• Age: 12 to 15
• Grade: 7 to 10
• Reading age: 12 to 15

Maggie Davis is a young girl who lives in Chester, Nova Scotia, near Halifax, when her beloved Uncle Nick is killed by diabetes. Maggie’s father, a doctor, is greatly saddened by his brother’s death, and soon has to deal with his own daughter’s diagnosis with the dread disease. Various remedies are tried, including starvation diet popular at the time, but nothing works and Maggie’s condition worsens. Meanwhile, in Toronto, Banting and other doctors work night and day to perfect insulin. Will they succeed in time to save Maggie and thousands of others?

Stephen Eaton Hume teaches creative writing at the University of Victoria. He has published three picture books: Midnight on the Farm, Rainbow Bay, and Red Moon Follows Truck. His children's novel A Miracle for Maggie, available from Dundurn,was nominated for the Canadian Library Association's Children's Book of the Year. He has also published the biography Frederick Banting: Hero, Healer, Artist for young people.

Stephen Eaton Hume's profile page

This book was very emotional because it is based on a true story ... I recommend this wonderful book for grade four and up.

Independently Reviewed

Eaton-Hume writes with passion about serious illness and covers a wide gamut of emotional responses, accurately reflecting teenage hope, despair and rebellion... With a storyteller's careful attention to detail, Eaton-Hume puts some very personal faces on the discovery of insulin.

The Evening News

This is a must-read; the writing is magical and Nova Scotians will enjoy the picture of Chester long ago.

The Daily News