Allergic to Dead Bodies, Funerals, and Other Fatal Circumstances

Starred review from August 15, 2011

Nervous second-grader Alvin Ho digs deep to find the bravery to attend a funeral in this playful and poignant fourth offering in the series.

When Charlie, the best friend of his grandfather, dies, Alvin is desperate to console his gung-gung, volunteering to go to accompany him to the last rites without realizing he'll be in close proximity to a dead body. Once this occurs to him, however, he is terrified—his fear only compounded by his brother's concern that Charlie's death is a bad sign for their similarly aged grandfather. The formula that has worked so well in the earlier installments succeeds here again. Alvin's frenetic first-person voice as he puzzles it all out is engaging and real, often laugh-out-loud funny, and his family life is touching—sweet and frazzled and filled with endearing details like his father's use of Shakespearean curses when he's frustrated. Historical details of the Concord, Mass., setting abound, often comically portrayed due to Alvin's tendency toward literalism. His eventual ability to contextualize and accept the death of someone he knew evolves naturally, and the madcap scenario that precedes it, exacerbated by Alvin's anxiety-related inability to talk in school, is at once hilarious and heart-rending.

A fresh entry in what is overall an exceedingly enjoyable series; readers will cheer this latest. (Fiction. 7-10)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 15, 2011
Grades 2-4 Everyone's favorite anxiety-ridden second-grader is back, this time battling perhaps the ultimate of scary things: death. That means omens, strange new traditions (both American and Chinese), and a dead body. When his grandfather's best friend dies, Alvin makes the horrific big promise to attend the funeral, something the poor kid doesn't have a PDK (personal disaster kit) prepared for. Look's humorous, warm, and thoughtful treatment of mortality, especially where loved ones are concerned, accompanied by Pham's joyful line drawings, will comfort sensitive readers and remind them that if Alvin can confront his fears, so can they.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)