little, Adair and his family learn to manage his diabetes. Adair gets his life back. This book helps children cope with diabetes and other illnesses that may make them feel isolated or different.
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Praise
- Approved Commendation from Parents' Choice Awards, 2000
- Best Children's Books of 1999, Bank Street College
- Best Science Books for Children 1998, The American Academy for the Advancement of Science, January/February SB&F, Vol. 35, No. 1
- Best Science Books for Junior High and High School Readers 1998, The American Academy for the Advancement of Science, January/February SB&F, Vol. 35, No. 1
"In a voice so genuine readers will think they are being directly addressed, 11 year old Adair Gregory describes his learning, at age nine, that he has diabetes. His remarkable attitude and lack of self-pity will help draw readers into the book....Adair also give his mailing and email addresses; he wants, he says, to help some kid with diabetes 'get his life back.' Mission accomplished, Adair."
—Booklist
"What is truly exceptional here is the boy's emotional candor; his squeamishness about daily injections, his frustrations about taking inconvenient blood sugar readings and his fear about his physical well-being...and most of all his loneliness of being different..."
—School Library Journal
"(Sugar) wants kids struggling with diabetes to know they can live with it....Experts feel (it) has succeeded."
—People Magazine, "Sweetness and Fight" August 24, 1998
"It's a wonderful book....A remarkable story!
—Kevin Newman, Co-Host "Good Morning America," June 30, 1998
"I think it (Sugar) is terrific...Very honest....A terrific book for any young person and their family to read....Adults can benefit from the book, too."
—Dr. Timothy Johnson, ABC News Medical Editor, "Good Morning America," June 30, 1998
"I love that story—I was quite moved by it."
—Robert Coles, MD
Albert Whitman & Co., Hardcover, January 1998, ISBN: 978-0807576465
Albert Whitman & Co., Paperback, January 1998, ISBN: 978-0807576489
