Chapter 1.

I looked up from my homework. I watched Charlotte Johanssen, my baby-sitting charge.Charlotte is eight years old.

She was reading The New York Times.

She had just finished going through the Stoneybrook News.

"Wow," saidCharlotte .

"What?" I asked her.

"It says here that inNew York this woman had a gun and she — "

"Stop!" I cried. "I don't want to hear about it! And why are you reading that story, anyway?"

"I don't know. It's right here in the paper."

I guess I couldn't faultCharlotte for reading something great (and grown-up) like the Times. But did she have to read the grisly stuff? And did she have to read it aloud?

"Gosh," saidCharlotte . "Here it says that

there was a huge fire in a big, fancy hotel one night and — "

"Char! I really don't want to hear about it. . . . Okay?"

"Okay. Actually, I was looking for science articles. Oh, here's one! Hey, Stacey! There's a whole article about diabetes."

"Really?" Now I was interested. That's because I have diabetes myself. Diabetes is a disease. If your blood sugar level gets too high, you can become really sick. There are different kinds of diabetes and different ways to treat the disease. Some people just stick to a low-sugar diet. Other people have to have injections every day. (I'm one of those people. I know giving yourself shots sounds gross, but the shots save my life.) The injections are of insulin, which is what the pancreas (that's a gland in your body) produces to break down sugar. When your body's natural insulin isn't working right, then sometimes you have to give yourself insulin. From outside your body. But that doesn't always work. Natural insulin is more effective.

I am lucky in one way because I can give myself insulin. Before doctors knew how to do that, I guess people with diabetes suffered a lot. But I am unlucky in another way: I have a severe form of diabetes. My mom told me recently that I'm called a brittle diabetic. That