Synopses & Reviews
In between, that's what Alice decides she is. During the spring of seventh grade and the summer that follows, she feels she is neither child nor woman, and waits, not so patiently, for beauty to blossom.
As she turns 13 and her older brother, Lester, takes her out on the town, some almost grown-up things happen to her, but there are unexpected dangers attached. And a marvelous trip to Chicago with her best friends, Pamela and Elizabeth, proves that "in-between" may not be such a bad place to be after all, when Pamela, acting too old for her age, attracts some unwanted attention, and Elizabeth promptly goes into shock. And when Patrick comes back into Alice's life again, she realizes she doesn't have to rush things.
Being 13 has its advantages, she decides. Taking the pencil test, buying a hermit crab, and taking part in long conversations about life and sex are all a part of her world now. Alice is glad that the first seven grades are over with and she's a teenager at last, but she's also happy she does not yet have to face some of the problems -- mostly with girls -- that her brother faces, or even her father. For anyone who is in-between (and who isn't?) Alice in-Between is a book to savor.
Review
Kirkus Reviews Naylor's books about Alice get better and better. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review Energetic dialogue and sprightly episodes keep the series fresh.
Synopsis
Alice has waited all her life to be 13. Now that she's not a kid anymore, Alice and her girlfriends talk about their bodies and about the boys at school. During that special summer, Alice's friend Patrick comes back into her life--and Alice realizes that being in-between seventh and eighth grade is a time she will never forget.
Synopsis
Finally, Alice is thirteen. But being a teenager isn't always as fantastic as Alice dreamed it would be. A sophisticated night on the town with her brother, Lester, and an overnight train trip to Chicago with Elizabeth and Pamela are exciting, but they also give her a firsthand look at some of the perils of grown-up life.
About the Author
PHYLLIS REYNOLDS NAYLOR, author of more than eighty books for both children and adults, has experienced many of the same embarrassments as Alice McKinley in the Alice series, and even more that she wouldn't dare write about. She says she has a photographic memory of every stupid, ridiculous thing she has ever done. She also uses, in episodes in her Alice books, embarrassing things that have happened to other people.
She lives with her husband, Rex, a speech pathologist, in Bethesda, Maryland, and frequently travels about the country visiting schools and libraries, where she gets even more ideas for her books. The Naylors have two grown sons, Jeff and Michael.
Other books by Phyllis Naylor include The Agony of Alice; Alice in Rapture, Sort Of; Reluctantly Alice; All but Alice; Alice in April; Night Cry; A String of Chances; Send No Blessings; and Shiloh, which was awarded the 1992 Newbery Medal.