When she couldn’t find a book she liked, Richmond mother wrote one

If you want a book written right, write it yourself.

That's the conclusion Trinace Johnson came to after she began looking for books about food allergies for her allergic son, Jordan.

"Most of the selections of child food-allergy books were really, really bad," Johnson said. "I kept thinking, 'I can write a way better and more interesting story than these.'

"Then it hit me that I should do just that," she said. "So I began writing."

In March, she published "Can I Eat This?" herself, and it's now available through Amazon.com. "I'm not on the New York Times best-seller list," she said, "but it's doing OK."

Johnson, 36, lives in Richmond and works at Fort Lee as a civilian communications outreach officer for the Army.

She also designed and illustrated the book, which brings to life a little boy and his day-to-day run-ins with foods containing ingredients he's allergic to.

And it shows him resisting temptations to eat the dangerous items without his parent's permission. Johnson has constructed pitfall situations running from birthday parties and sleepovers to eating in school cafeterias.

"I once went to my friend Isabella's birthday party," she has the book's little boy say. "I didn't want my mommy to worry about what I ate. I already knew to ask Isabella's mother if there were any nuts in the cake."

Such issues are not unrealistic. In fact, Johnson said, "all of the scenarios in the book are taken from my son's life's experiences."

Four-year-old Jordan is allergic to tree nuts, peanuts, pollen and cats, Johnson said, but he's outgrown his egg, soy and milk allergies.

"I found out about the egg allergy when he was about 10 months," she said. "I gave him eggs for the first time and he broke out in hives from head to toe."

Written in child-friendly rhyme, the little volume focuses on helping children better deal with their food allergies, she said, and helping those who care for children with allergies better understand what the kids go through and how to protect them from harmful foods.

"The rate of children with allergies has gone to almost epidemic proportions," Johnson said. "Many schools and day-care centers are having to change entire menus to accommodate more and more children."

In preparation for writing "Can I Eat This?" Johnson said, "I probably read every child food-allergy article that I come across."

She had studied food and nutrition science at Montclair State University in New Jersey for three years and worked as a nutritionist assistant for the Women, Infants and Children program in East Orange, N.J., as well as working with the Petersburg Health Department.

Johnson is setting up an arrangement with a nonprofit child-food-allergy agency to distribute the book. A portion of the proceeds would go toward finding a cure for children's food allergies, she said.

Meanwhile, Johnson said, Jordan thinks the book is great.

"He tells people it's his book."

Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or .