Book Review: The Princess and the Peanut Allergy

The Princess and the Peanut Allergy is a book written by Wendy McClure.  It is a wonderful story of a little girl named Paula who has a peanut allergy.  Her best friend, Regina, is having a princess birthday party with a beautiful birthday cake… that contains peanuts.  Regina and Paula both get upset and have some hurt feelings at first, but the ending is very sweet and heart warming.

The Princess and the Peanut Allergy  is a very cute book with a fairy-tale, birthday party, and princess story line – all a young girls favorite.  It has a realistic situation, that any little girl with a peanut allergy could run into.

My daughter, Bean, loved this book!

I asked her for her what she thought about it, and she said, “I like it because I am just like Paula.  I couldn’t eat the cake either, and would feel sad too.”  She identified with the character and the situation.  She liked it so much that she wrote about it in her journal on Friday at school, and her teacher suggested that she read it in front of the entire class on Monday.  Friday night my parents kept my girls overnight, so we could go out for our 11th anniversary.  She took the book with her and read it to her grandparents too.  Then, on Monday she read it to her class.  She said she was nervous at first, but then “took a deep breath” and read it.  She said everyone clapped, and the teacher allowed the children to ask her some questions about her peanut allergy.  A few children did ask questions.  I love how this allowed the other children to get a little better understanding about peanut allergies and how very serious they are.

It has colorful, and cute illustrations, and a good story line. The Princess and the Peanut Allergy effectively addresses some of the social issues that children with food allergies face. “You’re not invited to my birthday party,” is the most painful words a young child can hear from a friend. These two girls figure out a way to get past this though.  I did find it odd that Paula’s best friend, didn’t know she had a peanut allergy.  However, it didn’t seem to make any difference to my daughter.  She didn’t question it at all.  She liked the book so much that she made a The Princess and the Peanut Allergy book mark!

It can be purchased here online at Amazon.com

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. All opinions are my own and my daughters, and were in no way influenced by anyone else.