Atheneum/2010/Young Adult/314 pages
At last, it's Alice in Charge--of her life, of her future...but, is it too much?
What I love about the Alice series is that even when it is the 22nd book, you can always count on Phyllis Reynolds Naylor to write about something new; they are never monotonous. I have been reading this wonderful, poignant series since I was in the 5th grade. In the few hours that it takes for me to read these books, I am transplanted to Silver Springs, Maryland and get to know Alice, her family and friends. Naylor has talked about suicide, first loves, Leukemia, etc. I didn't know what she would throw at us next.
This book takes place during Alice's first semester of her senior year. Can I just say that this alone almost made me cry. It's hard to believe that Alice is about to graduate and that Naylor is only writing 3 more books after this. In this book, Alice is the feature editor for her school's newspaper and I just love that it is actually a kinda big thing at her school, I love reading about it. There is a new guy at the school from Sudan, which I really enjoyed. And in this book, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, also presented the readers with a group of students at Alice's school that were part of a Neo-Nazi group. Yes, you read that right.
Patrick and Alice. Ahh...One of my favorite couples in fiction. Patrick has certainly changed so much over the years but in a completely good way. I loved reading the scenes between them. They have a long-distance relationship, well, actually it's nothing official but gosh, they are so great together. He graduated early from High School and is studying at the University of Chicago (yay for intellectual people!) and when he went back home to visit Alice....Short, but very sweet scenes!
Overall this wasn't my favorite book in the series, I don't know exactly which one is (I plan on rereading them soon) but its always great to read about Alice's life. Actually, this is the first time, I didn't pick up the book within a month of its release (didn't have the money to buy it and wasn't able to get it from my library until now) but Incredibly Alice is out now, so hopefully I can get that soon!!
Also, I'm sure all of you have heard about Wall Street Journal's ignorant article, I would just like to say that the Alice books continue to be one of the most frequent banned YA books (I think its holds the #2 spot?) but I'll tell you something. These books have changed my life for the better. I think they are so often overlooked but they are wonderful. #yasaves
3.8 stars out of 5
Cover: B- The Alice books have seen many different cover makeovers. But I have to say that the cover really intrigued me. It's rather simple but in YA you don't really see too many people of color on covers, unfortunately, and this is a very nice change!Favorite Character: Alice. Duh.
Put-Down-Ability: 4/10. Some moments tend to drag on a little bit but overall, I didn't put it down much at all.
*Source: public library
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