30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Go ask Alice, March 24, 2005
When Phyllis Reynolds Naylor came out number one on the 2004 list of "Most Banned" books in America due to her "Alice" series, she probably didn't see it as a good thing. But an unintended result of that dubious honor is the publicity that came with it. As a children's librarian, I was (until the list was published) in the dark about Naylor's "Alice" books and hadn't so much as perused one before. So I decided to begin at the very beginning with "The Agony of Alice" to see where it might take me. After all, why is it that these books incite such fear and lamenting by ban-crazy parents nationwide? I've got two little words for you: Breasts and blood. Yep, this is a book about a girl crossing over from ignorant fifth-grade to cool collected know-it-all sixth grade. From tweenship into teenship. And so on. And if you fear for your children's pure little lily-white minds should they ever hear the word "period" or "bra" enter into a book's conversation, then "The Agony of Alice" is not for you. But for those kids who not only identify with Alice but take after her, the series is a godsend.
Growing up in a male-dominated household (one father, one brother) isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sure, you don't have to worry about table manners but sometimes it's nice to have someone to ask about bras and shopping for jeans, and that kind of stuff. And what Alice wants most in the world at this moment is a mother. Her own died when she was four and ever since then she's been on the lookout for a replacement. She thinks she's found one too, when she sees beautiful Miss Cooper, the sixth grade teacher, on her first day at a new school. Unfortunately, Miss Cooper isn't Alice's teacher. Instead, she's stuck with dumpy old Mrs. Plotkin. Alice would do anything to switch classes, but as the year goes on she begins to learn that there may be more to Mrs. Plotkin than meets the eye... and less to Miss Cooper.
The book hits the pre-adolescent girl mindset perfectly. Alice, at first, lives in a state of perpetual and constant embarrassment. She's embarrassed about things she did when she was in Kindergarten. She's embarrassed about accidentally walking in on a guy in a changing room. She's embarrassed when she wears shirt slathered in perfume and when she accidentally kicks Miss Cooper in the arm. But while she never stops doing potentially damaging things, she does come to the conclusion that, "I wondered... if people went on doing stupid things even after they reached twenty. Yep, I decided. They just didn't worry about them so much, that's all". And while it is clear that Alice hasn't reach some kind of a plateau of tween understanding, she at least sorts a couple issues out here and there.
In the end, it's a fun book that serves a useful purpose. Though it was originally published in 1985 and contains some downright dated elements (her brother goes out with a girl with pink glasses frames and people walk around wearing jeans that read "Hang Ten" on them) the book has remained popular with the young `uns. That's quite an accomplishment. So if you're sitting at home one night and the urge strikes you to read a banned book, this might not be a bad selection. It has just the right elements of humor and self-knowledge to make the reading enjoyable. A nice title.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Agony of Alice, December 4, 2005
A Kid's Review
The Agony of Alice.The auther of this book is Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.The main character is Alice. Alices mother died when she was just a baby. so now so she is in sixth grade and she just wants someone to teach her to be a teenager. She has a big brother(Lester) and a dad. the plot of this story is she gets a boyfriend and she just wants to ask questions on how to keep a boyfriend and how to provent(Patrick)from bracking up with her.Alices quote is sixth grade is tough.The meaning of this story is how to be a teenager with a boyfriend.I really like this story because im in sixth grade and im figering out how to be a teenager with out screwing up.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Who hasn't lived through Alice's agony?, December 11, 2006
The summer before sixth grade, Alice McKinley, her dad Ben and older brother Lester move to a new town...where Alice unwittingly manages to humiliate herself almost immediately. First she makes a fool out of herself in front of her new neighbor and classmate, the perfect Elizabeth; then she accidentally barges in on a red-haired boy in a store changing room.
To Alice's horror, the boy turns out to go to her new school. And to make matters worse, Alice doesn't get the pretty young teacher she had hoped to have as a practically subsitute mother, but rather the older, physically unattractive Mrs. Plotkin.
For once determined to change her destiny, Alice tries to talk the principal into switching classrooms. And when that fails, she decides to be outright rude and uncooperative, trying to make Mrs. Plotkin want to get rid of her. Instead, to Alice's great surprise, Mrs. Plotkin reacts with kindness...and before she knows it, Alice has her first lesson in never judging a book by its cover.
If you've never given the "Alice" series a try, give this book a try! You'll soon be looking for the rest of the series, eager to find out what else Alice has been up to.
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