Patiently Alice

May 1, 2003
A bounty of spring sequels furthers story lines and features favorite characters. Alice, the beloved star of Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's popular series, survives unexpected challenges during the summer between 9th and 10th grade in Patiently Alice. As the heroine tackles a stint as a camp counselor, copes with changes at home and sees her friends form new relationships with boys, the author's wit and candor remain as evident as ever.

May 1, 2003
Gr 6-9-Alice's many fans will be delighted to see the heroine back in action. Having survived her first year of high school, Alice and her friends are off to be counselors at a coed camp for disadvantaged children. Her father and his longtime love, Sylvia Summers, are finally preparing to walk down the aisle, and her brother, Lester, is planning to move out. Can one girl handle all this change? The summer challenges Alice's patience at every turn, but she sails through with her usual charm and good humor. Some of the camp scenes are racially charged as one camper calls another "the n-word" and Alice must deal with her emotionally needy young charges. She realizes that she is not the center of the universe and is all the wiser for it. Readers will appreciate Naylor's skilled handling of all of the above. They will laugh out loud at some scenes, particularly when Elizabeth buys condoms for their friend Pamela, "just in case," and hold their breath in other instances. Naylor's writing continues to be fresh and witty, and her characters live the real-world struggles of many teens.-Elaine Baran Black, Gwinnett County Public Library, Lawrenceville, GA

Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2003
Gr. 6-9. Alice takes time out from romance (a No-Boyfriend Summer) to spend three weeks after ninth grade with her girlfriends as a volunteer counselor at a nature camp for poor, young urban children. But even if there's no love story in this fifteenth book about Alice, there is lots of forthright talk about sex and dating, including a hilarious scene in which Alice's friend buys condoms "just in case." There is also uproarious fun when the assistant counselors, guys and girls, somehow end up skinny-dipping together. Naylor is just as candid, and more serious, about Alice's work with the children in her charge: their joy and their trouble; the pain and anger that fuels their racist insults; the limits to what Alice can do to help; the small things that make a difference. The summer-camp story is framed by the continuing drama of Alice's family and friends at home, and, as always, fans of this immensely popular series will welcome both the familiar and the new.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)