Achingly Alice - Softcover

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0689863969 ISBN 13: 9780689863967

Publisher: Simon Pulse, 2003

Synopsis

Alice has decided she needs priorities in her life -- and the first is to get her favorite teacher, Miss Summers, to marry her father. The only problem is that the vice principal, Mr. Sorringer, wants to marry Miss Summers too, and Miss Summers seems to be having trouble making up her mind.

How can someone be in love with two people at the same time? It doesn't make sense to Alice -- until Sam, her friend from Camera Club, starts to pay attention to her. Sam is quiet and gentle, and a terrific dancer -- Alice likes being with him. But Alice has been Patrick's girlfriend for almost two years -- so why is she interested in another guy?

About this title

About the Author

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has written more than 135 books, including the Newbery Award–winning Shiloh. She lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland. To hear from Phyllis and find out more about what’s in store for Alice, visit AliceMcKinley.com.

From Booklist

Gr. 6^-8. At a time of bleak realism in YA fiction, it's great to also have a book that makes you laugh out loud about a young teenager's struggle to grow up. Not that the issues aren't serious. In eighth grade now, Alice grapples with lies, loss, loyalty, and sexual awakening, even as she worries about what to wear to the school Valentine's Day dance. She is still obsessed with getting her widowed father to marry her gorgeous ex-teacher. Like her readers, Alice wants to talk to someone about her body and her sexuality. Does everyone masturbate? What is it like to have a pelvic exam? (Deliberately outrageous, she tells her father and brother at the dinner table about the three things that the doctor says can cause wetness "down there.") Is it all right to feel "wet and tingly" when her boyfriend Patrick kisses her? As always, the adults in her life are nearly all sympathetic, gentle, and funny. Her older brother, Lester, has the best lines, both wry and wise. When he tells her that she will get through a tough time--whether it's a bad hair day or the loss of someone she loves--she knows he is right. This tenth book in a great series reads more like a stop along the way than a complete novel, but Alice's fans will love it and wait for the next one. Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon Pulse
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0689863969
• ISBN 13: 9780689863967
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 160