Diabetes in Fiction

Mackenzie Clark has been best friends with Nolan Walker for as long as she can remember. She’s shared everything with him, from adventures with their families and days lounging at the beach, to long talks about their friends and her journey with type 1 diabetes. The only thing she hasn’t shared is the fact that she is in love with him. Now in their senior year of high school, Mackenzie and Nolan know that in a few short months everything will change as they head off to different colleges. Determined to make the most of the time they still have left, they come up with a list of things they want to do together before graduation. But as they make their way through everything from toilet papering the school bully’s house to having a backyard camp-out like the ones they had when they were kids, Mackenzie can’t help feeling that she’s left the most important thing off the list: telling Nolan how she feels. But when confessing her love could jeopardize the incredible relationship they already have, is honesty really the best policy?

Five kids: Alex, Li, Paulo, Hex and Amber bond on board a sailing ship. When they are marooned on a desert island, they must face the ultimate test – survival! Killer komodo dragons, sharks and modern day pirates are amongst the dangers they face. The team is born. The first in an exciting new series for children from ex-SAS officer and bestselling adult author Chris Ryan.

Shari Cooper hadn’t planned on dying, but four floors is a long way to fall. Her friends say she fell but Shari knew she had been murdered. Making a vow to herself to find her killer, Shari spies on her friends, and even enters their dreams. She also comes face-to-face with a nightmare from beyond the grave. The Shadow – a thing more horrible than death itself – is the key to Shari’s death, and the only thing that can stop her murderer from murdering again.

Stevie Hart is homeschooled, but don’t hold that against her. Sure, she and her best (okay, only) friend, Sanger, will never be prom queens, but that’s just because the Central Austin Homeschool Cooperative doesn’t believe in proms. Or dancing. Still, Stevie and Sanger know how to create their own brand of fun. Enter Max Garza, the new boy next door. After a near-fatal accident, Max is determined to defy mortality with a checklist: 23 Ways to Fake My Death Without Dying. Dead set on carrying out fabricated demises ranging from impalement to spontaneous combustion, Max charms Stevie and Sanger into helping him with this two-month macabre mission. But as Stevie finds herself falling for Max, it becomes increasingly difficult to draw a line between his make-believe deaths and her real life.

Etta is tired of dealing with all of the labels and categories that seem so important to everyone else in her small Nebraska hometown. Everywhere she turns, someone feels she’s too fringe for the fringe. Not gay enough for the Dykes, her ex-clique, thanks to a recent relationship with a boy; not tiny and white enough for ballet, her first passion; and not sick enough to look anorexic (partially thanks to recovery). Etta doesn’t fit anywhere— until she meets Bianca, the straight, white, Christian, and seriously sick girl in Etta’s therapy group. Both girls are auditioning for Brentwood, a prestigious New York theater academy that is so not Nebraska. Bianca seems like Etta’s salvation, but how can Etta be saved by a girl who needs saving herself?  The latest powerful, original novel from Hannah Moskowitz is the story about living in and outside communities and stereotypes, and defining your own identity.

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the ‘Ideal Indian Husband.’ Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right? Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself. The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this ‘suggested arrangement’ so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not? Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

(Originally WHEN DREAMS SHATTER) Rachel Deering’s dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer has to be put on hold when she finds out that she has diabetes, but the lessons she learns in managing her disease help her take control of her life.

Out of control – that’s how Lacey Duval feels in almost every aspect of her life. There’s nothing she can do about her parents divorce, there’s nothing she can do about the death of her young friend, there’s nothing she can do about having diabetes – that’s what Lacey believes. After a special summer at Jenny House, Lacey is determined to put her problems behind her. When she returns to high school, she is driven to become a part of the in crowd and win the attention of gorgeous Todd Larson. But Lacey thinks fitting in means losing weight and hiding her diabetes. She starts skipping means and experimenting with her medication – sometimes ignoring it all together. Her friends from the summer caution her to face her problems before catastrophe strikes. Is it too late to stop the destructive process Lacey has set in motion?

Lucy Szabo thinks she knows where the myth of vampires came from. She’s sure that that the first vampires ever were dying diabetics. And she should know. She’s diabetic herself. When she gets involved with Draco, a self-proclaimed ‘real’ vampire she meets in a Transylvania chat room, her world starts to crash down around her. Soon, her whole life–grades, relationships and health–are spiralling dangerously out of control. Lucy needs to make some important choices to take back control of her life–but is it already too late?

Ed Devlin has problems. His parents haven’t gotten along since Ed’s uncle died. His father drinks too much and his mother has all but given up on her spouse. Ed’s best friend has no time for him because he’s too busy chasing a girl more likely to end up in jail than at graduation. And on top of all that, Ed is beginning to realize something is wrong with his body. Ed’s life is going to change, but not in any way he imagines. It’s going to get a whole lot worse before it gets any better. Just like all the rest, he’ll find his health problem is beyond his control. It will overwhelm him and force him to find a way through. Forcing him to become someone new.

Top Five Things That Are Ruining Chloe’s Day 5) Working the 6:30 a.m. shift at GoodFoods Market 4) Crashing a cart into a customer’s car right in front of her snarky coworker Sammi 3) Trying to rock the “drowned rat” look after being caught in a snowstorm 2) Making zero progress with her crush, Tyson (see #3) 1) Being accused—along with her fellow teenage employees—of stealing upwards of $10,000 Chloe would rather be anywhere than locked in work jail (aka the break room) with five of her coworkers . . . even if one of them is Tyson. But if they can band together to clear their names, what looks like a total disaster might just make Chloe’s list of Top Ten Best Moments.

A wilderness trek becomes a life-and-death situation in this riveting tale by the award-winning author of UP COUNTRY and DOGWOLF. When their canoe tips, two boys — one of whom is diabetic — lose all their supplies and must depend on sheer wits and courage to survive.