Alice in Rapture, Sort of [School & Library Binding]

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Author), Phyllis Reynolds Nayor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1999 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

The Summer of the First Boyfriend, Alice's father calls it. It is also the summer between grade school and junior high. Alice's friends keep telling her what she has to do to be a successful seventh grader. She may need a leather skirt. (Alice knows she'll never have one.) And certainly she'll need that boyfriend. In fact, one of Alice's friends has heard that a girl will never have any kind of social life in high school if she doesn't have a boyfriend when she enters junior high. That makes Alice very glad she has Patrick. And glad when her friends Elizabeth and Pamela have boyfriends, too. It is going to be a good summer, she thinks.

And, in this sequel to The Agony of Alice, it is a good summer. There are ball games in the park, bike riding, sitting on the front porch with Patrick and talking -- and sometimes eating chocolates -- and sometimes kissing. But there are problems, too. How do you make yourself beautiful when you are not? How do you cope with an older brother who has no tact and no understanding of your problems? And most of all, how do you act with a boyfriend? Some of the things she hears make Alice think she needs a manual of instructions.

Through triumphs and disasters at the beach, through the trauma of dinner at the country club with Patrick, through moments of terrible embarrassment and discouraging attempts to sort out what having a boyfriend is all about, and through surprising thoughts and decisions, Alice persists in being Alice, a girl who wants to be like other people but who can't stop being herself. Her problems are fun and funny, and readers will find a lot of themselves and their own problems in Alice and her friends.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Returning to the setting of The Agony of Alice , Naylor gives readers a wry and poignant depiction of what Alice's father calls "The Summer of the First Boyfriend." Having lost her mother early in life, Alice must rely on her friends Pamela and Elizabeth, and her Aunt Sally for advice on the rules of dating. But Pamela and Elizabeth are as confused as Alice, and her aunt is just plain behind the times. Alice and boyfriend Patrick endearingly muddle their way through the summer, which includes their first kiss and first argument, a weekend at the beach and a very special dinner at the club. And Alice begins to form her own, maturing opinions; her decision about her relationship with Patrick seems both natural and true. At the end of the summer Alice has become a very special person, and readers will have followed her escapades with eagerness and empathy. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-- Alice, from The Agony of Alice (Atheneum, 1985), gives a repeat performance that is every bit an equal to her first. Alice is in love, and her romance with Peter provides some awkward yet funny moments as she tries to sort out the ins and outs of dating and first boyfriends. For Alice, the course of true love does not run smoothly, for she is experiencing all of the anxieties of pre-adolescence. All the while, she longs for a mother to answer her questions about kissing and the unwritten rules about dating because her understanding, loving father simply can't help with some of the things that a girl needs to know. In the satisfying conclusion, Alice realizes that she had enjoyed Peter more when there was less pressure on the relationship, and the two become once again "just friends." Naylor's dialogue crackles with reality and humor, and the situations in which Alice finds herself are appropriate to the age, yet truly original. A book that is wise, perceptive, and hilarious.
- Trev Jones, "School Library Journal"
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• School & Library Binding: 176 pages
• Publisher: San Val (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0833550284
• ISBN-13: 978-0833550286
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,591,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I guess I've been writing for about as long as I can remember. Telling stories, anyway, if not writing them down. I had my first short story published when I was sixteen, and wrote stories to help put myself through college, planning to become a clinical psychologist. By the time I graduated with a BA degree, however, I decided that writing was really my first love, so I gave up plans for graduate school and began writing full time.

I'm not happy unless I spend some time writing every day. It's as though pressure builds up inside me, and writing even a little helps to release it. On a hard-writing day, I write about six hours. Tending to other writing business, answering mail, and just thinking about a book takes another four hours. I spend from three months to a year on a children's book, depending on how well I know the characters before I begin and how much research I need to do. A novel for adults, because it's longer, takes a year or more. When my work is going well, I wake early in the mornings, hoping it's time to get up. When the writing is hard and the words are flat, I'm not very pleasant to be around.

Getting an idea for a book is the easy part. Keeping other ideas away while I'm working on one story is what's difficult. My books are based on things that have happened to me, things I have heard or read about, all mixed up with imaginings. The best part about writing is the moment a character comes alive on paper, or when a place that existed only in my head becomes real. There are no bands playing at this moment, no audience applauding--a very solitary time, actually--but it's what I like most. I've now had more than 120 books published, and about 2000 short stories, articles and poems.

I live in Bethesda, Maryland, with my husband, Rex, a speech pathologist, who's the first person to read my manuscripts when they're finished. Our sons, Jeff and Michael, are grown now, but along with their wives and children, we often enjoy vacations together in the mountains or at the ocean. When I'm not writing, I like to hike, swim, play the piano and attend the theater.

I'm lucky to have my family, because they have contributed a great deal to my books. But I'm also lucky to have the troop of noisy, chattering characters who travel with me inside my head. As long as they are poking, prodding, demanding a place in a book, I have things to do and stories to tell.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best, but fun, August 2, 2004

By 

Sallie (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alice in Rapture, Sort Of (Paperback)

I don't know about others, but I thought Alice In Rapture wasn't as good as the first in the series. I've actually only read the first two, so my input might not be as good as those who have read more of Alice, but...

I absolutely loved the Agony of Alice. It was funny and moving, and Alice is such a special girl with a distinctively lovely voice. I could relate to her in so many ways and I'm amazed that Phyllis Reynolds Naylor remembers growing up so well. It's lovely that she has such a person as Alice inside her and brought it out so beautifully. I couldn't wait to rush to the library and find the next book!

Alice in Rapture was a bit disappointing because I don't think it had the same humour and personality of the first. I couldn't connect with Alice anymore because she's 11 and already has a boyfriend and worrying about french-kissing...And that's what the entire story focuses on. There was too much of kissing and too little of her first time babysitting, and although it's an important part of getting older, I think it could have been better.

Otherwise, it's still a worth a read, and I'm sure the other books in the series are much better. Alice is still as confused as ever and I think she makes a very wise decision at the end. It isn't boring (of course - Alice never is!) and very fun to read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ANOTHER GREAT READ!!!, August 4, 2003

By 

"ruffledrain" (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alice in Rapture, Sort Of (Paperback)

This is, yet another, great book by Phylis Reynolds Naylor! I relate to Alice a lot with her nervousness when it comes to kissing and all her feelings and situations. The characters tossed around a bit in the last book, start coming to life a little more, but we still don't know a lot about them. This story is chock-ful of emotions, new and not so new, and I highly recommend it.

BLESSED BE!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "An exciting book dealing with 3 girls and their boyfriends", February 16, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Alice in Rapture, Sort Of (Paperback)

It is a must for three girls to have a boyfriend when they enter the seventh grade. In this story, the three girls are best friends. One event in the story happens like this. Alice, the main character, invites her two friends to go with her to the beach with her dad. Alice's brother will be arriving later. Well, Alice hasn't had a new swimsuit, so her dad buys her a bikini. One of Alice's friends gets all the attention from the other boys, and she has a boyfriend!!! When Alice's brother arrives on Saturday, he says he has a surprise for Alice. Guess who it is?

The best part of the book are the personalities of the characters, especially Alice. I recommend this book to girls age 11-14.