Another D for DeeDee

by Bibi Belford

Life for Dinora Diaz, DeeDee for short, is full of D's. Missing her dad, who's disappeared. Being diagnosed with diabetes. Feeling dumb in fourth grade at her new school, which she transferred into--leaving behind Sandro Zapote and all her other friends in Miss Hamilton's class--after her family's trailer burned down. It's so many D's that DeeDee's sure she'll never really fit in, much less find the perfect best friend she's always wanted.

Then DeeDee meets River. He's a lot like her: River loves skateboarding, art, and dancing, just like she does, and he misses his dad, too. But they're also different: while DeeDee's still struggling to adjust to life with diabetes and has sworn off her Mexican heritage to get back at her dad for leaving, River seems to have totally adjusted to--even learned to love--being deaf. River promises to help search for DeeDee's dad and to compete with her in the spring skateboard exhibition at their local skate park. Finally, DeeDee has something to look forward to.

But when River transfers into DeeDee's fourth grade class, DeeDee makes a huge mistake, putting not just the exhibition, but her entire friendship with River, on the line. Now she has to make a choice: stand up to her classmates and accept being an outsider, or give up her best friend for good? To keep the best friend she's always wanted, DeeDee will have to learn to love difference--not just River's, but also her own.

Genres: Middle Grade, Childrens

Hardcover

First published July 3, 2018

About the author

Bibi Belford graduated with a B.A. in English from Westmont College and has worked as a playground supervisor for children of migrant workers and was a student teacher in a bilingual classroom before completing her masters in Bilingual Literacy at Northern Illinois University. She currently works as a literacy coach and reading interventionist for an elementary school in Illinois. She is the mother of four grown children and lives in Batavia, Illinois.

Reviews

[Anamaria]

D is for a little bit disappointed by the representation of diabetes in this book. I know overweight children can also get type 1 (although one of the signs of undiagnosed type 1 is weight loss), but the emphasis on DeeDee's weight before her diagnosis would seem to add to the confusion between type 1 and type 2, and I don't think that distinction is made in the book.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book. I myself am a Type 1 diabetic who’s has the condition ever since I was only eleven, so I can totally relate to the main character called DeeDee. It had good modern day humour and funny characters. 5 stars.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grabbed this book on a whim- it has an appealing cover- but now I plan to go back and grab Belford's other books. I really liked Dee Dee- she was real. Her problems were real. The author shared her character's thoughts with us in a way that seemed authentic and likened back to feelings I could remember having as a child. Dee Dee is at a new school, her dad has disappeared back to Mexico, her trailer home recently burned down, and now she has discovered that she has diabetes. She feels like she has no friends at school, and when she makes friends with River- a neighbor boy- his "distinctions" make her uneasy about being friends with him at school. Although Dee Dee often makes poor choices as to how she treats people, she learns a valuable lesson throughout this book. A great read for middle and upper elementary kids.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Middle grade reader that covers a lot of struggles for that age group. My 11 year old picked this up, enjoyed it and is looking forward to reading other books by the author.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

DeeDee is a great narrator. We learn all about her likes, dislikes and fears. Her biggest fear is needles - but that changes when she is diagnosed with Diabetes.
Moving to a new school, dealing with her disease and missing her father, who left and hasn't been in touch, is a lot for anyone to deal with. Not having a real friend makes it harder. She then meets River, who has his own issues. Together, the two of them manage to make it through school, but not without a lot of ups and downs.
Themes are friendship, bullying, family.

[Jaina Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn .

Last year, I read Belford's Crossing the Line last year and really loved it. She dealt very sensitively and thoughtfully with the race issues of the early twentieth century through the eyes of a white boy who befriended a black boy and his family.

That's why I was interested to read her latest novel, Another D for DeeDee. This one is set in the present day, and actually manages to impressively mimic the lifestyle of modern kids (communicating by text and everything). It touches on racism lightly, since DeeDee is Mexican-America, but DeeDee also struggles with the aftermath of a fire, living in a trailer park, fitting in at a new school, finding out where her father has gone, and dealing with her new diagnosis of diabetes.

It's a lot of content to smush into a book written for a younger audience, but once again Belford manages to keep the story humming along engagingly. Even though I normally would have gotten so disgusted with DeeDee's bad behavior (especially toward River) that I would have come away from the book with a bad taste in my mouth, somehow Belford manages to keep DeeDee a sympathetic and relatable character. In fact, the reader also learns from DeeDee's bad behvior: Belford makes an excellent point that sometimes mistakes must be forgiven–and that real people are full of nuances, not all good or all bad.

There are too many things going on in this book to go through all of them, but one story aspect I really resonated with was DeeDee and River's conversations about representation. When DeeDee says she might want to enter the talent show as a skateboarder, her nurse is thrilled because she will be a representative of kids with diabetes, showing how her condition is not holding her back. DeeDee is very uncomfortable with this, and indeed spends some time worrying that she could win the competition for her diabetes, because the judges feel sorry for her or want to seem inclusive, rather than because of her actual talent. She doesn't want it to define her. River also grapples with the fine line between personal achievement, representation/paving the way, and handouts.

It's a fascinating question, dealt with in a pretty thoughtful way. I have some very limited experience with these sorts of questions because I am a girl in computer science. There are a lot of extra resources for encouraging women in technology, including special workshops and networking events and even internships. I have always been uncomfortable about taking advantage of these opportunities, and have largely turned them down, because I don't like the idea of getting special help just because of my gender. I can definitely relate to DeeDee and River's thoughts on the topic, and watching them explore the issue actually helped me some.

Anyway, Bibi Belford is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Do go back and read Crossing the Line, then read Another D for DeeDee, then join me in waiting for her next book. I'm sure it also will be an engaging and thought-provoking read!

[Odelya London · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a really interesting and heartwarming story about distinctions, different cultures and true friends. In my opinion, this book wasn't really well edited and I found several grammar mistakes.
Deedee finds her life full of Ds which is a why is chapter starts with D is for xyz... DIABETES, her Papi DISAPEARED to somewhere in Mexico, a new friends River with DISTINICTIONS. After Deedee's family's trailer burned down, they moved into a small apartment where she needs to sleep on the couch and move schools. Things are pretty DOWN for Deedee. Then a neighbour her age with three fingers and cochlea implants (for hardness or hearing) becomes friends and soon decided he is going to join Deedee's school. As much as Deedee wants to be his friend, she doesn't know how to be a friend with someone like River, therefore, bullies get in the way of their friendship.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad there's a book about a kid with diabetes, but this wasn't that well-written. It also wrapped up too neatly and too nicely. Not everyone is going to be friends! Bullies are not suddenly going to change because they got in trouble!