Alvin Ho: Allergic to School, Girls, and other Scary Things

Author: Lenore Look
Lexile measure: 600
Language:  "Shakespearean cursing" , and "stupid" used but noted as not ok.
Violence:  the main character joins a "gang" which is probably more like a clique of boys than a real gang
Big Kid Mature Topics:  main character gets left outside stranded in a tree by his siblings, also he can't make friends at school and has selective mutism for which he sees a therapist.
Illustrations: comic book like black and white line drawings every several pages--really effective for the boy set.
Plot: moderately complex

I liked this book.  It has an appealing main character and the parents are portrayed sympathetically (unlike so many books these days that mock parents).  These parents are really awesome.  I wished they were mine!  That being said, I'm not sure how appealing this would be to the younger set, especially since a lot of the action takes place at school.   I'm especially not sure how well it would work with girls.  But I'm looking forward to introducing it to my boy and seeing how he likes it (once he learns to read).