Product Description

Is Three a Crowd in the McKinley Household?

The day that Alice has been hoping, wishing, and waiting for has finally arrived: Her father and Sylvia Summers are getting married! But Alice soon discovers that having the stepmother of her dreams doesn't necessarily make her life perfect. Suddenly there's another woman sharing the bathroom, and her father and Sylvia are making decisions about her house without consulting her. Sometimes Alice feels like an outsider in her own home.

But at least her father and Sylvia are blissfully happy together, which certainly isn't true of Alice's friends. Everyone seems to be having relationship problems. Elizabeth and Ross never see each other; Leslie and Lori are breaking up; and Pamela and her mother can't even talk to each other. And what's going on with Patrick?Is "Happily Ever After" only in fairy tales?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #691989 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 288 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9-Alice is now a sophomore, and finally, after four long years, her dad is marrying Sylvia Summers. When the wedding day arrives, Alice is excited but quickly begins to feel left out. Changes come to the household; first her older brother, Lester, moves out and then her father and Sylvia begin making plans to remodel without talking to Alice. She is further exasperated when the embroidered sheets she toiled over for a wedding gift do not fit the new bed Sylvia and her dad have purchased. Over time, with patience from both sides, Alice realizes that though her dad has a new life, she is very much a welcomed part of it. She realistically deals with the challenges and angst that teenagers face in their daily lives including fitting in, peer relationships, getting braces, and blended families. As in the previous books, Alice is curious about sex and relationships. While perhaps not as fresh or funny as the earlier titles, this book can stand alone, and fans of the series will appreciate the ongoing saga of these engaging characters.
Angela M. Boccuzzi, Merton Williams' Middle School, Hilton, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
dragnflyAlice and her friends seem sooooo real!!! They go through all the problems life throws you!! I'm not saying that I like seeing people go through problems, it's just that it's great to see you can get over these problems and have a great life too.

LeslieI feel like Alice is my next door neighbor and Elizabeth lives across the street from me. Pamela is in most of my classes at school and Patrick is my childhood best friend. Sometimes I wish soooooo badly Alice and everyone in these book were real.

a loyal readerI love your alice books, simply because they portray life so much. Alice is your average girl who gets embarrassed on a weekly basis, good and bad things happen, is self conscious and just lives day to day.

LaurenMy friends...and I LOVE your Alice books! They are so awesome! We've read almost all of them and are trying to get our hands on the rest. We love the Alice books sooooo much we call ourselves Pam, Liz, and Al.

About the Author
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor writes for both children and adults, and is the author of more than one hundred books, including Starting with Alice; Alice in Blunderland; The Agony of Alice; Alice in Rapture, Sort of; Reluctantly Alice; All but Alice; Alice in April; Alice In-Between; Alice the Brave; Alice in Lace; Outrageously Alice; Achingly Alice; Alice on the Outside; The Grooming of Alice; Alice Alone; Simply Alice; and Patiently Alice. In 1992 her novel Shiloh won the Newbery Medal. Mrs. Naylor lives with her husband, Rex, in Bethesda, Maryland. She is the mother of two sons, both grown and married, and has several grandchildren.

Customer Reviews

Nice Alice addition
Alice McKinely, who I've grown to love from book one just like a gal pal, is going through various changes. Some, she thinks, are for the best. Others, she believes, are for the worst. She also sees that these changes she's anticipated, the good ones - like Dad and Sylvia's wedding - also have their downside.

But how can Lester's moving out be anything positive? He wants his own apartment and has no reason not to leave home - Alice's begging for him to stay evidently won't suffice here - he's a grown man and it's time for him to stop mooching off Mr. McKinely. Alice can't imagine home without Lester in it. And as I've read the series, growing fonder and fonder with each book, I've gotten to know and love Lester's endearing quirks. His non-morning personality. His ways of teasing his baby sister. His "Ye gads!!!"

Alice can imagine the beautiful Sylvia Summers as her mama, despite the fact that she might not call her such. After all, she has been motherless since the age of 5. But Sylvia's arrival in the McKinely household is proving harder than it once seemed. Alice is no longer the only woman in the house - now Mr. McKinely pays more attention to his new bride than his own daughter. Having Sylvia in the house makes Alice feel the urge to be super-careful about petty things. It also makes her often feel oh-so awkward. Could Sylvia's moving in be a mistake?

On a different note, will things between Patrick and Alice heat up again, being he's through with Penny? They were acting awfully cozy at the wedding reception. Or will they remain mere friends? Either way, it's been clarified that Alice is no longer hurting over Patrick's dumping her. Or is she? Could it be why she's acting so cruelly to Penny, as revenge for the rather bitter breakup? She's the only lunch table member who didn't get a wedding invite, that's for sure.

Naylor's umpteenth venture into Alice's realistic world of friends, family, and hardships will have you drawn in till the end, just like all the other books in the series, though it has quite a bit less luster. Still, putting that aside, it is rather enjoyable. Perhaps if I didn't have the previous series efforts to compare it to, it wouldn't seem as bland.

Am I getting too old for Alice? Absolutely.

What can I say ...
I read some of the Alice books from when she was younger and I really enjoyed them. I checked this one out from the library and I am glad I didn't pay for it because I am pretty sure I wouldn't like to have something like this in my collection.

The Positives: Alice is a real girl; she cops a 'tude; she cries at the drop of a hat; her best friends mean the world to her ... It was sweet the way she bonded (finally) with her stepmother, Sylvia.

The Negatives: OMG was this is trashy! I have read Harlequins (as much as I hate to admit it) and this still made me blush! Alice and her friends are sex-obsessed. I remember being very curious in high school so I understand its realistic but c'mon -should young, impressionable girls really be reading this? I was totally shocked and no body can call me a prude. ~ And the book is lacking the usual humor that I had become accoustmed to in Naylor's novels. Not too many laughs to be had. The "comedy" was pretty tame.

Overall, this book is interesting. But would I recommend it for girls under the age of 15? Heck no!

Another great addition to the series!
I've been a dedicated fan of the Alice series for over four years now, and I'm finally older than Alice - but I know I'll always love reading about her. Including Alice is a great addition to the series, and probably the most-eagerly-awaited of them all, because guess what? Alice's dad is getting married!

The "wedding chapters" were so much fun to read, especially while listening to the free CD of classical wedding music that's included with the book. Obviously, there are a lot of changes for 15-year-old Alice, including getting used to having a stepmom, Lester living in an apartment of his own, and new developments in her relationships with friends.

I really enjoyed this book, because it included many familiar characters, realistic and humorous situations, and was very easy to relate to. Alice is definitely growing up, and Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is the best at making this series work!