The Bugabees - Friends With Food Allergies by Amy Recob - A Book Review

The BugaBees is a lyrical, imaginative and whimsical tale of eight friends with food allergies. It has been beautifully written and illustrated and is a cute tale that all children will enjoy, especially those with food allergies. Parents of children with allergies know that it is not fun and one of the most difficult challenges is explaining to your child and their friends what allergies are all about and in some cases how serious the reactions can be. This light-hearted story about friendship explores the daily routines of eight best buggy friends such as Beetle, Cricket and Butterfly, as they face their respective food allergies with positivity and poise.

With captivating illustrations and clever rhyming verse, this fun and fanciful tale teaches children to be happy and healthy in spite of an allergy to a particular food. While a child could be allergic to any food, BugaBee characters are based on the eight foods that account for 90 percent of all allergic reactions: peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, milk, soy, eggs and wheat. The BugaBees helps young children who have to deal with the everyday challenges of managing a food allergy. A bonus and really helpful section to the book is the additional activities and talking points in the back which inspire further learning and teaching opportunities for young children and their caregivers (especially useful in a classroom situation).

It has beautifully illustrated graphics to accompany well written explanations of a variety of allergies providing an easy way to explain allergies. It is an informative and gentle book that appropriately handles the sensitive, yet prevalent topic of food allergies. Even children who don’t have food allergies really enjoy the illustrations and learn from the text. The author has taken a very serious subject, one with many negatives, and put a very positive spin on it. The book is recommended for 4 to 8 year olds and is an essential for all allergy specialist waiting rooms, doctors’ surgeries, preschool or day care centres, school libraries and of course for parents of young children with food allergies.

I highly recommend this to anyone who has contact with young children who suffer from allergies!

The Bugabees - Friends With Food Allergies by Amy Recob - A Book Review