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A review by tealeafbooks
The Truth About Stacey by Ann M. Martin
4.0
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars
I enjoyed this. It filled in my childhood gap of having never read any of The Baby-Sitters Club books when I was little. I would've called the book "The Baby-Sitters Agency" because the conflict between the Agency and the Club seems to be a slightly more central plotline than the diabetes one. But the title is okay. There are many truths--beyond her diabetes, about her friendships. The friendship truths matter most in this book.
What about the portrayal of Type 1 Diabetes? (The research reason I read this.)
It is a good portrayal. An observation: The dedication is to "Dr. Claudia Werner for her sensitive evaluation of this manuscript" (and there's a fictional Dr. Werner, too).
The book was published in 1986, ten years before I was born and twelve years before I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. So, the technology is dated. If any continous glucose monitors were around, they were primitive. Insulin pumps were around, but not mainstream. (It was not completely normal for kids to have insulin pumps when I got my first one; I think my mom had to argue in favor of me getting one. There was the concern of kids playing with them as if they were Nintendos.)
If I'm reading this (https://spu.edu/ddowning/percal.htm#November) correctly, November 23 was a Sunday in 1986. That's a date mentioned in the book...but it isn't as if I did hours of research to figure that out. Google is quick. Haha. Anyway, so I'd assume that the novel takes place in the same year as it was published.
Gaps: We never see Stacey test her blood sugar. She has to test her blood sugar to make treatment decisions. She's not a BG psychic. We never see the transition from shots to an insulin pump. She just suddenly has an insulin pump. Poof. And, we don't get an explanation of how that allows her not to be so rigid about her food schedule. Without a pump, she has to be a bit more scheduled because there's no basal (insulin rates delivered slowly throughout the day in a pre-set way). But with the pump, she can easily press a few buttons and cover her food with the appropriate amount of insulin. (In a way, the "appropriate amount" is always guessing, because even if it covers the carb amount, there are outside factors. Hormones, stress, exercise, etc.) It seems that her diabetes management has improved and as it has improved, words like "illness" and "sick" are mostly replaced with "disease." And I am glad of that. It seems that she really was sick (i.e. throwing up, fainting) during her first year with diabetes and now she's much more in control of things.
So, in the end. The diabetes plotline is secondary (to me) and the friendship one is primary. I wish she had used a meter at least once, but I rest assured that she must be testing her blood sugar. Just as I rest assured that characters must be going to the bathroom even if the authors never decide to show them to us in a room with a toilet.
I enjoyed this. It filled in my childhood gap of having never read any of The Baby-Sitters Club books when I was little. I would've called the book "The Baby-Sitters Agency" because the conflict between the Agency and the Club seems to be a slightly more central plotline than the diabetes one. But the title is okay. There are many truths--beyond her diabetes, about her friendships. The friendship truths matter most in this book.
What about the portrayal of Type 1 Diabetes? (The research reason I read this.)
It is a good portrayal. An observation: The dedication is to "Dr. Claudia Werner for her sensitive evaluation of this manuscript" (and there's a fictional Dr. Werner, too).
The book was published in 1986, ten years before I was born and twelve years before I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. So, the technology is dated. If any continous glucose monitors were around, they were primitive. Insulin pumps were around, but not mainstream. (It was not completely normal for kids to have insulin pumps when I got my first one; I think my mom had to argue in favor of me getting one. There was the concern of kids playing with them as if they were Nintendos.)
If I'm reading this (https://spu.edu/ddowning/percal.htm#November) correctly, November 23 was a Sunday in 1986. That's a date mentioned in the book...but it isn't as if I did hours of research to figure that out. Google is quick. Haha. Anyway, so I'd assume that the novel takes place in the same year as it was published.
Gaps: We never see Stacey test her blood sugar. She has to test her blood sugar to make treatment decisions. She's not a BG psychic. We never see the transition from shots to an insulin pump. She just suddenly has an insulin pump. Poof. And, we don't get an explanation of how that allows her not to be so rigid about her food schedule. Without a pump, she has to be a bit more scheduled because there's no basal (insulin rates delivered slowly throughout the day in a pre-set way). But with the pump, she can easily press a few buttons and cover her food with the appropriate amount of insulin. (In a way, the "appropriate amount" is always guessing, because even if it covers the carb amount, there are outside factors. Hormones, stress, exercise, etc.) It seems that her diabetes management has improved and as it has improved, words like "illness" and "sick" are mostly replaced with "disease." And I am glad of that. It seems that she really was sick (i.e. throwing up, fainting) during her first year with diabetes and now she's much more in control of things.
So, in the end. The diabetes plotline is secondary (to me) and the friendship one is primary. I wish she had used a meter at least once, but I rest assured that she must be testing her blood sugar. Just as I rest assured that characters must be going to the bathroom even if the authors never decide to show them to us in a room with a toilet.