Fred & Marjorie: A Doctor, a Dog, and the Discovery of Insulin by Deborah Kerbel & Angela Poon (Illustrations)

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It will be released August 15, 2021 by Owlkids.

In 1920, Frederick Banting worked at at the hospital for sick children in Toronto, Canada. He watched young people waste away and die from juvenile diabetes. Doctors knew that the disease was connected to the pancreas and had something to do with being unable to break down sugar. They just didn't understand how it all worked. 

His position in Toronto was only temporary, so Banting went on to set up a private practice in London, Ontario. There must have been an overabundance of doctors because it wasn't a success. He ended up getting a job teaching anatomy and surgery at the University of Western Ontario. He never forgot those sick children.

While preparing a lesson on the pancreas, Banting had an aha moment. He discussed his new idea for a treatment for diabetes with J. J. R. Macleod, Professor of physiology. Banting was an orthopedic surgeon with no background in research or diabetes. Still, he was given funding for a lab for one summer, an assistant, Charles Best, and a group of dogs to work with. They removed the pancreas from half the dogs to make them diabetic. They lost many dogs before managing to isolate a mysterious secretion from one dog in the other group. They gave this to one of the diabetic ones and it was a success. In spite of Best's warnings, Banting grew emotionally attached to the dogs they worked with, especially Marjorie, a stray that followed him home. In fact, Banting considered the dogs to be heroes whose role in the research was as important, maybe even more important than the researchers themselves. 

At the end of the summer Professor Macleod extended their use of the lab and finally gave them salaries for their work. They managed to keep Marjorie alive for more than 70 days. At one point Fred tested the insulin on himself to prove that it wasn't toxic for humans. Eventually Macleod brought in James Collip, a biochemist to work them to purify the extract for humans. 

In 1922, Leonard Thompson, a fourteen year old boy, received the first shot of the newly purified insulin. He began to improve almost immediately. 

I appreciate how Angela Poon's artwork places the reader right into the 1920's. She captures the essence of the times brilliantly! The lab Banting and Best worked in is very different from labs of today! I appreciate all the the details, especially in the individual characters' faces. To create this art she "worked both traditionally and digitally! The pencil line art is all hand drawn, and the roughs and colours are done digitally with some analog textures added! "

There is an author's note in the back matter with additional information about the discovery of insulin. There is also a section on ethics and the controversial use of animals in research. If readers want to learn more, there a bibliography titled Sources. 

We need more stories like this one. We need to be inspired by the generosity and humanitarianism of people like Banting, Best, and Collip. We need more people like them. These men, who created the formula for insulin, sold their rights for the treatment for $1 each. None of them were rich. In fact, Banting barely made ends meet until he was finally given a salary. Maybe they didn't wear capes, but they were still superheroes. 

In contrast, today disaster capitalists manufacturer and sell insulin at prices so high that individuals with the disease die because they can't afford their medication. 

Preorder this one for your libraries.