Alvin Ho: Allergic to Babies, Burglars, and Other Bumps in the Night

Lenore Look's Allergic to Babies, Burglars, and Other Bumps in the Night is a funny Alvin Ho story for 6 year olds about a boy who's the very last to hear that a baby is coming.

What happens

Alvin was born scared and he's still scared. Mouldy food, hairy ears, full moons, thunder. So finding out his mum is having a baby is a LOT (she told everyone months ago, he just wasn't listening).

Those pictures stuck on the fridge? He thought they were satellite photos of UFO landings.

And that's before the storm. Dad's away on a work trip, there's a thief on the loose in town and then the lights go out. So Alvin does what any seven-year-old superhero would do. He squeezes into his Firecracker Man costume and locks every door in the house.

The next morning Mum jokes that he might have a sympathetic pregnancy. Alvin takes this very, very seriously. By the time he's on the school bus he's quite sure he's pregnant too, and he tells Flea. Who do you think she tells?

It's all in Alvin's own words, and you're right there with him as the worries pile up. The baby might be a GIRL! His brother Calvin is no help at all. He's too busy building a burglar trap over their bedroom door out of samurai swords, a hamster wheel and a boxing glove.

There's a softer side too. Alvin can't talk at school, and he hasn't said a word there since he started. It's handled lightly, but it's why his muddles feel so real. His life savings end up somewhere he never planned, and his grandfather's reaction isn't what he expects at all.

He has plenty of very firm opinions about girls, mostly that they're annoying. Flea, who turns up at his new hockey club with FEARLESS on her helmet, doesn't seem bothered.

If your reader has a big imagination and a head full of what-ifs, they'll probably see a bit of themselves in Alvin. It's a good one for a family with a new baby on the way as well.

What to read next

This is the fifth Alvin Ho book. If this one goes down well, go back to where it all started with Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things. It's the last day of the summer holidays before second grade, Alvin's Personal Disaster Kit is packed, and school is the thing he dreads most.