Top 10 allergy books for adults and kids

It’s Allergy Awareness Week so I’ve updated and recycled this post. Apologies if some of it’s familiar.

These are my favourite allergy books:

I had to start with my own, because it’s a life’s ambition to write this book and also it’s the book I wish I’d had, the hand to hold mine as I tried to make sense of why my body was reacting in such a scary way to certain foods.

You can buy Anaphylaxis: The Essential Guide: An Action Plan For Living With Life-Threatening Allergies, on Amazon as a Kindle or paperback.

Click here to find out more – Read more about the No.1 book for Allergies and Anaphylaxis here!

And here, in no particular order, is my run down of the top allergy books.

I’d like to add to this and make it a complete collection so if I’ve missed any really good ones please let me know.

Allergy books for adults

1. ‘Anaphylaxis: The Essential Guide: An Action Plan For Living With Life-Threatening Allergies’ by Ruth Holroyd – the book I wish I’d had. Looking at the psychological impact of anaphylaxis, helping you accept your condition and live a full life despite your allergies.
2. Living with Allergies by Emma Amoscatto – Everything you need to know about allergies – A must have book for anyone living with allergies or caring for someone who has them. Living with Allergies: Practical Tips for All the Family
3. My Family and Food Allergies – The all you need to know guide by Alexa Baracaia is new for 2022 is packed with useful information for the allergic family, from weaning and tips for school to anxiety and eating out. My Family and Food Allergies.
4. ‘Don’t kill the birthday girl’ by Sandra Beasley – A witty, sobering account of living with life threatening food allergies. Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life
5. ‘Allergic girl, Adventures or living with with allergies’, by Sloane Miller – Sloane shares her life living with allergies and shares tips for living positively. Allergic Girl: Adventures in Living Well with Food Allergies
6. ‘When every bite matters – One teen’s journey with food allergies’ by Olivier Deldicque – documents the struggles of a 15 year old with severe food allergies. When Every Bite Matters: One Teen’s Journey with Food Allergies
7. ‘A Little Nut’s Guide to Coping with Food Allergies’ by Octavia Fineman – contains personal stories and advice from different people who have experienced the issues around food allergies. A Little Nut’s Guide to Coping with Food Allergies
8. ‘I am, I am, I am’, by Maggie O’Farrell has a chapter about her experience when her child had an anaphylactic reaction. Beautifully written book about her brushes with death. I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes With Death: The Breathtaking Number One Bestseller
9. ‘How to cook with allergies’ by Lucina Bruce-Gardyne – one of the first cook books I bought and still a favourite. How To Cook for Food Allergies: Understand Ingredients, Adapt Recipes with Confidence and Cook for an Exciting Allergy-Free Diet
10. ‘Simply Italian, Simply Gluten Free’ by Anna Del Conte and Michelle Berriedale-Johnson – Lovely Italian recipes for starters, pasta, risotto etc. that are gluten and dairy free. Simply Italian, Simply Gluten Free: Mostly plant based, mostly milk-free, low lactose and lactose-free recipes

Allergy books for kids

1. ‘You, me and food allergies‘ by Emma Amoscatto – a beautifully illustrated and presented book explaining food allergies for kids. You, Me And Food Allergies
2. Me and My Allergies by Claire Hussein of The Allergy Collective – is a wonderful activity journal to help kids build resilience, help them take ownership and learn mindfulness and gratitude skills and support and wellbeing. Available from www.allergycollective.co.uk
3. Allergy Awareness Activity Book by Thalina Houghton is designed to walk kids through life with an allergy, showing them and teaching them through fun activities. Available from https://www.allergiesinbold.com/shop
4. ‘Nut free and happy‘ by Michelle Diane Lowe – is a wonderful book, full or information, tips, questions, exercises, challenges and more for kids and their families. It’s also inclusive so all the characters come from different ethnic backgrounds. It’s available on Amazon! Buy Nut Free and Happy: A guidebook for children and families living nut free (Free and Happy Allergy Awareness Series)
5. ‘The Bugabees; Friends with food allergies’ by Amy Recob – the story of 8 best friends such as beetle, cricket and butterfly, as they face their respective allergies. The BugaBees: Friends with Food Allergies
6. ‘The Princess and the Peanut’ by Wendy McClure – The princess can eat nuts but her friend can’t. She learns importance of including her friend. The Princess and the Peanut: A Royally Allergic Fairytale
7. ‘Tom’s secret agents: A book about a young kid with a food allergy’ by Jamie Waggot – Tom’s Secret Agents: A Book About a Young Kid with a Food Allergy
8. Nut Free Squirrel: A Funny Bedtime Picture Book for Kids and Adults That You Can Sing to the Melody of “Uptown Girl” by Matthew and Michelle Sullivan. Nut Free Squirrel: A Funny Bedtime Picture Book for Kids and Adults That You Can Sing to the Melody of “Uptown Girl”
9. ‘Luca, the lion who couldn’t eat meat’ by  Mrs Tersha Kate Cutmore and Mrs Victoria Ward-Fowler. Luca the Lion Who Couldn’t Eat Meat
10. ‘Matilda has an allergy’ by Aimee Victoria Allen and Jasmin Murrock. Matilda has an Allergy

This is actually just a few of the books that are out there. There are loads more cookbooks and books for adults and children and I think it’s great to see more authors writing, sharing and helping raise awareness about the challenges of living with allergies.

What are your favourite books? And what are you reading at the moment?

What’s lovely is that many of these books were written by people living with allergies themselves, my own included. Support an author today and buy a book to celebrate World Book Day!