FINISHED:

Look, Lenore. (2008). Alvin Ho: Allergic to girls, school, and other scary things. New York: Schwartz & Wade/Random House.

[LOTS of Mock Newbery buzz on this one. I liked it a lot - best book of the year... um, no. Alvin Ho is ready to begin 2nd grade, but he has selective mutism - outside of school he's a chatty Cathy, but when he gets to school he goes mute and can't speak at all. This is a fun little read which chronicles a few different events in Alvin's life, mostly centered around beginning a new school year and his attempts to make friends. Alvin is a sweetly drawn character whom you will root for, and those around him are interesting as well - his genius brother Calvin, spunky little sister, and Flea, a girl in his class who wears an eye patch. Looks like there are further adventures of Alvin to be published next year, and I was intrigued enough with this one to read the next. OH! And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention LeUyen Pham's fantastic illustrations which ABSOLUTELY add tons to the text. Newbery Honor, maybe...]

STARTED:
Korman, Gordon. (2008). The 39 clues [Book 2]: One false note. New York: Scholastic.

[They've kind of got me hooked...]

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