Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters

Lenore Look's Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters is a funny chapter book for 6 year olds about a boy who's scared of almost everything, and whose dad has just planned a camping trip.

What happens

Alvin Ho was born scared and he's still scared. The dark. Long words. The great outdoors (he can't see what's so great about it). He even goes to therapy once a month to help.

So when Dad suggests a weekend in the woods, Alvin's list of what could go wrong runs from freak blizzards to flash floods to death by meteorite. This is his second book, and he's every bit as anxious and funny as before.

The trip itself is really the finish line. Most of the fun is in the build-up. His big brother Calvin orders a pile of survival gear online with Dad's credit card (it's an emergency, apparently). Uncle Dennis teaches him secret tricks with dryer lint and marshmallow earplugs. And the night before, Alvin eats what he's sure is his Last Supper and writes his will.

Being inside Alvin's head is the whole joy of it. He's very serious and very honest, and his worries are so HUGE that you can't help laughing. Then he'll say something about his dad that's so sweet it catches you out.

Have you got a worrier at home? Alvin might be perfect company. His fears are never laughed off, but they're never the end of the story either.

One early scene is worth a word before you start. Alvin gets his little sister to tie him into a homemade straitjacket and tape him inside a big cardboard box, just like Houdini. He gets stuck there, hot and struggling to breathe, until his dad finds him. It's played for laughs, but it's worth a chat if your reader likes copying stunts. In the dream he has in that box, a boy from long ago also uses an old, hurtful word for Chinese people when he asks Alvin where he's from (one you might want to talk through).

What to read next

If this one goes down well, go back to where it all started with Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things. It's in the library too, and it's the one where Alvin starts second grade and still can't get a single word out at school.