Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things

Author: Lenore Look
Illustrator: LeUyen Pham

Summary: Second grader, Alvin Ho is afraid of a lot of things: elevators, substitute teachers, wasabi, thunder, shots.... Sometimes Alvin is so afraid of things that he cannot speak. School is one of those things. "My voice works at home. It works in the car. It even works on the school bus. But as soon as I get to school...I'm as silent as a side of beef," says Alvin. Since Alvin is afraid of so many things, he considers himself allergic and carries his own PDK (Personal Disaster Kit.) The PDK includes things like a bandana to "prevent smoke inhalation" in case he starts a fire with the mirror and magnifying glass, also in his kit. It's hard to make friends when you don't speak at school, but Alvin is determined to find a way. Unfortunately, his bad decisions lead to disasters that not even the PDK can fix.

Review: Mishaps and misfortune fill the pages of Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things. It's just what reluctant readers crave. Kids will love the jams Alvin gets himself into. Alvin gets stuck upside down in a tree for hours, takes dad-mandated piano lessons from a scary old lady, gets in big trouble with his parents, insults his psychotherapist, and gets involved with a small time gang. Parents will like that the family is whole, with loving, supportive parents involved in their children's lives. Pictures are plentiful and so is the fun. (This is book 1 in a series of 3, so far.)

Interest Level: Grades 2-4
AR Level: 3.8 (worth 3 pts.)
Lexile Level: 600

Profanity:
None

Potentially Inappropriate References:
None

Potentially Inappropriate Behavior:
Alvin borrows things without asking
Alvin insults the psychotherapist with Shakespearean babble: "Get thee gone, thou beshibbering onion-eyed flap-dragon!"

Parental Concern Rating:
0 out of 5