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Lenore Look

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I first began making picture books in kindergarten because my other career option at the time was stealing. But a life of crime requires practice and patience, neither of which I had, so I settled into industry, making what I coveted but what my parents could not afford to buy: beautiful books like the ones my teacher read to us in school.

Publishing was no problem in those days, not like it is now. By first-grade, I was my own publisher, making multiple copies of my books by hand. As for fame and fortune, I took care of that, too–I taught my brothers and the neighborhood kids how to wait in line for autographed copies, and I charged them 25 cents a book (an enviable paperback royalty today!), but also accepted candy.

By third grade, I had a...more I first began making picture books in kindergarten because my other career option at the time was stealing. But a life of crime requires practice and patience, neither of which I had, so I settled into industry, making what I coveted but what my parents could not afford to buy: beautiful books like the ones my teacher read to us in school.

Publishing was no problem in those days, not like it is now. By first-grade, I was my own publisher, making multiple copies of my books by hand. As for fame and fortune, I took care of that, too–I taught my brothers and the neighborhood kids how to wait in line for autographed copies, and I charged them 25 cents a book (an enviable paperback royalty today!), but also accepted candy.

By third grade, I had abandoned the literary scene. My parents had bought an old piano and signed me up for lessons and, thus, I began dreaming of becoming a world-famous concert pianist.

Then I came across a book on Maria Tallchief, and became a ballerina, just like that. I weighed only 40 pounds and could leap and pirouette all day without stopping. It was a lot easier than becoming a pianist.

Then I read a book about a surgeon, and one about a veterinarian, and another about a great tennis player . . . and I found myself wanting to become whatever I’d last read.

Eventually I grew up and became a newspaper reporter. It was the perfect job for me. I got paid to do the two things I loved most: writing and being curious. Working as a reporter taught me how to talk to people, how to find the story behind the story, and how to tell a story in a way that keeps a reader reading. I learned to listen to the way people talk. I learned to be precise and concise in my own choice of words. Best of all, the more I wrote, the more I was filled with a sense of wonder. I loved writing not only about what happens to people, but also about what happens inside of them, which is what writing for children is all about, but I didn’t yet know it.

It wasn’t until I became a mother and began reading children’s books again that I felt what the Chinese call yun fuen, a continuing of work begun in past lives. I had long forgotten my early foray into picture books, the thread I’d dropped in kindergarten, a thin rig, like the one a spider would use in rising. I had journeyed nearly 30 years down through space by then, unaware of my silken strand. Then one afternoon, with my two young children clamoring for something to do, I showed them how to fold paper into a book . . . picked up some crayons and a pen, and then . . . felt myself rising . . . returning to that place where I began, that brief age in which I had so many talents, and leapt and pirouetted into the sun, and could not stop.
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Books by Lenore Look

Average rating: 3.84 · 2,631 ratings · 679 reviews · 15 distinct works

	Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things (Alvin Ho, #1) by Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator) 3.80 avg rating — 1,400 ratings — published 2008 — 9 editions	My rating:
	Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters (Alvin Ho, #2) by Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator) 3.91 avg rating — 354 ratings — published 2009 — 8 editions	My rating:
	Ruby Lu, Brave and True 3.80 avg rating — 241 ratings — published 2004 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything 3.87 avg rating — 167 ratings — published 2006 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Alvin Ho: Allergic to Birthday Parties, Science Projects, and Other Man-made Catastrophes (Alvin Ho, #3) by Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator) 3.88 avg rating — 137 ratings — published 2010 — 7 editions	My rating:
	Alvin Ho: Allergic to Dead Bodies, Funerals, and Other Fatal Circumstances by Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator) 4.26 avg rating — 106 ratings — published 2011 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding (Anne Schwartz Books) by Lenore Look, Yumi Heo (Illustrator) 3.80 avg rating — 80 ratings — published 2006	My rating:
	Alvin Ho Collection: Books 1 and 2: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things and Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters by Lenore Look, Everette Plen 3.79 avg rating — 39 ratings — published 2009 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Ruby Lu, Star of the Show by Lenore Look, Stef Choi (Illustrator) 3.76 avg rating — 37 ratings — published 2011 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Henry's First-Moon Birthday 3.77 avg rating — 30 ratings — published 2001	My rating:

More books by Lenore Look…

Series by Lenore Look

Alvin Ho (4 books)
by Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator)

3.85 avg rating — 1,997 ratings

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Quotes by Lenore Look

“It's a secret code," said Calvin. "Girls are not not like boys. If a boy wants to kill you, he says 'I'm going to kill you.' If a girl wants to kill you, she says, 'We need to talk.' That's the code."

I gasped. "Has a girl ever wanted to talk to you?" I asked.

"Yup," said Calvin.

"How come you're still alive?" I asked.

"I vomited," said Calvin.”
― Lenore Look, Alvin Ho: Allergic to Birthday Parties, Science Projects, and Other Man-made Catastrophes

tags: boys , fear , gender , girls

9 people liked it

“A therapist is a very smart person who wears glasses and can help you with your problems by asking a lot of questions instead of giving you shots, which is really amazing. But a psycho, as everyone knows, is a crazy person in the movies that you never want to run into in real life. So a psychotherapist is a very smart crazy person that you should stay away from for your own good.”
― Lenore Look, Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things

4 people liked it

“The best thing about recess is that it doesn't matter if you are having trouble paying attention in class--suddenly, you are paying attention to a million things on the playground.”
― Lenore Look

1 person liked it

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
readers advisory ...: books for Asian kids and/or Asian adoptees	11	48	Feb 23, 2012 03:30pm
The Challenge Fac...: Alphabet Yearly Challenge 2012	176	259	May 14, 2012 10:29pm
The History Book ...: AUTHOR ALPHABET	1102	339	May 24, 2012 03:46am

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