Bloggin 'Bout Books Blog

This author won me over with her transitional reader when I did Middle Grade March last year. I'm still not over it. Lenore Look has created several novels for young readers: the Alvin Ho series (which is my absolute favorite!), the Ruby Lu series, and several picture books.  Look makes school appearances regularly. She encourages young readers to pursue dream of writing and follow her process at her "glob" (or blog ). She even answers questions posed to her on the Q & A page! Look also maintains contact with schools on her Twitter .  Look grew up in Seattle, and now resides in New Jersey. She credits Alvin Ho with making her a Red Sox fan and gatherer of trivia about Fenway Park. Look's first book was published in 1999. Her books tend to reflect her own experience of growing up as a Chinese-American in America and draw on her experience as an American visiting China. Her characters struggle with their own identity and connecting to family. Al...

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things by Lenore Look is a delightful middle grade read. Alvin Ho is going into 2nd grade and he is afraid of everything. Well, maybe not everything, but he sure is afraid of a lot of things. He can't talk at school, but he manages to make a friend (which he maybe didn't want to) in Flea--a girl with one longer leg than another and blind in one eye. She looks like a pirate which is Alvin's favorite part of her, but she's a girl which means Alvin's automatically afraid of her. Alvin wants to become friends with the biggest kid in 2nd grade, but when he does get his wish he doesn't like it at all. I'm pretty excited to read the next book in this series. It was darling. Middle Grade March Count: 8