Sage Being Brave
Sometimes being brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared.
Sage is eight years old. She loves soccer, riding her bike, building blanket forts with her best friend Lucy, and spending time with her rabbit, Pumpkin.
Then one ordinary day, she’s diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
Suddenly, there are numbers to check, insulin to take, and things to think about that Sage never had to think about before. School feels different. Soccer feels different. Even a sleepover with her best friend feels more complicated.
Then Sage meets Kora, a gentle voice who reminds her that diabetes may have changed her life, but it hasn’t changed who she is.
Sage Being Brave is a chapter book for ages 8 to 10 about friendship, Type 1 diabetes, and figuring out how to live bravely one ordinary day at a time.
Why I Wrote Sage
I remember what it was like to be a kid with diabetes. Not just the insulin and numbers, but all the ordinary stuff around it. School. Friends. Sports. Sleepovers. Wanting to do what everyone else was doing without having to think about diabetes all the time.
When I wrote Sage Being Brave, I didn’t want to write a book that taught kids about diabetes. I wanted to write a story about a kid who happened to have it.
Sage can be brave. She can also be scared and stubborn. Sometimes she handles diabetes like it’s no big deal. Other times she wishes she didn’t have to deal with it at all.
She’s just a kid. And that’s exactly who I wanted her to be.
Meet Sage
Sage is eight.
She loves soccer, riding her bike, the smell of a brand-new book, crackers with olives, and building blanket forts with her best friend Lucy.
She wants to be a teacher when she grows up.
She also has Type 1 diabetes.
Throughout Sage Being Brave, Sage figures out what that means at school, on the soccer field, at birthday parties, during sleepovers, and everywhere in between.
Diabetes is part of her story. It isn’t the whole story.
For Families & T1D Communities
Sage Being Brave was written especially with kids ages 8 to 10 in mind, including children who are newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and their families, friends, and those around them.
If you represent a diabetes organization, camp, school, library, healthcare organization, or other community supporting kids with Type 1 diabetes and would like to learn more about Sage Being Brave, I’d love to hear from you.