When the Fairytale Princess has a Peanut Allergy, New Picture Book Comes to the Rescue

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y., Sept. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly six million children in the U.S. have food allergies, according to the journal Pediatrics, and peanut allergies are the most common. A new picture book, The Princess and the Peanut: A Royally Allergic Fairytale, by Sue Ganz-Schmitt (Wild Indigo Publishing), helps kids learn about food allergies through a fairytale classic with an allergic twist. Ganz-Schmitt, a global philanthropist and also the author of Even Superheroes Get Diabetes, has made it her mission to help children and families worldwide, and to address kids' serious medical problems with lighthearted, informative stories. Both books are illustrated by artist and award-winning filmmaker Micah Chambers-Goldberg.

Ganz-Schmitt was inspired to write The Princess and the Peanut, www.royallyallergic.com, because her daughter's friend had life-threatening peanut allergies. By pairing a familiar fairytale with the unfamiliar world of a potentially-fatal medical condition, the book provides a terrific resource that's also entertaining and fun. View the book trailer: http://youtu.be/XsKTMkRNgbM.

When a peanut butter-loving prince searches for a bride and an alleged princess appears, the queen decides to test her by placing a pea underneath a pile of mattresses and sending her to bed. But the kitchen is out of peas, so the queen tries a peanut instead, only to discover a real princess with real food allergies. Will the prince give up his PB&J's for the princess? The book includes a Q&A on food allergies and a kid-friendly glossary.

Ganz-Schmitt's previous book, Even Superheroes Get Diabetes, was praised by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Philadelphia Children's Hospital, a leader in juvenile diabetes. Originally released by Dog Ear Publishing, it will be re-released by Wild Indigo Publishing.

Author and philanthropist Sue Ganz-Schmitt co-founded a Haitian AIDS orphanage, traveled to China to help medically-challenged orphans, and established a birthing clinic in rural India. Her writing has been inspired by children with diabetes, severe allergies, and leukemia. A Los Angeles resident, Ganz-Schmitt also produces children's musical theater.

Micah Chambers-Goldberg wrote and directed the award-winning live-action short, The Lifter Upper. His animated short, Who Stole the Mona Lisa?, premiered at the Philadelphia International Festival Of The Arts. He's illustrated children's books, designed toys and showroom environments, and painted live, on-stage, for Def Poetry Jam.

SOURCE Wild Indigo Publishing