All but Alice - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743450485 ISBN 13: 9780743450485

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd

Synopsis

Come and meet Alice. Here she is on the brink of being a teenager and discovering that life is just one big embarrassment. Things are not made any easier by the fact that she has no female role model - Alice's mother died when she was four - so there is just her father and older brother - and what could they possibly know about being a girl and growing up? Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's lively, witty style, mixed with poignance and percepton, has captured the essence of adolescent anxieties as we follow Alice through the trials and tribulations of growing up.

About this title

From the Publisher:

There are, Alice decides, 272 horrible things left to happen to her in her life, based on the number of really horrible things that have happened already. She figures that out after the disaster of the talent show. And she realizes that there is no way to fend them off.

But, she reasons, if you don't have a mother, maybe a sister would help. Maybe lots of sisters, a worldwide sisterhood. Be like everyone else, do what others do, and best of all, be part of the "in" group. Then you have sympathy and protection.

It is with this in mind that Alice joins the All-Stars Fan Club and the earring club and becomes one of the Famous Eight. It helps, even when it's a bit boring. On the whole, Alice thinks, she is enjoying seventh grade more than she had ever expected.

Yet Sisterhood, even Famous Eighthood, does not take care of all of her problems or answer all of her questions about life and love. Can she be Sisters with all three girls who want to be her brother Lester's girlfriends? How does she treat the fact that her father is dating her teacher, Miss Summers? How do you accept a box of valentine candy from a boy? In fact, how do boys fit into Universal Sisterhood -- or is there a Universal Humanhood? How far do you go when being part of the crowd means doing something you don't want to do?

As in the earlier Alice books, Alice copes with life in her own way, and her answers to her endless problems are often funny and surprisingly right.

About the Author:

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is the author of more than 85 books for children and adults. She has won numerous awards, including the Newbery Award for Shiloh. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with her family.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• ISBN 10: 0743450485
• ISBN 13: 9780743450485
• Binding: Paperback