Library

New Books

SICK BAY

By: Nova Weetman

Two very different Grade 6 girls meet in their school sick bay. Meg is a loner. Grieving over the death of her father, and struggling with changes at home, she wears slippers to school and hides out in sick bay to avoid other kids. New girl Riley is a Type 1 diabetic and already popular.

She doesn't want to go to sick bay, but sometimes she has to if she's having a high or a low. As Meg and Riley are forced to spend more and more time together in the cramped sick bay room, they start to uncover each other's secrets and find the courage to be who they really are.

Review

Who would have thought that sick bay would be a place you want to hang out? But for Meg, it is her refuge. A place she can go and not be picked on. After her Dad dies, Meg’s mother does not cope at all, and Meg is basically left to raise herself and try to look after her Mum too. But with money tight, Meg finds herself wearing slippers to school and having little to eat.

Contrast this to Riley. Her mother is the complete opposite to Meg’s - she’s overprotective and controlling. Riley hasn’t been at the school long, and has made friends with all the popular girls  -  the same ones who torment Meg. But are they really her friends?

Sick bay for Riley is, at times, a necessity. Having to constantly monitor her diabetes is really getting to her, and she just wants to be like everyone else. Can these two girls form a friendship that will help them both?

Told in alternating chapters from each girl’s point of view, this is an emotional read that will have you just wanting to reach out and help the girls. It has themes of poverty, bullying, grief and all the issues that can accompany it, compassion, resilience, courage, friendship and finding your inner voice.

It will be thoroughly enjoyed by girls in particular, in Year 5 and up.