Almost Alice /

Gr 9 Up-Alice, now in the end of her junior year in high school, navigates through her friend Pamela's pregnancy scare, a promotion at the school newspaper, and prom. On top of all this, she is considering getting back together with her ex-boyfriend and future prom date, Patrick. But first, she has to figure out her feelings about his overachieving personality, which tends to leave her on the back burner. The different issues and events that Alice goes through seem realistic and believable. However, her emotional reactions are harder to accept. In general, she seems to be more mature, selfless, and rational than most teens. Part of this is due to the fact that Naylor lays out events without getting too deeply into Alice's character in this addition to the series. Also, the forced dialogue tends to drag the book down. Loyal fans of the series will get the most out of this book as they will be more connected to Alice and her friends and anxious to see what happens to them.-Jessie Spalding, Queen Creek Branch Library, AZ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor was born in Anderson, Indiana on January 4, 1933. She received a bachelor's degree from American University in 1963. Her first children's book, The Galloping Goat and Other Stories, was published in 1965. She has written more than 135 children and young adult books including Witch's Sister, The Witch Returns, The Bodies in the Bessledorf Hotel, A String of Chances, The Keeper, Walker's Crossing, Bernie Magruder and the Bats in the Belfry, Please Do Feed the Bears, and The Agony of Alice, which was the first book in the Alice series. She has received several awards including the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Night Cry and the Newberry Award for Shiloh.

(Bowker Author Biography)