Module 4: Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things

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

 

Book Summary

Alvin Ho is a young boy who is scared of many things, one of them being speaking at school. It’s hard to make friends at school when you never talk. Alvin Ho does have one person who wants to be his friend…a girl. That just won’t do. Then Alvin Ho has a great item for show-and-tell that he thinks will help him makes friends, but things go terribly wrong. Alvin Ho struggles with overcoming his fears and making friends, while also trying to be a gentleman.

APA Reference of Book

Look, L. (2008). Alvin Ho: Allergic to girls, school, and other scary things. New York, NY: Schwartz & Wade Books.

Impressions

Alvin Ho is a hilarious young character. I loved how he was always trying to remember how to act like a gentleman, but usually fell a little bit short.

Professional Review

“Funny. Multiculturalism/diversity doesn’t stick out, it’s just there. Funny. Episodic chapters–each one a complete narrative arc–serve a young audience that’s still learning to read novels. Funny. Each chapter builds, realistically if only slightly, on the theme of overcoming fears. Funny. Funny. Funny. Funny. Funny. Funny.”

Lindsay, N. (2009). Anatomy of a mock Newbery [Review of the book Alvin Ho: Allergic to girls, school, and other scary things]. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://blogs.slj.com/heavymedal/2009/01/13/anatomy-of-a-mock-newbery-2/

Library Uses

Since this is a chapter book, you would not be able to sit down and read the entire book to a group of kids. So I would maybe feature it as “Book of the Month” and have a mini book club. There could be a program at the beginning of the month where the book is introduced. An excerpt could be read and a list of discussion questions could be given out. A display could be set up for that month where kids write or draw what they are “allergic” to. This could be a fun activity to show kids that they have something in common with each other. Then at the end of the month you could have a book club party where you discuss the book, talk about if they have ever overcome their fears, and celebrate reading a book together.