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Summary
Summary
According to Pamela's cousin in New Jersey, the worst thing that can happen to a girl is to start seventh grade without a boyfriend. So Alice is glad that she and Patrick are going together. But Patrick the boyfriend is a lot more complicated than Patrick the friend. What's an appropriate gift for Alice to give him for his birthday? What should she do if he wants to kiss her and she hasn't just brushed her teeth?
Alice really likes Patrick, but sometimes it seems as though life would be a lot simpler if they were still just friends.
Author Notes
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor was born in Anderson, Indiana on January 4, 1933. She received a bachelor's degree from American University in 1963. Her first children's book, The Galloping Goat and Other Stories, was published in 1965. She has written more than 135 children and young adult books including Witch's Sister, The Witch Returns, The Bodies in the Bessledorf Hotel, A String of Chances, The Keeper, Walker's Crossing, Bernie Magruder and the Bats in the Belfry, Please Do Feed the Bears, and The Agony of Alice, which was the first book in the Alice series. She has received several awards including the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Night Cry and the Newberry Award for Shiloh.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 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'' (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
PW said, ``Returning to the setting of The Agony of Alice , Naylor gives readers a wry and poignant tale. 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. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A wide-ranging author--who has proved herself adept at fantasy, the teen-age novel, humor, and historical fiction--writes a funny, perceptive story about the summer before junior high: 12-year-old Alice's Dad calls it ""The Summer of the First Boyfriend."" Alice and Patrick were good friends all through sixth grade, but now their friendship is blossoming into something more. Alice, yearning for the advice she would have had from her mother (who died seven years ago), does her best to figure out how she should behave: Is is essential to have a boyfriend when entering seventh grade? What if she hasn't just brushed her teeth when Patrick wants to kiss her? She has several sources of contradictory advice--Aunt Sally in Chicago (Alice lives in Maryland) is willing but often out of date; her two closest friends are as concerned about the minutiae of ""rules"" as Alice; Dad and older brother Lester, while nice, have a definitely male point of view--though they are known to come through with sensible help when needed. Naylor affectionately captures the angst and humor of this turning-point age without a trace of condescension. A lively, authentic story, with refreshingly pleasant characters--one that may help readers to realize (as Alice does at summer's end) that adapting to everyone else's prescriptions is less important than being oneself. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 4-7. A hilarious first-person narrative about the trials and tribulations of Alice, who is sort of ready to face seventh grade.
