Today's read hits the shelves tomorrow and caught my interest due to the M.D. aspect. Doctor tales are very popular among adults, and I'm betting that younger audiences would enjoy some of that, too. Obviously, there's a little bit of a problem to slide it over, though. I'm especially curious about this tale, since my eldest daughter is currently halfway through med-school and stressing over her first round of tests this month. (I'm cheering her on, too.) So, I'm curious to see how this book works with this M.D. side, and that in a way middle graders can connect with.
Let's take a look and find out!
DEEPA, M.D.
by Priya Swaminathan
Simon & Schuster
Middle Grade Contemporary
256 pages
ages 8 to 12
A precocious seventh grader whose cancer has recently gone into remission assists her “medical detective” uncle while readjusting to life in middle school in this heartwarming and funny middle grade debut novel that’s Front Desk meets Roll with It.
Twelve-year-old Deepa is ready to un-pause her life. After spending a year in the hospital, she’s itching for things to go back to the way they were before she got sick.
Only everything’s changed. Her parents treat her like she’s made of glass, there’s a mean girl out to get her, and her best friend Renée forgot to mention she has a whole new life now.
But when her Uncle Jai, a genius doctor that patients love to hate and the “Sherlock Holmes” of medical mysteries, needs her help with a tricky case involving a teenage patient, Deepa steps up to the plate—because she knows better than anyone what it’s like to be sick.
But why, oh why, did her first patient have to be her bully’s older brother?
As the case spirals and her illness flares up, Deepa quickly learns that if she wants to save her patient, she’ll have to diagnose what’s going on inside herself first.
Twelve-year-old Deepa is ready to un-pause her life. After spending a year in the hospital, she’s itching for things to go back to the way they were before she got sick.
Only everything’s changed. Her parents treat her like she’s made of glass, there’s a mean girl out to get her, and her best friend Renée forgot to mention she has a whole new life now.
But when her Uncle Jai, a genius doctor that patients love to hate and the “Sherlock Holmes” of medical mysteries, needs her help with a tricky case involving a teenage patient, Deepa steps up to the plate—because she knows better than anyone what it’s like to be sick.
But why, oh why, did her first patient have to be her bully’s older brother?
As the case spirals and her illness flares up, Deepa quickly learns that if she wants to save her patient, she’ll have to diagnose what’s going on inside herself first.
MY TIDBITS
Helping others with a sense of mystery mixes with the struggles of dealing with cancer and friendship drama to form a rich read.
Deepa has been battling leukemia and is, finally, at a stage where she's slowly working her way back into a somewhat normal life and heading back to school. This is proving to be difficult since there are things she still needs to watch compared to other kids her age and the friendship dynamics have changed drastically during the year she was at the hospital. So, there's a tumult of social drama she needs to deal with. But she's found a new aspect of life, too. Her uncle is a doctor, who only does house calls for those who don't want to go to a doctor's office for various reasons. Unfortunately, his bedside manner is awful. When Deepa gets the rare chance to accompany him on a trip and ends up meeting one of her idols, things change. Deepa can do what her uncle can't...relate to the people. Thanks to her own sickness, she has insights he doesn't. But when a trip with her uncle results in a very tough case to diagnose and it connects to bullying at school, too, life gets really sticky.
There are more than a couple things to enjoy in this read. First, Deepa's struggles with cancer are brought across with care, heart, and give awareness to the difficulties individuals like Deepa might face. Deepa isn't completely in the clear of her cancer battle, although she's getting close. She not only has to watch how she goes about her day and life...which makes her stick out at school...but she still carries the weight and also deals with the self-imaging issues that come with it. While this is brought across clearly, Deepa also tackles everything in a wholesome way, which makes her easy to cheer for. Her desire to help others, who are dealing with their own issues, is inspiring. Secondly, the doctor aspect is well done. Of course, Deepa isn't medically knowledgeable, and she doesn't even try to go there. By letting her uncle take over that aspect, the author has found a clever way to work in medical mysteries and challenges in a believable way while keeping Deepa tightly involved. The author's own medical knowledge offers a wonderful basis for this side, and the information is brought across clearly and understandably, while giving the needed sense of medical facts. And it fits the age group well while adding an interesting, mystery aspect. Thirdly, we have the family dynamics. Deepa garners a lot of support and care, which allow her to shine. Yet, the parents' concerns are also clear and clash with her own hopes realistically. Lastly, we have the friend drama. This aspect also adds a realistic touch on what individuals like Deepa face when they need to leave school life for awhile and come back, not only with their own health changes, but face the change that others went through during this time. Unfortunately, it's this friend drama, which also took up too much space, in my opinion, compared to the other aspects. There is so much back and forth on this end that it makes the story slightly confusing, at times, and pulls away from the more interesting aspects surrounding Deepa and the medical mysteries. Sometimes, less is more, and the friendship drama hits that here for me.
All in all, this is well done and keeps the pacing high throughout. Deepa is a character to root for, and I hope we get to see more of her in the future as she accompanies her uncle on visits, since this is such a clever way to open the theme door to middle graders and a fun read.
And here she is...
Priya Swaminathan lived the dream of making movies and TV shows for twenty years before deciding to become a children’s author. In addition to writing, she is embarking on a new journey into medicine by studying nursing at UCLA. She lives in Los Angeles with her family and hopes that someday she’ll convince her husband to get a dog.
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