HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW
Book: Sugar Was My Best Food: Diabetes and Me
Authors: Carol Antoinette Peacock with Adair Gregory and Kyle Carney Gregory
Illustrator: Mary Jones
Publisher: San Val, republished 2000
ISBN-13: 978-0613280921
ISBN-10: 061328092X
Language level: 1
(1=nothing objectionable; 2=common euphemisms and/or childish slang terms; 3=some cursing and/or profanity; 4=a lot of cursing and/or profanity; 5=obscenity and/or vulgarity)
Recommended reading level: Ages 8 – 10
Rating: ***** 5 stars
(5 stars=EXCELLENT; 4 stars=GOOD; 3 stars=FAIR; 2 stars=POOR; 1 star=VERY POOR; no stars=NOT RECOMMENDED)
Category: Non-fiction
Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker
Disclosure: Many publishers, literary agents, and/or authors provide free copies of their books in exchange for an honest review without requiring a positive opinion. Any books donated to Home School Book Review for review purposes are in turn donated. No other compensation has been received for the reviews posted on Home School Book Review.
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Peacock, Carol Antoinette, with Gregory, Adair, and Gregory, Kyle Carney. Sugar Was My Best Food: Diabetes and Me (Published in 1998 by Albert Whitney and Company, 6340 Oakton St., Morton Grove, IL 60053). Co-author Adair Gregory is eleven years old, lives with his parents, older brother Stephen, younger brother Connor, baby brother Quinn, and pet dog Slugger in a town near Boston, MA, is tall and skinny, has blond hair, likes sports, and wants to be a pro-athlete when he grows up. Two years earlier Adair was diagnosed with type I diabetes, and in this book he tells the story of how he became sick while visiting his uncle’s ranch in Wyoming, was told he had diabetes, and learned how to cope with the necessary changes in his life. At first, Adair was rather upset, but little by little as he and his family began to manage his illness, things got better after a while.
I am a diabetic, but I have a very mild case of Type 2, and it didn’t manifest itself until I was 59, so I didn’t go through what Adair experienced. A couple of reviewers liked the book. One called it a “Great book for giving support to kids newly diagnosed,” and the other wrote, “This book really gave an insight to my grandson about the illness, at a point where he understands what children with this disease go through.” However, a critic said, “This book, written in 1998, is severely outdated. Treatment for Type 1 Diabetes has changed dramatically since this book was written….It may have been adequate for the time in which it was written, but I’m going to advocate that it be removed from circulation at our library. I shudder to think of a newly diagnosed child reading this.”
With all the research going on today and the breakthroughs that have been achieved, I would assume that almost any book about a medical subject would probably be practically outdated as soon as it rolled off the presses. And while Type 1 is a whole other ball game from Type 2, in general, there is no “one size fits all” way of treating diabetics, but rather treatments will vary for different people depending on the severity. I’m sure that it could use some updating and modernization, but I still think that this is a good book to help children understand what diabetes is, what people with the disease experience, and how it is to be dealt with. If nothing else, they will learn that you can’t catch diabetes from a diabetic.
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