Deepa, M.D.
Written by Priya Swaminathan
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Twelve-year-old Deepa is ready to un-pause her life. After spending a year in the hospital, she’s itching for things to go back to the way they were before she got sick.
Only everything’s changed. Her parents treat her like she’s made of glass, there’s a mean girl out to get her, and her best friend Renée forgot to mention she has a whole new life now.
But when her Uncle Jai, a genius doctor that patients love to hate and the “Sherlock Holmes” of medical mysteries, needs her help with a tricky case involving a teenage patient, Deepa steps up to the plate—because she knows better than anyone what it’s like to be sick.
But why, oh why, did her first patient have to be her bully’s older brother?
As the case spirals and her illness flares up, Deepa quickly learns that if she wants to save her patient, she’ll have to diagnose what’s going on inside herself first.
Primary ISBN: 9781665981323
Publication Date: May 2026
Available As: Hardcover, eBook
Middle Grade, Age 08 or older
Community Represented: Indian/Indian American, Nigerian/Nigerian American
Themes: Cross-Group Friendship, Diverse Abilities: Physical, Family Relationship: Extended, Family Relationship: Parents, Identity: Body Image, LGBTQIA+, Own Voices/Lived Experience, STEM, Trauma & Healing, Trauma & Healing: Illness
Setting: United States (Los Angeles CA)
Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Unknown Arrival
Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience
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