About us

Our Story

Poke Prize Press is managed by Clint Cargile and Gillian King-Cargile. Our daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes just after her fourth birthday. We had no experience with the condition and no idea what we were doing. We also struggled to help our daughter understand Type 1 Diabetes. We looked for picture books that could help.

There were not many books out there, and several of them focused on getting sick, being diagnosed, and being in the hospital. Our daughter refused to read them. She cried when she saw that a certain well-known diabetes bear had followed her home from the ICU.

Soon we found books that had more positive and informative stories, but they often portrayed the diabetic character as an outsider whose condition needed to be explained to and accepted by others. Another series took the voice away from the diabetic character and let other people speak for her.

We are both writers and storytellers, so we started telling our daughter different kinds of stories about Type 1 Diabetes. Our stories were meant to entertain her and inform her. Our stories focused on what we could do as a family to shift the focus away from being sick and instead focus on living well.

We created Poke Prize Press to help people whose lives have been impacted by Type 1 Diabetes. We hope our books can help you laugh, learn, and live well.