Author Desjardins once met a ten-year-old leukemia patient who was tired of stories about cancer in which the protagonist dies; the girl asked for one that included humor, romance, and a happy ending. Desjardin’s narrator is a white teenager diagnosed five years before. About to learn if she’s in remission, she reflects on her experience across her treatment. “I wanted everyone to treat me like a normal person. Not feel sorry for me, or tell me how strong I was, or that I could beat this disease.” Her friend Maxine did die, “and definitely not because she wasn’t strong enough or didn’t fight hard enough.” The narrative explores the impact of being sick on her and her parents, including moments that are funny and moments that reveal the deep emotional toll; her friendship with Maxine, whom she met in the hospital; and her relationship with Victor, a boy she met at a high school party. Victor once came with her to the hospital when she got sick at school. “We laugh about it now because he tells everybody (except my parents, of course) that the first time he ever saw my butt was through the crack of a hospital nightgown!” The voice, and the art, mostly somber-toned but with a lightness of form, are affecting, while the title makes clear the ending is never in doubt. (Age 12 and older)