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Summary
Summary
Alice suddenly finds herself married Well, sort of. In an eighth grade health class, she and her friends are each given a hypothetical situation to help them learn to make good decisions. It's all great fun until one of the students creates a problem that could have serious consequences for the whole class. The first semester of eighth grade is both exciting and complicated as Alice learns something about last year's English teacher, Miss Summers, who is dating her father, and when one of her brother's old girlfriends makes a startling announcement. Then there is the problem of how to afford a wedding and honeymoon, the pranks with Pamela's pillow, a harrowing ride in a used car, Elizabeth's confession, Patrick's embarrassing request, and finally, a new person arrives on the scene. As usual, Alice has questions, but sometimes no one has the answers.
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)
Horn Book Review
(Picture Book) Using white painted collages against the vivid blues of the sky, Eric Carle tells the story of a little cloud that transforms itself into different shapes - a sheep, an airplane, a shark, and a clown - before rejoining the other clouds in the sky to make rain. A delightful invitation to a child's imagination. h.b.z. Alison Lester, Author-Illustrator When Frank Was Four (Picture Book) This simple, humorous book follows seven children from the ages of one to seven, highlighting the small trials and the accomplishments of each along the way. "When Nicky was one she spilled spaghetti on her head. Frank bit the dog. Tessa took her first steps. Celeste ate the cat food. Ernie banged the pots and pans. And Rosie said 'Horse.' / But Clive smashed the china at his Great Grandmother's birthday party." The lively watercolors and delicate black line capture the spirit of each situation. Another delightful celebration of individualism from the creator of Clive Eats Alligators (Houghton). l.a. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Alice in Lace (Intermediate) For a class project on decision-making, Alice and her boyfriend, Patrick, must pretend that they are engaged. They have to plan a wedding and a honeymoon and budget for a first apartment. As in the other books in the series, Alice is a frank, funny heroine struggling with contemporary issues. Much of the book deals with Alice's and her classmates' emerging curiosity about their sexuality - they wonder what a wedding night is like and dress up in what they hope is sexy attire to serve Alice's brother breakfast in bed. m.v.k. Ken Robbins, Author-Photographer Air: The Elements (Younger) The third book in this series is graced with imaginative, thought-provoking hand-colored photographs and eloquent descriptions of fundamental atmospheric processes, such as air circulation, oxygen and carbon dioxide cycles, and ozone depletion. Robbins laces together a concise, fact-filled text with an understated, commonsense approach to respecting our environment. daniel j. brabander Jane Yolen, Reteller Little Mouse and Elephant: A Tale from Turkey Jane Yolen, Reteller The Musicians of Bremen: A Tale from Germany (Picture Book) Illustrated by John Segal. Two charming little books of folktales contain retellings of the familiar "Musicians of Bremen," a favorite tale needing no description, and the lesser-known "Little Mouse and Elephant." In the latter, Little Mouse is convinced that he is the strongest animal around and the master of the forest. His grandfather points out that Elephant perhaps may claim that title and sends Little Mouse out to see for himself. By sheer good luck, Little Mouse convinces himself that indeed the other animals fear him, even Elephant, and returns home firm in his ridiculous conviction. The two stories are simply and skillfully told, and the illustrations are childlike and humorous. Small pleasures for the young listener. a.a.f. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 6^-8. What happens if you get pregnant? What happens if you're caught shoplifting? How much does a wedding cost? Alice's eighth-grade health class is studying Critical Choices: investigating and role-playing "how the choices you make now can affect the rest of your life." The latest in Naylor's wonderful series about Alice is more didactic than usual: like Anne Fine's Flour Babies (1994), the story openly explores such issues as unplanned, unwanted pregnancy and how babies can begin--and end--dreams. There's a contrived subplot in which an angry girl in the class falsely accuses the teacher of sexual harassment; but for most of the story, Alice's comic, affectionate narrative captures the bumblings and failures and intimacies of growing up female now. As Alice and her classmates try out adult roles, it's a bit like playing house and dress-up; it's also very clear that lack of planning can mean serious trouble. The message is all the more convincing because it isn't simplistic. Naylor is honest--you can't control everything that happens to you, nor would you want to. --Hazel Rochman
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8In this newest stage of Alice's journey to adulthood, the appealing heroine begins eighth grade with a million questions and few answers. Her health teacher, Mr. Everett, has assigned the members of the class various real-life scenarios to investigate and come to terms with. Some of Alice's friends are facing teenage pregnancy, shoplifting, totaling a car, and arranging a funeral. Alice and her friend Patrick are to plan their wedding, honeymoon, find an apartment, and buy furniture on a very limited budget. With her great sense of humor, Naylor once again captures the true turmoil of adolescence. The awkward feelings and questions about budding bodies and an awareness of the opposite sex are handled in a true-to-life but lighthearted and sensitive manner. Some questions go unanswered, but life will eventually fill in those blanks. Naylor obviously has fun exploring friendship, family, relationships, and even love. With all of these issues permeating the story, Alice and her friends are a little more serious than in previous titles, but readers will still find plenty to laugh at and cheer about. Alice in Lace leaves readers wanting to see where life will take Alice next but still hoping that she won't grow up too fast.Tracey Kroll, Brookland Middle School, Richmond, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
An eighth-grade health class assignment gets Alice McKinley and friends thinking about choices and consequences in this eighth installment of one of the best series running. Each student is handed a hypothetical situation that must be handled as if it were real: Alice and Patrick are to marry, honeymoon, and set up a home on $5,000; Pamela is pregnant; other classmates have to buy a car, arrange a funeral, and the like. For Alice, who already suspects that life is an ""obstacle course, with detours, yield signs, stop signs, and cautions,"" the assignment turns out to be fraught with eye-opening difficulties and tough decisions. Naylor (Alice the Brave, 1995, etc.) delivers Alice's observations in her usual direct way, surrounding them with hilarious dialogue, plus new episodes in the love lives of Alice's father and older brother. When a willful classmate mendaciously accuses a teacher of making a pass, and a neighbor goes into labor, Alice finds herself in challenging situations that are anything but hypothetical--and comes through with flying colors. Pleasure and purpose are seamlessly combined in this comic, expertly crafted episode. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
That night at the dinner table, I told Dad and Lester, my soon-to-be twenty-one-year-old brother, about Mr. Everett's class and how I was going to learn to make decisions. "Excellent idea!" said Dad. "For once the schools are teaching something practical." "I'm going to learn what to do if I total the car or get pregnant," I added. Dad stopped chewing. "Will they accept questions from the outside?" asked Lester. "Will they help me decide between a brunette and a redhead?" But Dad interrupted. "Al," he said, "if you're thinking, even remotely, of having sex . . " "I'm not," I told him. "Well, I think about it, of course, but I'm not about to do anything." My real name is Alice McKinley, but Dad and Lester call me Al. I think it's because Mom died when I was small that Dad freaks out about me sometimes. It's true that he and Lester don't know diddly about raising a girl, but it bothers Dad a lot more than it bothers Lester. I chewed thoughtfully on a carrot stick. "Actually, the situations he's going to assign us seem sort of hokey. Who sits down and thinks, 'I guess I'll go total the car tonight' or 'Dad, I want to have a teenage pregnancy'? Sometimes things just happen." "That's the point," Dad said. "These things happen because nobody thought they would. Nobody did any planning. Somebody has a few beers and gets in his car, or a girl has sex with her boyfriend. They're not thinking 'car wreck.' They're not thinking 'baby.'" I sighed. Life, as far as I could see, was going to be a sort of obstacle course, with detours, yield signs, stop signs, and cautions. "What I wish," I said, "is that I was born with a built-in buzzer, and whenever I was about to do something incredibly stupid, it beeped." "You were," said Dad. "It's called conscience." "Dad, every time I listen to my conscience it sounds just like you." "Imagine that," he said. When we got to health class the next day, Mr. Everett went down the rows passing out worksheets. Each worksheet was different, with one of our names at the top, and as people read their assignments, they groaned or whooped or giggled. Behind me, Elizabeth gave a gigantic sigh of relief. "All I have to do is buy a car!" she said. "Holy Mary, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Patrick and I got the same situation. We were engaged to be married, our assignments read, and for the next five weeks we were to plan the wedding and honeymoon, rent an apartment, buy furniture, and work out a budget. I could feel my face redden, but secretly I was pleased. I've known Patrick Long since sixth grade, and he's been my boyfriend on and off. At the moment we were on again. Mr. Everett must have noticed. "Hey, Patrick! Way to go!" Mark called out. All over the room kids were teasing us. Patrick looks a lot like Mr. Everett, actually, only younger. He has red hair and he plays the drums. His dad is a diplomat or something, and they've lived in a lot of different countries. I guess it wasn't as exciting for him to marry a girl who was born in Chicago as it was for me to marry him, but he was smiling at me. "Mr. Everett," called Brian, who is probably the most handsome guy in eighth grade. "If Alice and Patrick are getting married, does this entitle them to all the . . . uh . . . privileges of married life?" More laughter. " Hypothetical situation, Brian," said Mr. Everett. "Hypo- what?" "Look it up." Brian's situation was a DWI offense, Jill had to arrange a funeral for her grandmother, Karen got arrested for shoplifting, Mark had supposedly gotten a girl pregnant, Pamela was pregnant, and Elizabeth was buying a car. And this was just the crowd I hang out with. Some of the others had it worse. Now all the attention focused on Pamela. "What am I supposed to do, Mr. Everett?" she asked. "If I'm already pregnant, what's there to decide?" "What's there to decide?" The teacher gave her a quizzical look. "You're going to be a mother, Pamela." The whole class broke into laughter. When it died down, he went on: "You're going to have another person to look out for, you have to live somewhere, you have to support the two of you -- and you ask me what there is to decide?" Pamela shrugged. "Well . . . I mean . . . what if I choose an abortion?" "What if you do ? That's what we want to know. What would that mean to you? Or what happens if you decide to give the baby up for adoption? There are 'what ifs' all over the place. That's what this class is about. Thinking things through before they happen. Planning Your life instead of letting events decide things for you. "Aren't we really supposed to figure out what you think we should do?" asked Karen. "If I'm a good teacher, you won't even know what I think," Mr. Everett told her. "All the thinking's got to be done by you. And maybe there isn't just one good solution, but several. Have you considered that?" I'd wondered if there would be enough stuff in this assignment to fill up the next five weeks, and now I knew there was enough to think about for the next five years. What was embarrassing, though, was that Pamela was supposed to be pregnant, and Mark was supposed to have gotten a girl pregnant, though not necessarily Pamela, but Mark and Pamela weren't speaking, having broken up just before school started. Pamela was going with Brian now, so Mark and Brian weren't speaking, either. Worse yet, Elizabeth had only been going with Tom Perona for one week when she found out he had two ID bracelets, and had given one to a girl at St. John's, where he goes to school. Pamela and I were furious with Tom. It couldn't have happened at a worse time. Elizabeth had finally gotten to the place where she could kiss comfortably, and now she had to find out that Tom was two-timing her again, just as he did the summer after sixth grade. "He's nothing but a Tom-cat, Elizabeth. Forget him," I said. But Elizabeth blamed us instead. She said her breath must smell or her body smelled, and we hadn't told her. If a boy had been going with her only a week before he started seeing someone else, there obviously was something wrong with her, and that's what came of getting physically close to boys. She simply wasn't ready yet. I sort of agreed, knowing Elizabeth. "You should date a guy from our own school," Pamela said. "If Tom's around other girls all day and never sees you, he's bound to be attracted to somebody else." But all Elizabeth would say was, "If you had bad breath or something, I'd tell you," so we just gave up. "Hey, Alice," Patrick said, coming up behind me after class and tickling the back of my neck. "We've got to do this assignment together. We're engaged, right?" He gave my waist a little squeeze. "What do you want to do first?" We stopped there in the hall and looked over Mr. Everett's assignment: Assume that you are high school graduates with no college training, and the maximum you have to spend on your wedding, honeymoon, apartment, and furniture is $5,000. "Five thousand dollars!" I gasped. "We're rich, Patrick!" "Hardly," he said. "I'll call the Post and find out how much it costs to announce the engagement," I told him. "I'll ask a travel agent about a honeymoon in Hawaii," said Patrick. "Hawaii?" I said. "I don't want to go to Hawaii." "You don't? Where do you want to go?" I hadn't even thought about it, really. I just wanted a choice in the matter. I tried to think of all the places I'd ever wanted to visit. "Well, Disney World, maybe." "Disney World? You want to go to Disney World on your honeymoon?" "Well . . . I want to have a say in it, Patrick. You can't just write down that we're going to Hawaii without asking me first." "Good grief, they've only been engaged for ten minutes and they're quarreling already," Pamela teased. "Okay," said Patrick. "Let's each make a list of the five places we'd most like to go on a honeymoon and see if we can agree on one of them." Copyright © 1996 by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Excerpted from Alice in Lace by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.Table of Contents
1 Thinking Ahead | p. 1 |
2 Speaking of Lust | p. 15 |
3 The Course of True Love | p. 26 |
4 A Balcony, a Jacuzzi, and You | p. 36 |
5 Discovery | p. 48 |
6 New Girl at the Store | p. 60 |
7 On Pamela and Pregnancy | p. 71 |
8 Backseat Drivers | p. 82 |
9 Into the Lion's Den | p. 95 |
10 Wedding Bells | p. 108 |
11 Surprise Ending | p. 119 |