Short Takes: Books With Diaper & Wetting Content

[D_Rainger]

I am an avid reader. For many years I have been interested in books that make passing reference to diapers, wetting, and bodily functions. In the past these topics were left out of most publications. Recently, opinion and general acceptance of the realities of life have changed all that. Many times now the content includes such things as the hero or heroine of a story stopping to go to the bathroom, etc. I have made a collection of stories that mention diapers, wetting, spanking, or other topics of interest. I would like to present them in the form of a brief review (or Short Take) of each title.

Thanks,

-D Rainger

[D_Rainger]

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

Chapter 18 gives the reader an unflinching view of the public school system in New York City in the early 1900's, and how it dealt with children needing to "leave the room."

This is one of my favorite books and probably one of the oldest to include an honest description of needing to use the bathroom. It was published in the 1940’s.

Smith says the children were instructed to go before school in the morning and then wait until lunch hour. They were supposed to be able to go at recess, but there were only 10 lavatories for 500 students. Bullies stationed themselves at the doors and wouldn't let the tormented children pass. For those who could afford it, a penny was exacted. Technically, in class you were permitted to leave by holding up one finger or two depending on how long you wished to be excused. In practice, the fingers were ignored. The teachers decided amongst themselves that this was just a subterfuge to leave class. After all, they reasoned, there was plenty of time at recess and lunch. The only ones to have their requests granted were the privileged few who sat down front, the "clean, dainty, and cared-for children." As for the other children, the book says half of them learned to "adjust their functions," and the other half became "chronic pants-wetters."

In the story, 7 year old Francie and her 6 year old brother Neeley attend school. Their colorful Aunt Sissy finds Francie after school one night and treats her to a penny chocolate soda. Francie is "trembling like a leaf" in the raw November wind and Sissy asks her why. Reluctantly, with a "shame-hot face," Francie tells Aunt Sissy what happened at school. She says that the teacher "never looks at us when we raise our hands." Sissy tries to make her feel better by telling her that the Queen of England and even her own mother and grandmother all wet their pants when they were little. Francie says "she is too big, only babies do that." She is afraid that her mother will shame her in front of Neeley. Sissy tells Francie to confess right away and promise never to do it again. Francie says that she can't promise because it could happen again. In the end, Francie gets a mild scolding and Sissy fixes it so Francie can "leave the room."

-D Rainger

[Brudda Voodu]

I don't remember which books in particular but a lot of Stephen Kind books make reference to pants wetting and in some make mention of adult diapers.

[D_Rainger]

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King.

There is some talk that this book could be made into a movie with Laura Dern and Dakota Fanning in it. Young Red Sox fan Trisha gets lost when she has to pee on the Appalachian Trail and her bickering mother and brother don't notice she is gone. She is pursued by a dark bear-shaped specter. In the sixth chapter (titled "Fifth Inning") she gets sick to her stomach and then has diarrhea. "Oh, Sugartit!" she says trying to get her jeans down in time. Trisha cries out at the hot, stinging rush. In a wave of lightheadedness she loses her balance and plops down in her own hot mess. First she cries, then she comes up laughing at the absurdity of it all. As the story progresses Trisha becomes sicker but continues to wander alone in the woods. When she has to pee she says it is like weak acid that hurts with a deep itching sting "that felt like the worst case of prickly heat she'd ever had."

-D Rainger

[D_Rainger]

Zink by Cherie Bennett

Part reality and part fantasy, this is the story of Becky Zaslow, a ten-year-old who wants to be a singer. Before she can try out for the 6th grade talent show, she discovers she has leukemia. As she begins treatment, she hallucinates about a herd of zebras. Sometimes they visit her in the hospital, and sometimes she visits them in the Serengeti. They help her get through her trials by showing her she has courage even though she is afraid.

One day during chemotherapy, Becky is very sick. Her roommate and her mother are not there, and the nurse doesn’t come when she wants help. In desperation she has no choice but to make a mess in her bed. When the nurse changes her sheets, her mother asks her if she wants to wear adult diapers “just in case of another accident?” Becky gets mad. She writes in her journal that she will “never, ever, ever, ever wear a D-I-A-P-E-R and I mean it.”

-D Rainger

[D_Rainger]

White Oleander by Janet Fitch.

The movie is very good and Alison Lohman is the perfect Astrid. The book is better. In the 4th chapter after Astrid's mother is arrested for murder, Astrid is in foster care. She has become mute and only gets up for meals. The story implies bedwetting. She calls it a place "under the ground" populated with all kinds of kids, music like a train wreck, arguing, crying, ceaseless TV, smell of heavy cooking, thin sickly urine, and pine cleaner. Astrid says as she narrates that they make her come out for meals, but then she returns to the cocoon of bed and sleep with the plastic sheet crinkling under her. She wakes up "soaked to the armpits" more nights than not.

In chapter 28 Astrid and her friend Niki drop acid. After they are high and go to an art exhibition and then have some food, Niki says that they should go to the bathroom. Astrid doesn't want to, but Niki says "you won't know until it's too late." Niki helps Astrid into a stall, unzips her pants, and puts her on the pot. Astrid can't go until she recalls someone named Annie potty training her when she was little.

– D Rainger

[BabyJune]

Of course if you're interested in a couple of books that deal totally with diaper wearing, there are the two that I recently published about infantilism. Anyone interested can find the books at Lulu.com. Only catch: to preview the contents you have to set up an account (free!) and register your access level as "adult." Due to the sensitive nature of the books, I have to make sure no one underage is exposed to them. They are in no way pornographic, but infantilism is an adult-oriented subject. The titles of the two books are: "Alter Ego" and "Bikini Twist." Both are available as paperbacks or as very inexpensive downloads. (If you download them, though, you don't get the neat covers!) Happy reading!

Baby June 9/23/2007

[D_Rainger]

Can’t Get There From Here, by Todd Strasser.

Maybe is a girl who lives on the street with a tribe of homeless kids. Some are runaways, some are throwaways. Maybe has some street smarts but is too caring. It is winter and the living is not easy. The frigid winds of January bring a new girl, Tears. She is twelve years old and has been abused by her father, but her mother does not believe her. Maybe tries to protect her. As the other kids disappear from violence, addiction, and exposure, Maybe enlists help to get Tears off the street.

Living in a nest under a bridge, Maybe hears Tears sobbing. She asks “What’s wrong?”

“I wet the sleeping bag. It’s cold.” Tears replies.

Maybe tells Tears to come over and climb in with her. “But I’m wet,” she says. Maybe tells her she doesn’t care and the two snuggle up together against the cold. Tear’s teeth start to chatter and she tells Maybe she wants to go home.

-D Rainger

[D_Rainger]

Spy Kids, starring Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega, and Daryl Sabara.

If only Diaper Lovers produced mainstream flicks!!

How about Spy Kids? Carmen and Juni Cortez' parents used to be spies. Then they got married and had kids. Now they've been called up again, but they have been captured by the evil toymaster Floop. The kids become spies to save them.

In Floop's castle, Carmen and Juni's parents are tied in iron chairs. Ingrid Cortez says, "Let's stop worrying about the children." Gregorio says, "They still wear diapers." Ingrid counters, "Only one is in diapers and only at night. It's not that unusual, OK?"

Surprising dialogue for a blockbuster movie. One would naturally conclude that it is Juni, the boy that wears the diapers.

Later after the kids steal a miniature jet spy plane, they get in a fight because Juni is supposed to have read the instruction manual. Carmen says, "You skipped a chapter, meathead." "Better stop calling me names," Juni shoots back. "Pull up, booger breath," Carmen hollers. Juni warns, "stop it or I'll call you names." Carmen challenges, "Go ahead. You go nothin' on me, wart hog." Juni drops the bomb, "try me 'diaper lady'." Carmen looks like she is going to cry. "Aha, Hope you're wearing one now." Carmen asks, "How long have you known?" "Since forever, mom made me swear not to mention it, so now we're even."

We are surprised to learn that it is the girl that wets the bed.

But this could be a diaper lover's dream. There is a golden opportunity in the beginning of the movie to show Carmen getting into her nighttime pants. The movie starts with Carmen at the window and then it shows her mother putting her to bed while Juni is in the bathroom putting wart medicine on his fingers. Carmen could nonchalantly step into her Goodnites and pull them up and have them disappear under her nightgown just before she jumps into bed. Or we could see a picture of Carmen laying on the bed with her pull-up exposed and then have Mrs. Cortez cover her with a blanket. Or Carmen's mom could ask, "do you have your 'special' panties on honey?" Carmen could get upset and say, "Moth-er." Or even better, Mrs. Cortez could be in the process of diapering Carmen in a cloth diaper. She could ask Carmen what story she wanted to hear tonight, and then help her get into her plastic pants.

There is another opportunity later in the show when the kids escape in the "Super Guppy," a kind of kid-size undersea escape module. The kids get bored and Carmen falls asleep. Juni takes a poop and the computer happily announces, "Now flushing your poop." But what about Carmen? If she is a bedwetter, why doesn't she have an accident? She could wake up with soaking pants. If her parents have taken the time to provide a means of escape for the kids why isn't it equipped with Goodnites for her? "Don't look Juni!" and Carmen could slip on her pull-up.

I wonder if we will ever see a movie view of a child wearing a Goodnite? As far as I know it has never been done. Some of the GN commercials are a step in the right direction. A boy and a girl candidly talk about wetting the bed and how it can be embarrassing and how it could keep them from going to sleepovers, etc. But neither the commercial nor the web site really show an actual kid wearing Goodnites. Some of the old ads did. Even with the new sleep shorts and sleep boxers, real kids are never shown wearing them. Don't you think it would help kids and foster acceptance if we actually saw kids wearing them?

-D Rainger

[D_Rainger]

Earthquake Terror, Peg Kehret.

In this juvenile adventure story, 12-year-old Jonathan and his partially paralyzed sister Abby are separated from their parents during an earthquake while camping on an isolated island. In an attempt to escape rising water and seek help, the two children climb aboard broken off trees. As they cling precariously to the trunks, Abby needs to go to the bathroom. Jonathan tells her she has no choice but to go in her pants. Abby eventually decides to follow her brother’s suggestion, but she is embarrassed. She asks him not to tell their mother. Jonathan tries to make Abby feel better. He says that their mother won’t care.

-D Rainger

[D_Rainger]

Camp Girl-Meets-Boy, by Caroline B. Cooney.

Fashion-hound Vi and tomboy Marissa are counselors at Camp Menunkechogue. They fill their days taking care of their twelve-year-old charges and searching their own souls. They also find time for summer romance. Hence, the title of the book. Their plans are disrupted by the beautiful and self-absorbed Cathy who comes late to camp as a dance instructor.

One of Vi's campers is a twelve-year-old named Laury, who is a bedwetter. Vi has to air her mattress in the morning and protect her from being teased. Vi finds it "ghastly" as she puts it. Laury even wets the bed during rest hour. As the story progresses, Laury overcomes her nighttime problem. Vi shares a candy bar with her for getting up on her own one night on a camp out. Later, one of the male counselors gives Laury a watch with an alarm and a flashlight to help her get up at night after she tearfully confesses her problem to him.

The author deserves credit for bringing this common camp problem out into the open and mentioning it more than just in passing.

–D Rainger

[D_Rainger]

Something Very Sorry, written and translated by Arno Bohlmeijer.

The true story of Rosemyn, a nine-year-old who survives a car accident. She must cope with the difficult aftermath, including her mother's death and the slow recovery of her dad and sister from their serious injuries. Much of the narration centers on the hospital life Rosemyn must endure with her broken arm in traction. She has to learn to pee on her back in bed. She is a thumb-sucker and reverts to it or at least wishes she could a number of times in the book. Phoebe, Rosemyn's six-year-old sister has had brain damage and can't control herself any more. The nurses put Phoebe in a diaper, "or else she would pee in bed." Phoebe gradually regains control of herself and everyone is proud of her, but she has relapses including one time she wakes up, takes her clothes off and pees. Another time she is worried about having an EEG and accidentally wets her bed.

When Rosemyn is wheeled up to have a visit with her dad, he tells her about having a catheter in his penis. He tells her he can't pee on his back. Rosemyn tells him she can, but he reminds her she doesn't have a penis. Another time her father is sitting up and needs to call a nurse but the bell is on the other side of the bed. Rosemyn is still confined to bed but her father tries to get up and reach it. His collection bag snags on the chair and pulls on the tube.

This book is uncommonly well written. The account is painfully sad, the narrative crystal clear. The title comes from Phoebe talking about her dead mother. She always begins, "I must tell you something very sorry."

- D Rainger

[D_Rainger]

The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson.

Ms. Wilson is a popular children’s writer in the UK. This is the first of a series of three books for young people about Tracy Beaker. There is also a Tracy Beaker TV show.

Tracy is a ten-year-old with issues. Her pretty mother can’t take care of her. She has been in and out of two foster homes, and is now in an orphanage trying to survive her bad temper. Tracy has a secret nighttime problem that becomes public when she tells a turncoat friend. Now she gets teased about being a baby for wetting her bed.

One night Tracy can’t sleep and bumps into little Peter who wets his bed too. They gradually become friends as they meet regularly during midnight sheet sorties. Tracy and Peter often have nightmares and wake up wet.

In one chapter, Tracy overhears two of the other girls talking about her and diapers! She exercises great restraint and doesn’t go and bash their heads together. This is a demonstration of extreme self-control for Tracy.

Ms. Wilson has casually used nightwetting as a vehicle to tell this story of a smart and resourceful young girl. Children can identify with Tracy. Many, many young people in institutional and foster care face bedwetting as an issue. This book certainly brings enuresis out in the open with dignity and honesty. The main character, after all, is a bedwetter.

-D Rainger

[D_Rainger]

Follow the Stars Home, by Luanne Rice.

This is a bittersweet tale of love lost and love found. Rice is a consummate writer and she provides a touching and truthful narrative.

Dianne Robbins fell in love with the wrong kind of man. After she became pregnant with a child that was sure to be disabled, Tim, her husband abandoned her. Now, ten years later, Dianne is living with her mother and daughter Julia. In the background, Alan McIntosh, Tim’s physician brother has been patiently waiting and helping in any way he can. Alan introduces Dianne to a troubled young girl named Amy who forms an instant bond with Julia. When tragedy strikes, love comes through.

Rice treats the character of Julia with insight and realism. Julia was born with spina bifida and Rett syndrome. She is wheelchair bound and has no real speech. Yet, Julia has a definite personality and we learn that she takes in more than others think.

Julia wears diapers and this is mentioned often in the story. She is wet. She is changed. Her diaper is loosened for medical examinations. Julia begins puberty wearing a diaper.

There is a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of this book. The twins who play Julia are very convincing. They are out of caracter, however, in the fact that they don’t appear to be wearing diapers in the film.

-D Rainger

[D_Rainger]

Ellen Foster , by Kaye Gibbons.

A classic in “southern” literature. Resourceful and tough Ellen is bounced around to relatives after her timid mother and abusive father die. All she wants is a real family, and when she takes things in her own hands she ends up living with the "Foster" family.

There is a scene describing Ellen's cousin Dora having an accident in the car on the way to the funeral of Ellen's mother. Ellen mockingly hopes that "wise" Aunt Nadine has brought an extra set of clothes for Dora. Ellen slides over toward the window to avoid getting wet from Dora's accident. "Old as me and wets herself once or twice a day," says Ellen. She even worries that Aunt Nadine will blame her for Dora wetting her pants. Ellen thinks to herself sarcastically, "I promise never to pee in your girl's pants again."

There is a film adaptation of this novel with Jena Malone at the title character. The wetting scene does not appear in the film.

- D Rainger

[D_Rainger]

Sleeping Arrangements, by Laura Shaine Cunningham.

In this autobiographical dark comedy of eccentricities, Lily grows up in a makeshift family. After her single mother dies, Lily's Jewish uncles Len and Gabe move in to take care of her. Eventually they are joined by Lily's Grandmother, "Etka from Minsk," who is suffering from arteriosclerosis and is a bit forgetful. Some how through all the disparity, they form a family. The resulting story is a rare glimpse into the reality of life in the Bronx in the 1950's through the eyes of one very special little girl.

In nursery school, much of Lily's experience centers on bodily functions and the exposing (or not) of one's panties. She describes a coed toilet and how it offended her sensibilities. She goes pee outside behind a bush instead.

After her mother dies, Lily longs to go to camp with her friend Susan. Len and Gabe somehow make it possible for her to attend. When she gets there she finds out it is full of fiendish older girls waiting to de-pants her, food that causes regurgitation at lunch, and a conga-line of diarrhea at night. Describing her own sickness, Lily says. "I also develop the digestive trouble that afflicts most of the campers, but I am too embarrassed to admit it. Instead, I become the Raskolnikov of lapsed toilet training, guiltily trying to hide the evidence." She buries her dirty pants or tries to flush them down the toilet.

Later in the story, Lily and Susan are playing "King of the Mattress." As Lily tries to dethrone her, Susan is laughing and peeing in hysterical squirts.

By the end of the book, Lily is 15 and very interested in boys. She is secretly in love with her best friend's brother. She describes a recurring disaster she had on visits to her friend's house. "Even with all the frank conversation taking place and everyone else's frequent visits to the bathroom, I had been too shy to say I had to 'go.' Rather than ask to use the bathroom, I had quietly wet my skirt. More than once I had trudged home, chafing."

-D Rainger

[Pull-ups man]

Spy Kids, starring Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega, and Daryl Sabara.

If only Diaper Lovers produced mainstream flicks!!

How about Spy Kids? Carmen and Juni Cortez' parents used to be spies. Then they got married and had kids. Now they've been called up again, but they have been captured by the evil toymaster Floop. The kids become spies to save them.

In Floop's castle, Carmen and Juni's parents are tied in iron chairs. Ingrid Cortez says, "Let's stop worrying about the children." Gregorio says, "They still wear diapers." Ingrid counters, "Only one is in diapers and only at night. It's not that unusual, OK?"

Surprising dialogue for a blockbuster movie. One would naturally conclude that it is Juni, the boy that wears the diapers.

Later after the kids steal a miniature jet spy plane, they get in a fight because Juni is supposed to have read the instruction manual. Carmen says, "You skipped a chapter, meathead." "Better stop calling me names," Juni shoots back. "Pull up, booger breath," Carmen hollers. Juni warns, "stop it or I'll call you names." Carmen challenges, "Go ahead. You go nothin' on me, wart hog." Juni drops the bomb, "try me 'diaper lady'." Carmen looks like she is going to cry. "Aha, Hope you're wearing one now." Carmen asks, "How long have you known?" "Since forever, mom made me swear not to mention it, so now we're even."

We are surprised to learn that it is the girl that wets the bed.

But this could be a diaper lover's dream. There is a golden opportunity in the beginning of the movie to show Carmen getting into her nighttime pants. The movie starts with Carmen at the window and then it shows her mother putting her to bed while Juni is in the bathroom putting wart medicine on his fingers. Carmen could nonchalantly step into her Goodnites and pull them up and have them disappear under her nightgown just before she jumps into bed. Or we could see a picture of Carmen laying on the bed with her pull-up exposed and then have Mrs. Cortez cover her with a blanket. Or Carmen's mom could ask, "do you have your 'special' panties on honey?" Carmen could get upset and say, "Moth-er." Or even better, Mrs. Cortez could be in the process of diapering Carmen in a cloth diaper. She could ask Carmen what story she wanted to hear tonight, and then help her get into her plastic pants.

There is another opportunity later in the show when the kids escape in the "Super Guppy," a kind of kid-size undersea escape module. The kids get bored and Carmen falls asleep. Juni takes a poop and the computer happily announces, "Now flushing your poop." But what about Carmen? If she is a bedwetter, why doesn't she have an accident? She could wake up with soaking pants. If her parents have taken the time to provide a means of escape for the kids why isn't it equipped with Goodnites for her? "Don't look Juni!" and Carmen could slip on her pull-up.

I wonder if we will ever see a movie view of a child wearing a Goodnite? As far as I know it has never been done. Some of the GN commercials are a step in the right direction. A boy and a girl candidly talk about wetting the bed and how it can be embarrassing and how it could keep them from going to sleepovers, etc. But neither the commercial nor the web site really show an actual kid wearing Goodnites. Some of the old ads did. Even with the new sleep shorts and sleep boxers, real kids are never shown wearing them. Don't you think it would help kids and foster acceptance if we actually saw kids wearing them?

-D Rainger

YES!!!!! this is actually one of the movies that got me interested in diapers and i already was a DL by then so i absolutely loved thats scene when theyre flying and the brother announces to his sister that she is a "diaperwearer"... heck cool!

[D_Rainger]

The Missing, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, Evan Rachel Wood, and Jenna Boyd.

This movie is based on the western novel The Last Ride, by Tom Edison. The DVD contains a deleted desperation scene. Evan Rachel Wood plays 17 year old Lily, a boarding school girl stuck on the ranch who is more interested in the finer things. Jenna Boyd plays her 11-year-old sister Dorothy (Dot) who goes at life with a vengeance. In the scene Lily is sewing a fancy dress on a treadle sewing machine and Dot needs to go to the outhouse. It is dark outside and Dot is afraid to go by herself. She begs Lily who keeps refusing until she sees something happening outside that she wants to spy out. Jenna Boyd does a very convincing pee dance. It is also interesting that she is the actress that does the pants-wetting scene in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

–D Rainger

[D_Rainger]

Arilla Sun Down, by Virginia Hamilton (A Newbery Medal winning writer).

Arilla is a mixed-race girl of Native American heritage. She sometimes thinks she is a throwback to another time. Her father, Sun-Stone, clings to some of the old ways but works in modern society. Her brother, Jack Sun Run ignores her and she longs for his acceptance. An older Native American, James False Face teaches Arilla the old ways. She is caught in the middle. Will she fit into the world around her? Will an accident lead to her brother’s affection and a new name for her? The writing style is a bit choppy in this richly ethnic book, but it is worth making the attempt to read it.

Arilla has a flashback to when she was a little girl in school. The basement is flooded and the children have to walk on planks to the restroom. The sound of the water makes the little girls have to go to the bathroom all the more. They are escorted to the stall by the teachers who stand guard at the door. Arilla likes all this attention. The teachers wouldn’t let the kids go one by one like when they raise their hands in class and ask “Teacher may I be excused?” And the teacher would say, “Yes, or, no not now.” Arilla says the teacher has uncanny accuracy most of the time. “Once in a while she would guess wrong and some little girl or boy would have an accident right in their seats. A bad accident, so that the teacher would have to clear the whole room. And some little kid would be stinking and bawling. And some embarrassed mom would have to come and get the kid.”

-D R

[CuriousCouple]

The World According to Garp

In this book,(which is super fantastic by the way in this girl's humble opinion) Garp's early love interest and sexual partner Cushie Percy has a little sister who is 14 named Pooh. The little sister, at 14, likes to wear diapers around the house. There isnt too much discussion on the matter except that Cushie defends her sister's diaper wearing "It's not like she needs them. She just wears them. For fun. Sometimes. "

It was what perked my interest in diaper wearing during a college class

CC

[D_Rainger]

Hideous Kinky, by Esther Freud.

A tour de force of Marrakech, Morocco involving two little English girls and their counter-culture mother. Julia hopes to find inner peace in the Sufi religion. She travels Morocco and Algiers searching for the “annihilation of the soul.” She finds instead, a rich culture and that her two daughters are more resourceful than she could ever imagine. Lucy can’t decide if she wants to be a boy or a girl, Bea just wants to be normal. Along the way they meet Bilal who becomes the children’s surrogate father. Does Julia find peace? Will the little girls ever get back to England? Can they leave Bilal behind?

Bea is the older of the two little girls and is dark-eyed and dark skinned. She picks up the language and culture almost effortlessly. She demands to go to school and one day comes home with a tale of a little girl who wet herself in class. The teacher beat the little girl with a stick until it broke and then had one of the little boys go find her another one.

Lucy, the youngest is a storyteller. She has nightmares about the “Black Hand” that comes and strangles her mother. Lucy begins to wet the bed. She describes waking up every morning, clammy and damp in a tangle of sodden sheets. Julia doesn’t speak about the accidents, but starts wrapping their mattress in a plastic sheet that “creaked and crackled.” Her mother hanging out their white sheet, hand-washed each morning, and flapping dry on the line in the courtyard, embarrasses Lucy. She starts to sleep in the afternoon so she can stay awake at night. Lucy wants a way to prove to her mother that she is too old to need a plastic sheet. Lucy thinks her plan works perfectly. She gets up and pees in the bucket by the door. She can feel the cold ring of metal, and she hears the sound of water drumming. Alas, she wakes up and finds it was a dream, “there was the warm and familiar smell of my nightie sticking damply to me,” the bucket was empty.

This book was made into a movie with Kate Winslet and Said Taghmaoui. The young actresses who play the children are superb. Sadly, the school wetting is passed off as “just a joke,” and the bedwetting is not explored. The movie is worth seeing for the cinematography and the enthusiasm of the little girls.

-D R

[D_Rainger]

It Happened to Nancy, by an Anonymous Teenager, edited by Beatrice Sparks, Ph. D.

Purported to be the true diary of a young teen who contracted AIDS. It is written in the hopes of educating youngsters about the disease. Beatrice Sparks also prepared “Go Ask Alice,” the teen reality sensation of the 70’s.

Nancy is the 14-year-old victim of date rape. As an asthmatic with a weakened immune system, the symptoms of the disease appear in a matter of months instead of years. She is subjected to the physical indignities of the disease as well as social ostracism and even violence at the hands of her classmates. Nancy rides an emotional roller coaster as she copes with family, friends, and the end of her short life.

Nancy begins to suffer urgency as her disease progresses. She finds it hard to make it to the bathroom in time. In her diary, she admits that she has started to wet the bed. At a movie on her birthday, she has an episode of total incontinence. Nancy runs away and hides. When she goes to her doctor, he refers her to a nurse who simply gives the 15-year-old a package of Depends. Nancy refuses to wear them until she knows she must. Over the summer she works part-time when she is staying with her Dad. She wears the Depends under her dress. Later she develops a rectal ulcer and has to wear diapers all the time. She also has rubber sheets on her bed. Nancy hopes she will get better so she won’t have to wear diapers any more. She says no teenager should have to.

This book was published more than 10 years ago and reflects the times. Nancy did find peace toward the end of her life, but it is an emotionally challenging record to read.

-D R

[D_Rainger]

Give a Boy A Gun, by Todd Strasser.

This is one of the books that everyone should read at some point in their lives. The story is a work of fiction, nothing and everything about it is real. Brendan Lawler and Gary Searle plot revenge on the kids that tease them and exclude them. Are they justified in their actions? Do we need to think about gun control and limiting taunting in schools? The story is told in interviews, excerpts from e-mail, online chat, and from suicide notes. Across the bottom printed in recognizably different type are the distressing facts about gun use, alienated students, and their relationship to school and other shootings.

When Brendan and Gary take control of the auditorium in Middletown, they restrain everyone and station girls at the doors. They systematically begin to torture the students with threats and bullets. A girl who is a cheerleader is whimpering and begging the boys not to shoot her. They come over to her and laugh about her having an accident. One of the girls screams because she felt warm liquid seeping into her clothes. “Everyone now knows it was something else. It’s just completely gross,” writes another girl.

-D R

[D_Rainger]

Helpless by Barbara Gowdy.

In this novel set in Toronto, Canada, the author endeavors to get into the mind of a would-be child molester. 9-year-old Rachel, a bi-racial child with uncommon looks, is taken from her apartment building during a blackout. She is kept in a basement room by Ron, an unbalanced appliance repairman. He fights an inner battle until he realizes his true motivation and feelings toward her. The story is oddly hopeful.

After Ron locks Rachel in the basement apartment, she wets the bed. Ron’s girlfriend Nancy goes to check on her and finds her on the floor. When she picks Rachel up, she smells urine and feels the child’s underpants are wet. She tries to comfort the child by telling her an experience of pants-wetting she had in third grade. Nancy wraps the child in a blanket and washes her dress and panties along with the wet sheets from the bed. Nancy tells Ron that Rachel wet the bed because she was afraid of him. Later, the story alludes to a fixation Ron has with the child’s urine in the unflushed basement toilet.

-D R

[D_Rainger]

Inside Out, by Terry Trueman.

Zach is a 16-year-old suffering from schizophrenia. He sometimes says and does inappropriate things. He has trouble telling what is real. He hears voices. Stress only makes things worse. In a coffee shop, Zach is suddenly caught up in a tense hostage drama. The two teen gunmen don’t realize they may have bitten off more than they can chew. Who knows what could happen if Zach doesn’t get his medicine on time?

Zach is explaining to his captors that it wasn’t his parents who caused his illness. He says you don’t get like me because of abuse or being told you’re stupid or having you nose rubbed in your sheets if you pee your bed. Zach says this really happened to a depressed guy he met in the hospital.

When the younger of the two hostage takers accidentally misfires his gun, it scares a little girl held in the room with the others. She urinates in her dress. Her mother reassures her that it is all right. Zach seems to fixate on the event. He wonders if her mother will rub her nose in the pee. In conversation with the police and his psychiatrist, he recounts the event of the girl wetting herself.

When some of the hostages are released, the girl’s mother comes over to thank him for his bravery. She touches Zach. He wonders if the lady’s hand has pee on it from hugging the little girl. He decides that she is nice and would never rub her little girl’s nose in the sheets if the girl we the bed.

Later, Zach describes the little girl walking out of captivity with her hands behind her head and a wet spot on her dress.