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Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Tulsa City-County Library.
Jul 10, 2013
Poor Alvin Ho! In previous books he’s been “allergic to” (i.e. frightened by) many things: girls, school, science projects, camping trips, birthday parties and various other scary things. Now, in the fifth book of the series, Alvin Ho; Allergic to Babies, Burglars and Other Bumps in the Night, he comes face-to-face with the biggest, most fearsome challenge yet in his short seven-year life: a new baby in his family! That’s right – Alvin’s mother is going to have another baby. Alvin’s parents and siblings are delighted, which confuses Alvin. Don’t they realize what a new baby means? It could be another girl! Even if Alvin escapes having another sister, there will be stinky diapers to change – lots of them! Babies make other messes too ... and lots of noise ... and does anyone in the family realize that babies are non-returnable? As if a new baby isn’t enough for Alvin to cope with, a burglar has been reported in the neighbourhood and his dad is away on a week-long business trip. The news of a burglar makes Alvin (who is, admittedly, more than slightly phobic) very nervous, but for this he can take some action. He dons his “Firecracker Man” costume, attempts to give the family dog some anti-burglar training, and constructs a burglar trap with his older brother, Calvin. However, a new baby is an entirely different problem.... Lenore Look’s hilarious books about Alvin can be compared to Melanie Watt’s picture books about Scaredy Squirrel, a neurotic rodent who worries about everything. The Alvin chapter books would be fun choices to read aloud as a family, especially as they will be enjoyed by many children who cannot yet read chapter books for themselves.