Alice McKinley

I'm fourteen and a half years old, and I've been reading the Alice books, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, since I was about ten. The first time I ever laid eyes on one was when I was backstage during a dance performance, back when I was young enough to hang around in the studio theater with the other younger levels, instead of being in the dressing rooms. My friend, who was in fifth grade at the time, had one of the prequels in her bag of blankets and snacks, and I picked it up to look at it. Since then, I've been nearly inseparable with them.

Alice McKinley is a young and honest girl who was first brought to life in 1985, and has only just had her famed series completed. The first book, The Agony of Alice, starts when Alice is in sixth grade in a new town, but Naylor soon began to write prequels for her younger readers, which span from her third to fifth grade years. Alice lives in Maryland with her father and brother, with her mother having died years ago from cancer, and in the first few books all she can think about is completing her family and finding a new wife for her father. In her own life, she has friends, enemies, and teachers, all who have their own stories throughout the series that matter almost as much as her own.

I'll admit that I did read the books of Alice's high school years when I was twelve or so, without waiting and growing up with her, but having that knowledge of her life helped me all through middle school, and now I can refer back to them when things in my freshman year sound familiar. Alice's life isn't perfect-far from it, really- but she has a keen sense of humor and goes through horrifying, embarrassing moments, just like everyone else, and still lives to tell the tale. As the books go on, you can hear her voice start to mature, and her likes and dislikes become more clear, while at the same time she's still trying to figure herself out, trying keeping her peers in line as much as possible. Twenty-eight books span for ten years, and finally the series is drawing to a close.

'Now I'll Tell You Everything" takes Alice and her readers to college, through marriage and troubles, and all the way to age sixty, in only about five hundred pages. I can't say that I'm a lifelong Alice reader, because really it hasn't even been five years, but if feels like I've lived a second life through her. The last book comes out in October, and I just can't wait to read it and find out what happens to her. As a fair warning, Alice does cover some mature topics, but not as much when she's younger and in middle school.

Are there any other Alice readers out there? If so, I'd love to hear from you and discuss the books. From reviews that I've read about the last book, it's mostly designed for those who just want to know what happens next rather than a curious reader, but I strongly encourage you to read the books anyway. My mom reads them as well, and has described them to be as "Judy Blume for this generation". They're perfect for growing up, or just for reading for entertainment, to live along with Alice as she deals with her life.