Aw, this is such a brilliant picture book helping children, newly diagnosed or not, to understand type 1 diabetes! Tommy is a happy dinosaur, he likes to spend time with his friends and play games, have picnics and go see the pantomime, but one day Tommy starts to feel unwell, his muscles hurt and he can’t stop drinking and needing to pee. Worried about his friend, Pterry takes Tommy to see a white witch doctor, but does she know what is wrong with Tommy, and can she help him?

This is such a fun way to introduce what type 1 diabetes is to children. I remember being newly diagnosed at the age of nine and although I was given a picture book to look at about a girl who was newly diagnosed, it wasn’t as fun as this one and it was a lot to take in. But this book makes this subject easier to explain to kids and I love how fun this book is and how cute all of the characters, especially Tommy are too! When Pterry takes Tommy to see the witch doctor it’s fun and interesting. I like how the doctor is so helpful and friendly and explains everything so well. I also love the way Tommy’s blood sugar is tested, not using a meter but a GlucoScryDX machine which is very fun and more fantasy nod to the traditional meters we actually use in reality.

The pictures in this book really add to how brilliant it is and how engaging the whole book is to look at. I love how everyone looks, especially Tommy who you can see looking paler and different when his blood sugars are not good. I also love the little details you can spot on many of the pages too, especially some of the details in the doctor’s waiting room like the different posters and what they say. There’s something so wonderful and engaging about this book and I just love how clearly it shows Tommy and what happens to him as he’s diagnosed as diabetic. Despite experiencing both ends of the blood sugar spectrum in the tale, Tommy’s story has a lovely and uplifting ending which I’m sure will make any newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic feel better.

As someone who was diagnosed as a child, I know that reading this book would have made me feel so much better. Apart from being very cute and also quite funny in parts, it also has a good and clear hopeful message about everything being alright after being diagnosed. While this book can be good for any diabetic who is newly diagnosed, it can also be a good book for siblings and friends or school classmates to learn about someone’s condition too, and how as a friend they can help too. It’s such a brilliant book and I really hope that this gets to lots of type 1 diabetics as it’s such a fun and lovely story and a wonderfu story to look at again and again. 🙂

Growing up with a chronic illness, I understand the difficulties in learning about your own diagnoses, as well as educating your peers.

This colourful book does a great job of introducing and explaining Type 1 diabetes. It will be really useful as an introduction to young children who have been diagnosed, as well as being used in classrooms or with siblings to help them understand what their peer is living with.

Highly recommend for anyone with a newly diagnosed child, or whose child knows someone who has Type 1.

A fun introduction to diabetes for children. Would definitely recommend to teachers, Nurture Practitioners, ELSA & School Nurses to use not only with children who suffer from diabetes but also for circle times to the child’s peers so they also understand how diabetes works & how it affects the child.

Tommy the diabetic dinosaur is a lovely tale, told by a cool little ‘shroomy guy. I liked the comic book illustration style, and the story. I didn’t really know a whole lot about how having diabetes affects people and now I do!

In the engaging, illustrated tale of 'Diabetic Dinosaur,' author Harry Edmanson blends his personal experience of growing up with Type 1 Diabetes into a vibrant, fantasy world. His inspiring story, rooted in the countryside adventures of his youth, navigates the challenges of Diabetes diagnosis with humor and optimism. Edmanson skillfully demystifies this scary subject for kids, bringing in colorful characters and eloquent visuals. This book is a must-read, sensitizing young readers to the symptoms and lifestyle changes of Type 1 Diabetes in an inviting, approachable style.

I really loved The Diabetic Dinosaur by Harry Edmanson! Diabetes runs through my family and I appreciate how the author explained Diabetes in a fun way for kids of all ages to understand. I highly recommend The Diabetic Dinosaur! Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read this book. My review is also on Goodreads.

The Diabetic Dinosaur presents a brilliant concept of explaining what it’s like to be a child with Type 1 Diabetes. Too many children face diseases and illnesses without being given the ability to feel validated. What an excellent book for children, not only those that live everyday with Type 1 Diabetes, but also their friends and families. With a fun story and illustrations, more books should be just like this.

I thought that this book was really good

I am diabetic myself and the book was one I read to my daughter to explain more about the medicine I have and the injections that she sees me doing.

She has never really asked about it all before, we have told her what she would need to do if mummy was poorly and daddy wasn’t at home but this book gave me an idea and I used it to discuss more about what it is, how it can make people feel and just to give her more awareness

The book would be perfect for any children that have diabetic children in their class at school and also for newly diagnosed ones too to show them they are not alone – it is not very often that you find a diabetic character in any children’s book and he gets the lead in this one!

It is 5 stars from me for this one – a really great idea that was well executed with some great illustrations too – very highly recommended!

Tommy the dinosaur has diabetes. But he doesn’t know it. In this cute little book we learn along with Tommy and his friend pterodactyl Pterry how to treat and control his disease. Adorable illustrations and full of color this is a wonderful introduction for young children.

The Diabetic Dinosaur by Harry Edmanson - 5/5
Children's Fiction

This is such a cute and educational story that helps little children understand what Diabetes are and how they can affect your day-to-day life. I do wish we had more children's book that talked about medical diagnosis and was easy for children to follow and understand with illustrations.


Thank you NetGalley and Matador for the eARC.

Overall a really cute way to teach kids about Diabetes. I wish there were more things like this when I was diagnosed at 6 almost 24 years ago. I wish there was more of an index or something at the end, or even some scenes showing him interacting with his friends normally but having to check his sugars. I think showing it normal is the biggest thing for me. Some of the illustrations could use more details or felt really distracting but overall I enjoyed the point of this book.