Thanks to an update from Grace Lin's Facebook fan page, I learned that Lenore Look also wrote a couple books featuring an elementary school-aged Chinese-American boy! I was thrilled because while I do love Grace Lin's books, they mostly feature female main characters, and I wondered if that might seem less appealing to Sebastien when he's older. Interestingly, though, when I picked up this book at the library and told Isabelle it was by the same author as Ruby Lu but is about a boy, she said she didn't want to read it! I decided to read it myself anyway. The humor in this book is even better than in the Ruby Lu books. A few times, Lenore Look's ability to take a slice of Chinese culture and reference it with a twist reminded me of a Chinese Sherman Alexie writing for a young audience. Alvin Ho, the main character, is first and foremost a 2nd grader, and, even more so than Ruby Lu, he just happens to be Chinese.
As with Ruby Lu, Lenore Look was really able to channel the voice of the young Alvin Ho, imaginative and creative Firecracker Man (his superhero alter ego) at home, mute and friendless scaredy-cat at school. While being entertained by Alvin's antics, most of which are motivated by his efforts to make friends, the reader finds that Alvin is able to learn and grow, despite his fears.
Again, I really liked the way Lenore Look casually incorporated a person with disabilities, as she did in Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything. This time, it was a classmate of Alvin's with an eye patch and a limp who was no different from his other classmates except for the apparent piracy that ran in her family.
As usual, I enjoyed the fact that the book was set in Concord, Massachusetts - references to names and places that I know well always makes a book more appealing to me.
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