Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life

This is a great and fast read. The other reviews are quite thorough re: content, so I will offer a bit of what bothers me in terms of the Authors message...My first problem: As a mother of a food allergic child, I CRINGE when I read the stories of how this talented author/poet found herself in risky situations that could have been fatal. I finished this memoir wondering if my daughter will also find herself in seemingly avoidable mine fields as she grows older and learns to be independent and care for herself. Will my daughter attend a wedding some day, in a foreign country, and eat a desert that results in anaphylaxis? Will she keep her symptoms quiet and experience a significant reaction all alone on a fancy bench? Parents of food allergic children all know that Letting Go as our kids get older is important and necessary - but reading of the reality that may be coming our way, young adults who are not as vigiliant as we know they must be ... well, let's just say that it is going to be A LOT harder for me to to let go now that I have read this book.Another quibble: I am flummoxed as to why the author seems so suspicious/critical of enlisting the help of a school community to help keep allergic kids safe at school. No - Food specific bans are not the answer and I also think peanut smelling dogs are "aghast", but, I am not sure that the author understands just how much food crosses through a typical elementary classroom these days. In addition to a typical 30 individual birthdays being celebrated with gooey cupcakes bigger than a kindergarten student's head, some schools even allow half-birthday celebrations. In the name of "diversity" cupcakes and deserts etc show up for every possible reason. And, in the spirit of making lessons "fun", kids learn to count with candy and fish shaped crackers. The special area support teachers "reward" children with all sorts of candies and sweets, PTA groups award multiple pizza parties. Friday afternoons are frequently labeled "Fun Friday" and the kids eat popcorn while watching a movie so that the Teacher can catch up on endless paperwork. Snack time in many "progressive" schools is not structured ... instead, kids eat a snack from home anytime they want, wherever they want, in the classroom. In the K-2 setting, when an allergic young child is supposed to move freely around her classroom to work at "learning stations", should she have to wonder about the granola bar a classmate was eating while hanging out at the writing center?There is more food in the classroom than ever before. Thus, parents raising children with food allergies today are desperate for help. PLEASE help us by streamlining the amount of food used in the classroom and PLEASE inform us in advance of offering our children something to eat. I fear that the author's message may hurt the efforts of many who work so hard to advocate for a minimization of food in the classroom. The classroom, by the way, is the location where most allergic reactions happen in the school setting.

All of us know people who are deathly allergic to one foodstuff or another, which they must avoid at all costs. Sandra Beasley's life has been circumscribed by a huge list of debilitating, potentially deadly food allergies--eggs, dairy, soy, beef, shrimp, cucumbers, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, mango, cashews, macadamias, pistachios, swordfish and mustard, by her own count. But as Beasley's new book, "Don't Kill the Birthday Girl," demonstrates, she is far too intelligent and spirited to allow those allergies to define or limit her life."Don't Kill the Birthday Girl" is part memoir, part informational non-fiction and part an act of advocacy on behalf of Beasley's fellow 12 million U.S. food allergy sufferers. The other 288 million of us can't really know what it's like to check every list of ingredients or every restaurant menu to ensure that harmless-looking cookie, burger or salad won't kill you. Beasley tells us exactly what it's like to avoid birthday or wedding cake as you would cyanide, or to go into sudden anaphylactic shock because the cocktail you just drank contained sour mix that used dairy protein as a binder, or because your boyfriend didn't tell you he'd just drunk a glass of Ovaltine before you kissed him. Some of the best writing in the book deals with the incomprehension, sometimes bordering on hostility, Beasley encounters from waiters and other strangers who don't understand that stray bit of shrimp or cashew is making her very, very sick. (For my money, however, the best line in the book is directed not at Sandra, but at her vegetarian sister Christina by their Texas grandmother: "Honey, you know God gave us animals so we could eat them.")"Don't Kill the Birthday Girl" contains fascinating information about the history of scientific research into allergies and ongoing advances in food allergy treatments. A fair number of pages are devoted to the current scare over peanut allergies, an allergy Beasley doesn't happen to have. ("In stabilizing peanuts for the sake of storing them in a jar, we may have destabilized their consistent ability to be recognized as food by the body," she writes.)Throughout the book, Beasley's voice is consistently witty, eloquent, and self-deprecating--the perfect guide to the strange and unpredictable world of food allergies. "Don't Kill the Birthday Girl" is an absorbing and fascinating book. Meanwhile, if you want to read more of Sandra Beasley's work--and you almost certainly will--check out her excellent, prize-winning books of poetry: "Theories of Falling" (whose "Allergy Girl" sequence covers much of the same ground as "Don't Kill the Birthday Girl") and "I Was the Jukebox."

Pros: This book was exactly as the title claims. This is a book about the author's experience with life threatening food allergies. Not only does it give many personal examples, but she explains the studies behind food allergies and the history behind certain aspects of said food allergies.Cons: The author is allergic to many things, dairy and egg being the biggest ones. If someone is allergic to some other, so of the advice may not be applicable to them.Overall, this book is helpful in finding ways in which you can live happily in the world despite the risk of death at every corner from food allergies. I purchased this book in order to find ways to help my 3 year old daughter with dairy allergies. I have since found that there are many more causes for concern as she grows including when she is old enough to be on her own. Having said that, I am glad I have this in my library for her to be able to use when she gets to that stage.

I have Celiac Disease and must avoid gluten and dairy. I did not know if this book would help me since I technically do not have an allergy.Sandra Beasley's "Don't Kill the Birthday Girl," however, had a huge impact on how I live my every day life.I have no choice but to constantly think about what I eat and while my reaction is not as extreme or deadly as Sandra's, eating the wrong thing will lead to severe sickness and pain for about 2 weeks.I cannot stop recommending this book to my friends with allergies and without allergies. Her explanations of the difficulty in eating out and dating as well as her excellent discussion of the difference between allergies and Celiac Disease are things that my friends just don't understand.Thank you Sandra for writing a book that describes exactly how I feel as a twenty-something with food issues.

Loved it, bought a copy for my mum to read. Recommended it to everyone I knew who has allergies or has kids with allergies.