Alice in Charge

June 1, 2010
Gr 8-10-Alice's final year of high school is neatly sliced in half with this segment covering fall semester's joys and challenges. The difficulty of returning to school after her friend Mike's death in a car accident is tempered with the excitement of being features editor on the school newspaper. The loneliness caused by Patrick attending college in Chicago has counterpoints such as daring to skinny-dip in a stranger's hot tub on Halloween and getting to know a Sudanese refugee from school who asks her to the Snow Ball. Alice has to handle some difficult issueslike anonymous racist notes left around the school and a substitute teacher who sexually crosses the line with some studentsall while trying to decide where to apply to college and whether she would be better off close to home or spreading her wings. Girls who have followed the series will definitely want to graduate with Alice, but this entry may not inspire new readers. Its teens and their dialogue seem rather undifferentiated and somewhat bland in comparison to more dynamic and realistic YA novels. That said, Alice is a wonderful role model, and Naylor is unafraid to tackle subjects such as birth control and sexuality, in a tame and approachable fashion. Parents, friends, and even the conflicts themselves are almost too perfect, but idealized "normal" teen life might be appreciated by readers looking for something old school to contrast with sometimes all-too-gritty real life."Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GA"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2010
The school newspaper staff, including Alice, has a decision to make: acknowledge anonymous comments from a white supremacist hate group or censor views the editors disagree with. In this twenty-fifth series entry, Alice (and Naylor) manage to fit in lighter moments, too, including homecoming and co-ed skinny-dipping. Senior year is a bittersweet time, and Alice's fans are sure to savor every experience.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2010
Seventeen-year-old Alice begins her first semester of senior year juggling the usual: homework, extracurricular activities, family, friends, a long-distance relationship, work at the Melody Inn, and anxiety about the future (i.e., college). But this twenty-fifth book in the long-running series also includes some unexpected drama. The unwelcome discovery of a group of white supremacist students has Alice's whole school on edge. The newspaper staff, including Alice as features editor, has a decision to make-does the paper acknowledge anonymous comments from this hate group or censor views the editors disagree with? And Alice makes another editorial decision-this time a rogue one-that implicates a teacher accused of molesting a student. After the dust settles, Alice learns a hard lesson about journalistic responsibility and the power of the press. Somehow Alice (and Naylor) manage to fit in lighter moments, too, including the homecoming dance, a poorly planned college-visiting junket, and a nighttime co-ed skinny-dipping caper. "Senior year: the last of everything." It's a bittersweet time, and Alice's fans are sure to savor every experience.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)