Nutley, the Nut-Free Squirrel

Purchased this sweet story to teach my 2 year old about her peanut allergy. It worked! We were able to have a conversation about allergies and now if you offer her nuts she says, “No thanks, I’m allergic.”

I can't say I love the way this book reads, but I do love the concept of the book. My 3 year old with an anaphylactic peanut allergy LOVES this book, and that's what matters. I do wish that nutley would have had more severe symptoms than a rash and hives, but at 3 years old it's my job to protect my son from peanuts, so it's more important for him to get the gist of why he can't eat certain things than to get full blown terrified about it I guess.I do appreciate how it highlights that everyone is different in their own way (relating in this case to different food allergies) and how those who care about you don't mind being extra careful for your protection.The best part of this book is that the proceeds are all donated for food allergy research.

Our kids love Nutley and really teaches empathy with food allergies. I love getting a copy for our classrooms. If you have food allergies, you need this book!

Not impressed! Half the book was about other animals sharing their unusually paired food allergies. The squirrel is apparently allergic to peanuts and tree nuts but the author has you infer that detail through the illustrations. She lumps peanuts and tree nuts into the same category, which they are not! The book did not go into explaining other kinds of reactions beyond hives, and what to do if allergy food is ingested. Furthermore, Nutley begins to make an allergy plan but the plan only talks about avoidance. Really? For a 5 star book I expected more. 3 is being generous. Its only 3 because my daughter liked the story.If you are looking for a book for explaining a nut allergy for a child over 5 with just a bit more detail find a different book. If I find a good book I'll update this post. Until then this copy will be collecting dust on my bookshelf. How did this get published?

While I really like this book, I do have to agree with a previous reviewer that it makes light of how serious these allergies can be. I wouldn't want it to talk about shock or anaphylaxis since it is for kids, but find myself re-wording it to say that peanuts make him 'sick'. All in all, the pictures are cute and it's a great way to introduce the topic of food allergies. My 18 month old chooses this book often, so I would call it a win!

Cute book to help explain allergies to any little kid but it also shows allergy kids that they aren't alone.

We ADORE this book! The illustrations are cute and vibrant. It's very relatable for younger children. I read it to a two and three year old often. They bring it to me more than most books and the three year old has a lot of it memorized.That's a great thing when you're teaching them about their food allergies! It's a cute story that focuses a lot on how it's okay to have a food allergy and feel special not "different" in a bad way. I highly reccomend this book to homes with small children and classrooms. Kids with allergies and without will be drawn in by this adorable character.

We have a daughter with a peanut allergy. We are always on the look out for books to help educate her and her brothers about her allergy. I love this book. It talks about the seriousness of allergies without being super scary. It always talks about how other animals have allergies to different things and it’s okay.