Once again, all Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Yes, this is what I've spent every moment of my time off doing. Yes, I am ridiculous. Here we go!
Alice is finding out having Sylvia as a stepmom isn't as awesome as she thought it would be. They fight all the time: about the cat Sylvia adopts without asking first, the house remodel, Alice borrowing the car. Alice is pressured to have sex with Tony, but decides she's not ready. When her ride gets drunk at a party, Alice refuses to get in the car with him and is about to call Lester for a ride when her friend crashes his car and nearly kills a little girl.
Alice invites a senior she has a crush on to the Sadie Hawkins dance. They have fun, but no sparks fly. When the school newspaper's features editor quits in a fit of pique, Alice is promoted to her job. Alice makes Pam try out for the school musical, and Pam earns the role of an understudy. Her friend Molly is getting better after fighting cancer, but Pam ends up getting pregnant. I was disappointed that Naylor took the easy way out on this one and had Pam miscarry before she had to make a decision. I know, it's a tricky subject to write about, but it happens to teen girls and I think it should have been examined more. Patrick takes Alice to his senior prom and they have a wonderful time. Could they be back on as a couple?
Patrick has left for the University of Chicago. Alice goes to visit him when she goes back for her cousin Carol's wedding, and they get pretty close to making love. Alice and her friends volunteer at a soup kitchen for a week and meet an intensely religious woman who makes Alice question her own religious beliefs. When her friend Mark is killed in a car crash, Alice questions life in general.
Alice's school is being tested by hate groups, and Alice befriends a Sudanese refugee. Marilyn, Lester's old girlfriend, and her husband are expecting their first baby. Alice convinces Lester to take her on a weekend college tour and makes a mess of it with her lack of planning. One of the substitute teachers at school molests Amy, a developmentally challenged girl, and Alice makes a bad decision reporting it in the school newspaper.
The last half of senior year finds Alice busy as anything. She gets a big part in the school play of "Cheaper by the Dozen", she's accepted to the University of Maryland, and she takes Patrick to her senior prom, which lands on her 18th birthday. Lots of changes are in store for Alice and her friends. One of the girls she knows, Jill, gets pregnant on purpose when her boyfriend's mom disapproves of her and tries to break them up. Alice thinks she made a mistake (yes, Alice. You are correct). I can't wait to find out what happens in the last two books, and I still have a few of the older ones to go back to that I had to put on hold because they were checked out or at other libraries.
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