My Thoughts:
Through the trials and tribulations of Delia, the protagonist, Toney tells a semi autobiographical story around how menstruation is a disability for some females that is not recognized by doctors, schools, employers, other females.
Not only does Delia's life implode very quickly because of her period, but we get to see that this is not the first very public implosion caused by her period. The whole story seems to focus on her during her menstrual cycle, and her period seems to be a constant "flow."
Although it takes over 8 doctors and a car crash to finally diagnose her endometriosis, along the way, she does have a lot of positives in her life, including a new love and a renewed childhood friendship, so it is not just about the bleeding on Tuesday and all the other days. It is also about hope, determination, love, and awareness. Ms. Toney does a good job of including the many gifts that Delia has in her life and within her, but the bleeding issue does take center stage, as it should.
At first, I felt like this was sooo dramatic, however, I have had debilitating periods in my time, and just luckily had a young OB/GYN who had a diagnosis and cure that was not as drastic as a full hysterectomy. If I had this problem when I was in middle and high school, and not after I had my children, I would be very dramatic too. I just forgot what this felt like, and this book helped me to remember and empathize with Delia. Delia really does have a disability. After all, how can someone with an over 4.0 GPA not be able to graduate on time because she has too many absences? How can a medical issue not be excused because the doctor did not diagnose anything? Or, even when her friend has a known condition, IBS - irritable bowel syndrome, the school still does not let her graduate on time and makes her finish in the summer because she needed to stay home and went over her allowed absences?
On the website We Need Diverse Books, a non profit organization with a mission to get diverse books into the hands of young readers, they use a broad definition of disabilities in their statement around what they mean by diverse books.
"We subscribe to a broad definition of disability, which includes but is not limited to physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, chronic conditions, and mental illnesses (this may also include addiction). Furthermore, we subscribe to a social model of disability, which presents disability as created by barriers in the social environment, due to lack of equal access, stereotyping, and other forms of marginalization."
This book hits multiple points of this definition of disability. In addition, it challenges the social barriers that we put up in schools and work places when we force females to ignore this disability or "tough it out," in order to gain equitable opportunities for advancement or learning. This book is a good POV reminder for us as educators to have some empathy for individual students and be cognizant about what it means to be gifts-centered rather than focus on deficits.
Side note: I also listened to the audiobook read by Mara Wilson and it is well done.
From the Publisher:
High school senior Delia Bridges has the most amazing mom and sister, a killer GPA--and periods that are so painful they make her scream, pass out, and throw up. Though she doesn't know it yet, Delia has endometriosis, an affliction plaguing millions of people that is notoriously difficult to diagnose.
Pain makes everything harder, but Delia is just one semester away from graduating from Stockwood Prep and pursuing her dream of becoming the kind of doctor she's never had: one who takes her symptoms seriously. But when she breaks a rule for the first time ever and is caught using marijuana at school to manage her pain, Delia is expelled.
Her expulsion jeopardizes her college acceptance, her planned mentorship, and everything she had carefully planned for years. Without her academic success and no closer to a diagnosis, is Delia anything more than her period?
Publication Information:
- Author: Kelsey B. Toney
- Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
- Publication date: June 17, 2025
- Print Length: 304 pages
- Grade level: 7- 9
- Audiobook Narrator: Mara Wilson
- Audiobook Publisher: Listening Library
- Listening Length: 7 hours 27 minutes
No comments:
Post a Comment