Alvin Ho: Allergic to the Great Wall...by Lenore Look

The actual title is Alvin Ho: Allergic to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and Other Tourist Attractions. Alvin is afraid of pretty much everything, and his family is visiting relatives in China to celebrate Christmas. He's afraid of the security check, the plane flight, pilots falling asleep, bathrooms, eating strange food, and so on. He won't eat his aunt's breakfast, the Great Wall freaks him out, and the smog in Beijing has him terrified. This is all bad enough, but it's especially hard on everyone else. How can they enjoy the visit with Alvin going nuts?

This book may not appeal to many visitors of this blog, because it's directed more toward younger readers. As the first paragraph suggests, the plot describes how Alvin's fears disrupt himself and everyone around him. The big conflict in the book occurs when he accidentally loses his dad's passport. It's kind of hard to return to the United States without a passport! Alvin also must figure out some way to grant a little Chinese girl's Christmas wish for a new friend.