One Step at a Time

by Deborah Kent

Her life will never be the same.

People at school say Tracy is acting weird. And they're right. Because she has a secret. She thinks she is going blind.

Withdrawing from everyone, Tracy spends more and more time training her dog, Sasha, for the dog show. But she can't keep her secret forever. Finally she must face the truth: She has retinitis pigmentosa. She really is going blind.

Now the kids at school are saying all kinds of things. Some of her friends drop her.

Be brave? How can she be brave when suddenly she feels so all alone?

Genres: Childrens, Young Adult, Fiction, Dogs, Animals

198 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Deborah Kent was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Little Falls. She graduated from Oberlin College and received a master's degree from Smith College School for Social Work. For four years, she was a social worker at University Settlement House on New York's Lower East Side. In 1975, Ms. Kent moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where she wrote her first young-adult novel, Belonging. In San Miguel, Ms. Kent helped to found the Centro de Crecimiento, a school for children with disabilities. Ms. Kent is the author of numerous young-adult novels and nonfiction titles for children. She lives in Chicago with her husband, children's author R. Conrad Stein, and their daughter, Janna.

Reviews

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Tracy realizes she is having vision problems, she begins to withdraw within herself. When the truth is revealed that she has retinitis pigmentosa, and is actually going blind, Tracy feels isolated because she’s pushed everyone away. It takes the encouragement of the one friend who sticks by her to show Tracy that her life isn’t over because of blindness.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like Deborah Kent's novels. I wish I could find more of them but sadly, they aren't very popular. (She writes mostly medical fiction)
Tracy, the main character, has retinitis pigmentosa. It's a sad story, because she's going blind and she's having to deal with things at high school that just seem to be overcomplicated, but it's also a happy story, because she becomes stronger as the book goes on.


P.S. I'm bad at writing reviews. XP

[Rain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book soo much more than I expected. I picked it up and just couldn't put it down. I'm not sure why, exactly I like it; but I really did. There was one thing I would have changed though, at the end I would have held off the rain until they kissed. But it doesn't matter.
All in all, good book!

[Westcoast_girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tracy is going blind. At the same time she is struggling to adjust to high school. At the same time she is trying to enter her dog in a dog show. Confused? So was I. The 3 topics didn't really mix well together and I felt that Tracy's increasing blindness was not described very well.

The ending was abrupt and unfinished.

I learned some interesting things about retinitis pigmentosa but that was about it.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book. I'd actually read it for the first time in high school. The main character did express a lot of anger throughout the book, with becoming blind, but it did have a happy ending. I actually want to know what happens with her next.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice little middle-grade novel, with cute dog stuff included.

[wanderer]

I remember very little about this one, except for the cover and the fact that I liked the dog.