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Lenore Look

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Children's Books

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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 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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Lenore Look’s books

Average rating: 3.89 · 14,508 ratings · 2,082 reviews · 33 distinct works • Similar authors

	Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things (Alvin Ho, #1) by Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator) 3.82 avg rating — 7,047 ratings — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters (Alvin Ho, #2) by Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator) 4.01 avg rating — 1,636 ratings — published 2009	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ruby Lu, Brave and True 3.92 avg rating — 1,038 ratings — published 2004 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Allergic to Birthday Parties, Science Projects, and Other Man-made Catastrophes (Alvin Ho, #3) by Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator) 3.99 avg rating — 675 ratings — published 2010 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Allergic to Dead Bodies, Funerals, and Other Fatal Circumstances (Alvin Ho, #4) by Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator) 4.17 avg rating — 598 ratings — published 2011 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Brush of the Gods by Lenore Look, Meilo So (Illustrator) 3.96 avg rating — 601 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything by Lenore Look, Anne Wilsdorf (Illustrator) 3.93 avg rating — 424 ratings — published 2006 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Allergic to Babies, Burglars, and Other Bumps in the Night (Alvin Ho, #5) by Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator) 4.12 avg rating — 386 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Allergic to the Great Wall, the Forbidden Palace, and Other Tourist Attractions (Alvin Ho, #6) by Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham (Illustrations) 4.08 avg rating — 338 ratings — published 2014 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding by Lenore Look, Yumi Heo 3.88 avg rating — 291 ratings — published 2006 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Lenore Look…

Series by Lenore Look

Alvin Ho (6 books)
by

Lenore Look,

LeUyen Pham (Illustrations)

3.90 avg rating — 10,815 ratings

Ruby Lu (3 books)
by

Lenore Look,

Stef Choi (Illustrator)

3.92 avg rating — 1,640 ratings

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, Allergic to Birthday Parties, Science Projects, and Other Man-made Catastrophes

tags: boys, fear, gender, girls

35 likes

“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, Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things

11 likes

“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

2 likes

See all Lenore Look's quotes »

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