Alice on the outside / Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Alice likes her life, even though she realizes that change is on the way. She and her friends may develop separate interests and ideas, and sometimes she may find herself on the outside rather than inside her close circle, but the future looks good. Alice thinks she's ready for it.Her first look at that future comes when Aunt Sally and Cousin Carol visit. This is Alice's chance to ask Carol what sex is really like for a woman. After all, her cousin was once married. But Alice discovers that sex and marriage are more complex than she had thought.Sex is not the only area of life that turns out to be more difficult than Alice had expected. When her school observes a Consciousness Raising Week, Alice finds that prejudice is easier to acquire than to endure, especially when a new friend becomes the object of ridicule.There is the Eighth Grade Semi-Formal to think about, however. It will be the crowning night of the school year. What could possibly go wrong? Not anything Alice could plan for. Sometimes, she finds, it is not planning that matters, but coping.Alice is growing up. She is meeting new people, facing new problems, and giving readers new things to laugh and think about. She's experimenting with life and finding it can be awful -- but also, sometimes, very, very good.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• 1 Teasing Sal
• 2 Pillow Talk
• 3 A Startling Announcement
• 4 CRW
• 5 Neck to Knees
• 6 April Showers
• 7 Lori Haynes
• 8 A Slight Misunderstanding
• 9 Comparing Notes
• 10 Sunrise...Sunset
• 11 The Dance

Reviews provided by Syndetics

School Library Journal Review

Gr 6-9-Issues of sexuality, tolerance, and self-knowledge are dealt with candidly in this 11th book about Alice McKinley. Naylor continues to follow this engaging protagonist as she copes with the expected and unexpected ordeals of growing up. Over the years, Alice has developed into a thoughtful, intelligent, and increasingly independent girl. As always, the author places her character in realistic situations and has her grapple with the concerns of her age. Now in eighth grade, Alice wonders about her relationship with her boyfriend, Patrick. ("You're supposed to want to caress each other...It's natural. It's normal. So when are you supposed to stop saying no and start saying yes?") She is also faced with a school project in which the students are governed by rules aimed at forcing them to recognize the evils of prejudice and arbitrary privilege. At the same time, Alice befriends a classmate; when she finds out the girl is a lesbian, she handles the situation with maturity and tolerance. This incident dovetails, perhaps too conveniently, with the school project to understand prejudice as fear of difference. It is unfortunate that the cover illustration reflects this part of the book as if it were the central theme; it is not. It is only part of the story about Alice growing up and coping with the myriad pressures and questions that define adolescence. Of course, Alice's fans will want to read this newest installment, but the book will also appeal to those unfamiliar with the earlier volumes.-Renee Steinberg, Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Gr. 6^-9. Just when it seemed that the Alice stories might have become a little too comfortable with themselves, the eleventh book in this great series breaks new ground; and it does so with the wit and tenderness, candor and immediacy that has grabbed readers since The Agony of Alice (1985). Alice asks her older cousin about sex ("Carol, what does intercourse really, really feel like for a woman?") and then talks about it with her girlfriends ("The main thing, Carol said, is that a woman sort of has to give a man directions"). This is what middle-school readers want to ask about. The message is never heavy: Alice's boyfriend does ask her how she wants to be kissed, but she finds she doesn't want to give directions. As always, the trivial is a momentous part of daily life, as when Alice watches her cousin put on a bra ("So that's the way you get your nipples where they're supposed to be"). With the comedy, however, are also painful, serious issues of prejudice and power. Alice is vehement that there is no prejudice at her school, and, of course, she discovers how wrong she is. Less interesting than the official school Consciousness-Raising Week is Alice's personal surprise with a lesbian classmate, Lori, who wants to be her girlfriend. Alice says no, but stays friends, and later defends Lori from harassment. Alice's father and older brother continue their roles as mentors--wry, loving, vulnerable--and there's a quiet, beautiful moment when she tells them about Lori, and Dad says, "I'm glad you're still friends." With all her awkward questions and conflicts, with all her outsider view, Alice is very much on the inside of how many girls feel. --Hazel Rochman

Horn Book Review

(Young Adult) In this eleventh installment in the series, Alice and her friends have a lot to think about during the second half of eighth grade. From her divorced cousin Carol's answer to the daring question Alice has been dying to ask (""What does intercourse really, really feel like for a woman?""), Alice learns that, unlike what she's seen in the movies, sex is ""a lot more complicated than [she] had thought."" Consciousness Raising Week, a schoolwide experiment, sheds light on the power of groups, leaving Alice with a new appreciation of differences and a deeper understanding of prejudice. And the eagerly anticipated eighth-grade semi-formal brings its own share of small dramas and excitement. Through the character of fourteen-year-old Alice, Naylor continues to explore the often-rocky terrain of sexuality and adolescent development with honesty and humor. Occasionally these issues seem to drive the plot-such as Alice's textbook reaction to learning a new friend is gay and attracted to her-but for the most part Naylor's underlying agenda takes a back seat to the narrative. Alice's realistic dilemmas, confusion, and curiosity will resonate with readers; her strong sense of who she is and what she wants continues to guide her and this consistently dynamic series. kitty flynn (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Book Review

Still alertly navigating the shoals of early adolescence, Alice turns 14 in the 11th installment of her often hilarious, always perceptive odyssey. Before her birthday, however, she gains some insight into the nature of prejudice from a week-long consciousness-raising exercise at school; watches friend Pamela flirt with a wilder lifestyle; observes her brother Lester's anything-but-tranquil love life; and gracefully fields a pass from a female classmate. Although the various continuing plot lines of the series don't hurtle along, they're not ignored, either, and Naylor again demonstrates her gift for embedding savvy advice and frank specifics about sex and growing up seamlessly into common situations. By the end, Alice's own romantic situation is looking decidedly bright; although her boyfriend Patrick comes down with mononucleosis, leaving her solo at the eighth-grade dance, he also shows endearing awkwardness in the kissing department and melts her utterly with a front yard serenade on the night of her birthday. Fans will leap aboard enthusiastically, but readers new to the series will have to catch earlier books first for some background. Sail on, Alice. (Fiction. 11-14)