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Published Jul 2011
240 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
Like twelve million other Americans, Sandra Beasley suffers from food allergies. Her allergies - severe and lifelong - include dairy, egg, soy, beef, shrimp, pine nuts, cucumbers, cantaloupe, honeydew, mango, macadamias, pistachios, cashews, swordfish, and mustard. Add to that mold, dust, grass and tree pollen, cigarette smoke, dogs, rabbits, horses, and wool, and it's no wonder Sandra felt she had to live her life as "Allergy Girl." When butter is deadly and eggs can make your throat swell shut, cupcakes and other treats of childhood are out of the question - and so Sandra's mother used to warn guests against a toxic, frosting-tinged kiss with "Don't kill the birthday girl!"
It may seem that such a person is "not really designed to survive," as one blunt nutritionist declared while visiting Sandra's fourth-grade class. But Sandra has not only survived, she's thrived - now an essayist, editor, and award-winning poet, she has learned to navigate a world in which danger can lurk in an unassuming corn chip. Don't Kill the Birthday Girl is her story.
With candor, wit, and a journalist's curiosity, Sandra draws on her own experiences while covering the scientific, cultural, and sociological terrain of allergies. She explains exactly what an allergy is, describes surviving a family reunion in heart-of-Texas beef country with her vegetarian sister, delves into how being allergic has affected her romantic relationships, exposes the dark side of Benadryl, explains how parents can work with schools to protect their allergic children, and details how people with allergies should advocate for themselves in a restaurant.
A compelling mix of memoir, cultural history, and science, Don't Kill the Birthday Girl is mandatory reading for the millions of families navigating the world of allergies - and a not-to-be-missed literary treat for the rest of us.
"Intelligent and witty… enthralling… thoughtful and well-written." - Publishers Weekly
"Award winner Beasley... offers a cultural study of living the 'allergic life.'" - Library Journal
"Fascinating… humane and informative." - Kirkus Reviews
"Sandra Beasley's book is both hilarious and moving. It's about what it's like to live in fear of hidden parmesan, but it's also about teenage rebellion, romance and George Washington Carver. Recommended for everyone, no matter what their immune system is like." - A.J. Jacobs, author of My Life as an Experiment and The Year of Living Biblically
This information about Don't Kill the Birthday Girl was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sandra Beasley lives in Washington D.C., where she earned her MFA at American University and worked for several years as an editor for The American Scholar. She serves on the Board for the Writer's Center, where she hosts the Story/Stereo reading series and periodically teaches workshops. You can find her at www.sandrabeasley.com.
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