Alice in Lace (Jean Karl Books)
Gr. 6^-8. What happens if you get pregnant? What happens if you're caught shoplifting? How much does a wedding cost? Alice's eighth-grade health class is studying Critical Choices: investigating and role-playing "how the choices you make now can affect the rest of your life." The latest in Naylor's wonderful series about Alice is more didactic than usual: like Anne Fine'sFlour Babies(1994), the story openly explores such issues as unplanned, unwanted pregnancy and how babies can begin--and end--dreams. There's a contrived subplot in which an angry girl in the class falsely accuses the teacher of sexual harassment; but for most of the story, Alice's comic, affectionate narrative captures the bumblings and failures and intimacies of growing up female now. As Alice and her classmates try out adult roles, it's a bit like playing house and dress-up; it's also very clear that lack of planning can mean serious trouble. The message is all the more convincing because it isn't simplistic. Naylor is honest--you can't control everything that happens to you, nor would you want to.Hazel Rochman--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.