The Little Red Sports Car
Eleanor Troutt, illustrated by J. Chris Price
This is a fun, upbeat story about a little car that meets a new challenge in life. Rudy, The Little Red Sports Car, is not feeling well one day and his owner Bob takes him into a garage for a checkup. Bob learns that he has to make some adjustments in the way he drives his little car. Rudy’s automatic transmission (the pancreas) is broken and Bob now has to use a manual transmission. Bob also has to add a special additive to the oil (insulin). There are many parallels to diabetes but the main message in this upbeat tale is that life with diabetes can go on as usual – just with a few adjustments. This book could also be used by an adult with diabetes to help a child understand what an individual with diabetes experiences every day.
The subtitle of The Little Red Sports Car is “A Modern Fable About Diabetes.” The story is about a car with an automatic transmission (e.g., the pancreas) that breaks. The car has to be changed to a manual transmission and needed a special additive to run again (e.g., insulin injections).
For parents of young kids with diabetes, The Little Red Sports Car offers a gentle explanation for what has happened to their body. It’s a very easy read and is colorfully illustrated.
Published by the author and available through Lulu.com. ISBN 9780615132815. $12.952012
