Maggie can have any pet—except all the ones with dander.
Allergic is a middle grade graphic novel by Megan Wagner Lloyd and illustrated by Michelle Mee Nutter released March 2, 2021.
Margaret "Maggie" Wilson, who has just turned ten and is the oldest of three-soon-to-be-four, is finally able to pick out the dog she's been hoping for her entire life. She's been wishing for a dog for years—and in part wants one now because she feels she's the odd one out in her family as her parents are worried about the new baby on the way and her younger twin brothers have each other to entertain themselves. She picks out the perfect puppy—
—and then promptly breaks out in hives and itching. Come to find out she's severely allergic to pet dander—meaning everything with fur or feathers, which is devastating for the Animal Lover Maggie is. Now all Maggie wants to do is outwit her allergies and find the perfect pet for her—one way or another.
Allergic contains examples of:
- Always Identical Twins: Maggie's younger brothers, Liam and Noah, are identical twins who in her opinion only pay attention to each other and are seen together practically through the entire book. This wouldn't stand out, except this is partially Deconstructed when, on the night their mom is away giving birth, Liam admits to Maggie that sometimes Noah can be overwhelming and he'd like time with his sister too. She's later shown treating them a little more like individuals.
- Anger Montage: Maggie has one after learning she's so severely allergic to animal dander; she tears down all the pictures of animals in her room and gets rid of all her books about animals in anger. Her room remains undecorated as she struggles to find a pet, until the end when, after visiting an aquarium with her mom and baby sister June, she decides she wants to be a marine biologist and re-decorates her room with various images and toys of sea creatures and adds a fishtank.
- Animal Lover: Maggie adores animals, so she's devastated to learn she's severely allergic to pet dander—or everything with fur or feathers.
- Artistic License – Animal Care: Maggie keeps her mouse Pipsqueak in a cage much too small for a mouse—and later much too small for her and eleven baby mice. Justified in that she's trying to hide Pipsqueak so her parents don't find out she's got a pet.
- Bad Bedroom, Bad Life: Maggie's room is empty of decorations after she tears down all the pictures of animals and gets rid of all her books about animals in anger after learning she's so severely allergic to animal dander. She redecorates it at the end once she decides she wants to be a marine biologist.
- Best Friend: Maggie ends up with two: Claire, a girl one grade above her who just moved next door to her, and Sebastian, a boy in her grade level who's allergic to eggs.
- Birthday Beginning: The book starts on Maggie's tenth birthday, where she's eager to finally get her new pet dog she's wanted for years. Then she finds out how severely allergic to animal dander she is.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: It's on Maggie's tenth birthday, when picking out a new puppy, that she learns she's severely allergic to animals. She doesn't get the puppy.
- Boys Like Creepy Critters: Maggie's second attempt at a pet results in the lizard she gets fascinating her twin brothers Liam and Noah, so she gives it to them.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Liam and Noah blurt out to their grandma that Maggie has twelve pet mice hidden in her room, angering her.
- Class Pet: At the start of the school year, the teacher shows they have a class pet—a guinea pig. Maggie immediately breaks out sneezing and the teacher has the class pet sent to the other fifth grade classroom. Maggie is sure the whole class hates her now.
- Covers Always Lie: Minor, but the dog shown on the cover of the book is only seen during Maggie's attempt to adopt them—shortly before she finds out she's allergic, and thus is never seen again. The dog that does later show up, Claire's puppy Lucky, is brown.
- First Day of School Episode: Partially into the story. The school boundaries have recently changed, so Maggie now has to go to Golden River Elementary instead of her old school—and none of her other friends were transferred, making her the New Transfer Student.
- Foreshadowing:
- Sebastian tries to say hi to Maggie in passing when she's first called to the office to go get her first allergy shot, but she storms past him in a mood. He's later revealed to have an allergy himself—to eggs—and it's clear he was trying to bond with her over having allergies.
- Maggie's first attempt at a non-furry pet—a fish—goes poorly, and the fish dies. Fish are also seen in the background of the pet store where Maggie and Claire buy her pet mouse, but they avoid them. After baby June is born and Maggie goes to the aquarium with her mom, she decides she wants to study marine biology and gets a new aquarium in her room with the perfect pet—fish. This time she knows what to do to care for them properly.
- Maggie, when naming baby mice with her best friend Claire, decides the name June just isn't fitting for a mouse. At the end, this name is given to her new little sister.
- Maggie complains that her parents have been promising to take her to the beach for three years and haven't yet. They do the June after baby June is born, and this is where Maggie decides she wants to become a marine biologist.
- Infant Sibling Jealousy: Maggie has this briefly when her mother says "sweetie" to her middle (the baby). Maggie indignantly says that she's sweetie.
- New Baby Episode: The other theme of the book. Maggie's mother is pregnant and her parents are occupied with the upcoming birth. The baby is born a girl, and Maggie names her new sister June.
- New Transfer Student: Maggie is starting fifth grade at Golden River Elemntary; school boundaries have changed, so she has to go to a new elementary school where none of her friends attend.
- Plot Allergy: The main plot of the book, and played very realistically. After Maggie tries to adopt a puppy—something she's always wanted—she breaks out in hives. A skin prick test shows she's severely allergic to pet dander, and she spends the rest of the book desperately trying to find out what pet she can have that won't aggravate her allergies.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure:
- Claire, Maggie's new friend next door who has lived in apartments her whole life, gets a pet dog. Maggie, who is still upset that she can't have the puppy she always wanted, avoids Claire for several days.
- After Maggie's brothers blurt out she has a secret mouse—twelve of them—Maggie first screams at them before screaming at her friend Claire that it was all her idea to get the mouse in the first place and she can't have pets like Claire can. They make up the day Maggie's younger sibling is born and apologize to each other.
- Poster-Gallery Bedroom: Maggie's room starts this way, covered in posters of various animals such as cats, dogs, and bears to show she's an Animal Lover. When she learns she's so severely allergic to animal dander that the family can't have a dog, she tears down all the posters and gets rid of all her books about animals in anger. Her room remains undecorated as she struggles to find a pet until the end when, after visiting an aquarium with her mom and baby sister June, she decides she wants to be a marine biologist and re-decorates her room with various images and toys of sea creatures and adds a fishtank.
- Secret Pet Plot: Maggie tries to hide a pet mouse in her closet (that she and her best friend Claire worked together to buy her). It fails not only because of Maggie's severe animal allergies, but because Pipsqueak had babies and her brothers blurt the secret out to their grandma. Maggie is made to give the mice back to the pet store, with her mother very upset that she was sold a pregnant mouse in the first place.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The puppy at the start of the book is only seen at the shelter on Maggie's tenth birthday—and because of it, she learns just how allergic to animal dander she is.
- Somewhere, a Mammalogist Is Crying: The baby mice Pipsqueak unexpectedly has are shown small and partially developed instead of bald little pinkies.
- Surprise Litter of Puppies: Maggie's hidden pet mouse Pipsqueak gives birth to a surprise litter of mice. She and Claire try to hide the mice and plan to split them between each other until her little brothers blurt out the secret.
- Time-Passes Montage: Shown as the months passing with a calendar in the book, and then at the end with a mix of events in Maggie's life and baby June growing up over her first several months—which is then followed up with her walking.
- Unsuccessful Pet Adoption:
- Maggie, who has just turned ten, is finally allowed to pick out her very own dog. She finds the perfect one—and then breaks out in itching and hives minutes later, so bad she has to go home and lay down. She's found to be severely allergic to animal dander—anything with fur or feathers—and has to give up her wish.
- Maggie and Claire get her a pet mouse, which Maggie sneaks into the house while Claire distracts her mom. She's found out by her brothers and has to give Pipsqueak—and her unexpected eleven babies—back to the store.
