Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things (Alvin Ho #1)

by Lenore Look (Author) Leuyen Pham (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
Series: Alvin Ho

Here's the first book in the beloved and hilarious Alvin Ho chapter book series, which has been compared to Diary of a Wimpy Kid and is perfect for both beginning and reluctant readers.

Alvin, an Asian American second grader, is afraid of everything--elevators, tunnels, girls, and, most of all, school. He's so afraid of school that, while he's there, he never, ever, says a word. But at home he's a very loud superhero named Firecracker Man, a brother to Calvin and Anibelly, and a gentleman-in-training, so he can be just like his dad.

From Lenore Look and New York Times bestselling illustrator LeUyen Pham comes a drop-dead-funny and touching series with a truly unforgettable character.

"Shares with Diary of a Wimpy Kid the humor that stems from trying to manipulate the world." --Newsday

"Alvin's a winner." --New York Post

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Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

Alvin Ho, a Chinese-American second-grader with “so-so performance anxiety disorder,” is afraid of just about everything: elevators, tunnels, kimchi, wasabi. But one thing is especially frightening: “I have never spoken a word in school,” Alvin says, and he's mystified, “since I come from a long line of farmer-warriors who haven't had a scaredy bone in their bodies since 714 AD.” By the end of the story, his fears are pretty much intact—but he's found a friend, made progress on his “How to Be a Gentleman” list and learned that joining a “gang” is for the birds. Look's (the Ruby Lu series) intuitive grasp of children's emotions is rivaled only by her flair for comic exaggeration, as in Alvin's description of his elderly piano teacher: “She bent like a question mark... and looked exactly like her pictures in The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales, Deluxe Edition .” It's perfection that Alvin's friend turns out to be his once-despised desk buddy, Flea, a one-eyed girl with one leg longer than the other, “like a peg leg”; she prides herself on her understanding of him, and he enthusiastically thinks her eyepatch and legs make her look like a pirate. Ahoy! Ages 6–10. (July)

Copyright 2008 Publishers Weekly used with permission.

Review quotes

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2008:
"A witty glossary and Pham's simple yet expressive line drawings perfectly complement this appealing story about the refreshingly original, endearing Alvin."
Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, July 7, 2008:
"Look's . . . intuitive grasp of children's emotions is rivaled only by her flair for comic exaggeration."
Lenore Look
Lenore Look is the author of the popular Alvin Ho series, as well as the Ruby Lu series. She has also written several acclaimed picture books, including Henry's First-Moon Birthday, Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding, and Brush of the Gods. Lenore lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.

LeUyen Pham is the award-winning and critically acclaimed illustrator of more than one hundred books for children. Her picture books include Bear Came Along by Richard T. Morris, named a Caldecott Honor Book, as well as Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio and the Vampirina Ballerina series by Anne Marie Pace. She is also the illustrator of Princess in Black, the New York Times-bestselling middle grade series by Shannon and Dean Hale, and the co-creator, along with Shannon Hale, of the New York Times-bestselling graphic memoirs Real Friends and Best Friends. Her most recent author-illustrator book, Outside, Inside, is a recollection of our year in lockdown.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780375849305
Lexile Measure
600
Guided Reading Level
P
Publisher
Yearling Books
Publication date
May 12, 2009
Series
Alvin Ho
BISAC categories
JUV019000 - Juvenile Fiction | Humorous Stories
JUV039050 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Emotions & Feelings
JUV045000 - Juvenile Fiction | Readers | Chapter Books
Library of Congress categories
Friendship
Self-confidence
Fear
Concord (Mass.)
Chinese Americans
Rhode Island Children's Book Awards
Nominee 2010 - 2010

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