Chil­dren’s

Pin­ny the Peanut Learns About Allergies

Rochel Burstyn; Tali Apt, illus.
  • Review
By – June 22, 2016

With so many chil­dren who have aller­gies and so many oth­ers who encounter aller­gic chil­dren in school or at camp, it is help­ful to increase edu­ca­tion about aller­gic reac­tions for both safe­ty and inclu­sion pur­pos­es. This pic­ture book, geared to an Ortho­dox sen­si­bil­i­ty in its illus­tra­tions and empha­sis on mitz­vah, tells its sto­ry in well-scan­ning rhyme from the point of view of a peanut named Pin­ny and focus­es main­ly on peanut aller­gies. The book is filled with sci­en­tif­ic fact about his­t­a­mines, med­ica­tions, and ana­phy­lax­is as well as pro­vid­ing a reminder to chil­dren that, although they are taught that shar­ing is an impor­tant val­ue, it is appro­pri­ate to say no when asked to share food. It is cau­tion­ary and edu­ca­tion­al with­out being undu­ly fright­en­ing and might be use­ful in school or camp envi­ron­ments as well as in indi­vid­ual homes. It is geared for ages 4 – 8.

Relat­ed Content:

Michal Hoschan­der Malen is the edi­tor of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s young adult and children’s book reviews. A for­mer librar­i­an, she has lec­tured on top­ics relat­ing to lit­er­a­cy, run book clubs, and loves to read aloud to her grandchildren.

Discussion Questions