Frederick Banting and
the Discovery of Insulin
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Clarion Books
(Harper Collins)
(pub. 10.29.2024)
48 pages
Ages 4 - 8
Author: Lisa Katzenberger
Illustrator: Janina Gaudin
(aka Miss Diabetes)
Character: Frederick Bunting
Overview:
" Frederick Banting was a shy boy who loved to care for the animals on his family farm. When they were sick, he searched for ways to make them better.
When Frederick grew up, he remained curious about how to treat and cure illnesses, so he became a doctor and a teacher. After teaching his medical students about diabetes, his curiosity led him to discover insulin, which saves millions of lives worldwide today. Frederick could have gotten rich from his discovery, but he sold his formula for only a dollar, saying, 'Insulin does not belong to me. It belongs to the world.'"
Tantalizing taste:
"However, the results were not consistent. Sometimes the medicine was too strong, sometimes it was too weak.
Yet Frederick pushed on.
He hired chemist James Collier to help clean the pancreatic extract. Over and over, day afte day, they performed their experiments. Analyzing and testing, testing and analyzing."
And something more: Lisa Katzenberger in the Author's Note explains: "My family has a special connection to Dr Banting. My son Ryan was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was seven years old...While Ryan's chronic illness will be with him all his life, he can do anythnikg other kids can do... While there is currently no cure for diabetes, we hope that Ryan will see one in his lifetime. In the meantime, our family is very grateful to Dr. Frederick Banting and his team for the discovery of insulin."
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