BOOK REVIEW - Balancing Diabetes: Kerri @SixUntilMe's first book

** Full disclosure (and something I am very proud of): I am a good friend of Kerri... Having said that, every last word I am about to share with you about her book is nothing but the truth, the whole truth, so help me God! ;)

If you haven't read SixUntilMe.com and you or a loved one live with diabetes, you should... because it will provide you with a window into the soul of one of the kindest and most fun humans with diabetes you are going to run into: Kerri Sparling. So, when I heard about her book, and when she kindly interviewed me as part of one of the chapters, I was beyond ecstatic!

In "Balancing Diabetes", Kerriā€™s voice and personality shine through loud and clear. Chapter after chapter, she continues to open up her story to us, inviting many of her d-friends along, in a book that feels more like a warm and candid chat between buddies than a paperback title. Her selflessness also is central to the book: she always gives and and seeks to shine the spotlight on others. The net effect is a book that empowers you with tons more information than an individual experience: it feels as if a whole tribe (the DOC - Diabetes Online Community) is joining in on this one through the experience of dozens of people with diabetes.

Then again, it's not only about the content that Kerri exposes us to, but about her style... she is an extremely accomplished writer (and I don't say this because she kicked my butt as my editor during the years I wrote for dLife)! The imagery she employs, her impeccable and brilliant use of humor (example, how she portrays wearing an insulin pump as "cyborg badassery" - p. 112)... all of it makes for a delighting and highly entertaining book, aside from the fact that you are absorbing tons of precious insights from her and many others who add up a good few hundred collective years of life with diabetes.

Unlike Kerri, I was diagnosed with diabetes as an adult, but reading her book as a parent (though I am the one with diabetes and not my child), her mom's stories about Kerri's diabetes touched me deeply. For example, when she says "you don't punish for diabetes, you punish for irresponsibility. Diabetes just happens to be an example of something to be irresponsible with." A participar chapter that rocked for me as well was "Walking the Bloodsugar Tightrope". In it she captures amazing insights from Dr. Shara Bialo (pediatric endocrinologist with type 1 diabetes) and Dr. Jill Weissberg-Benchell, one of the world's most amazing psychologists as it relates to diabetes.

She brings it all home in the final chapter... one that I anticipate giving you goosebumps. If it doesn't, well... you may want to check the endocrine gland in charge of goosebumps! ;)

Reading Kerri's book I rediscovered why I admire her so much. Like her I too have found diabetes to give me a reason to stand up for myself and others. Thanks Kerri for reminding us that diabetes doesn't define us but it helps understand us!

Thank you so much for such a kind review, Manny! :)

So deserved! It really is an amazing book, amiga! Great job, and thanks for sharing it with the diabetes community!!!

I hope it comes out on Kindle, because, having a house overfull of books, that's the only way I read these days, LOL!!

Just ordered this book on amazon.com!

Natalie - It comes out on Kindle tomorrow (march 4)! :D