Lovingly Alice
Grade 4-6–This last of three prequels leading up to the original "Alice" series is just as funny and touching as the previous books. Here, the fifth grader experiences the emotional ups and downs of relationships with family and friends. When her friend Sara moves without telling her, Alice is afraid she's living on the street and sets off to find her. Alice's dad starts to date, and 18-year-old Lester expects her to ward off unwanted calls by a girl who likes him. When Alice's beloved cat dies, her anger at everything unjust erupts. As in the earlier books, Lester is a tease, and her dad is patient and caring. Alice is concerned about being motherless and muddled about sex, and there's a fair amount of talk about it, much to Lester's embarrassment. The book ends with their dad buying a house in Silver Spring, a place Alice likes, although she's torn about leaving her friend Rosalind. She does her best to make the separation less painful for her friend and herself. And it's her efforts to make the best of difficulties that cause young readers love her.–Tina Zubak, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.