Life, Alice McKinley feels, is just one big embarrassment. Here she is, about to be a teenager and she doesn't know how. It's worse for her than for anyone else, she believes, because she has no role model. Her mother has been dead for years. Help and advice can only come from her father, manager of a music store, and her nineteen-year-old brother, who is a slob. What do they know about being a teen age girl? What she needs, Alice decides, is a gorgeous woman who does everything right, as a roadmap, so to speak. If only she finds herself, when school begins, in the classroom of the beautiful sixth-grade teacher, Miss Cole, her troubles will be over. Unfortunately, she draws the homely, pear-shaped Mrs. Plotkin. One of Mrs. Plotkin's first assignments is for each member of the class to keep a journal of their thoughts and feelings. Alice calls hers "The Agony of Alice," and in it she records all the embarrassing things that happen to her. Through the school year, Alice has lots to record. She also comes to know the lovely Miss Cole, as well as Mrs. Plotkin. And she meets an aunt and a female cousin whom she has not really known before. Out of all this, to her amazement, comes a role model—one that she would never have accepted before she made a few very important discoveries on her own, things no roadmap could have shown her. Alice moves on, ready to be a wise teenager.

The summer of the first boyfriendThat's what Alice's father calls the summer before Alice starts junior high. And because Pamela's cousin from New Jersey says starting seventh grade without a boyfriend is the worst thing that can happen to a girl (even worse than not having pierced ears or a leather skirt), Alice is greatful that she's got Patrick. The trouble is, Patrick the boyfriend is a lot more complicated than Patrick the friend. What's an appropriate present for Alice to give Patrick for his birthday? What should she do if Patrick wants to kiss her and she hasn't just brushed her teeth? Alice really likes Patrick, but sometimes she thinkgs life would be a lot simpler if they were still just friends.

Alice comes home on the first day of junior high with a list of seven things about seventh grade that stink. The one good thing she can think of (besides getting out at 2:30 instead of 3:00) is that she's friends with everybody—and that gives her the idea of setting a goal to make it through the entire school year with everyone liking her. That turns out to be easier said than done, when Alice gets on the wrong side of the school bully, Denise "Mack-Truck" Whitlock. But Alice's problems with Denise pale before the romantic entanglements of her father and her older brother, Lester. And when Alice decides to help them out, life gets even more complicated.

Alice figures the key to surviving seventh grade is to fit in. But when she becomes part of the in-crowd, she finds that some of the things they do makes her feel down and out.

Alice in Charge It all starts when Aunt Sally reminds Alice that now that she's about to turn thirteen, she's the Woman of the House. Alice has always assumed that her father and her older brother, Lester, were there to take care of her. How can she possibly take care of them? Alice's attempts to take charge of her household lead to one problem after another, culminating in a disastrous surprise birthday party for her father. And things aren't much better at school, where the seventh-grade boys are evaluating the girls in a way that has Alice and her friends pretty nervous. Alice doesn't think life can get any more complicated—until a totally unexpected event shows her how wrong she is.

Struggling to cope with the difficulties of puberty and adolescence, Alice finds that being an "in-between" is not so bad after a night on the town with her brother, a trip to Chicago to visit Aunt Sally, and a nerve-wracking dinner at her boyfriend's home. Reprint.

A month before eighth grade begins, Alice realizes she is going to have to face something she's been afraid of forever. Everybody, she knows, is afraid of something: elevators, dogs, planes, spiders . . . but her fear is worse. It's going to bring absolute disaster to the rest of her summer, maybe to the rest of her life. The truth is she's afraid of deep water! It's a hot August, and everyone in Alice's gang goes to Mark Stedmeister's swimming pool almost every day. Alice sits at the shallow end. She plays badminton. She makes excuses, and keeps her problem secret. Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Pamela, Alice's two best friends, tackle problems of their own, and are more or less successful. Life is changing for everyone but Alice. Bravery begins in little ways, with small steps. That's what Alice finally discovers. And after she faces this particular fear, she knows she can summon the courage to face other fears as well. As in her previous adventures, Alice tackles some of the big problems of growing up with humor and enterprise and learns once again that a brother, a father, and friends can offer amazing amounts of help.

Alice suddenly finds herself married! Well, sort of. In an eighth grade health class, she and her friends are each given a hypothetical situation to help them learn to make good decisions. It's all great fun until one of the students creates a problem that could have serious consequences for the whole class. The first semester of eighth grade is both exciting and complicated as Alice learns something about last year's English teacher, Miss Summers, who is dating her father, and when one of her brother's old girlfriends makes a startling announcement. Then there is the problem of how to afford a wedding and honeymoon, the pranks with Pamela's pillow, a harrowing ride in a used car, Elizabeth's confession, Patrick's embarrassing request, and finally, a new person arrives on the scene. As usual, Alice has questions, but sometimes no one has the answers.

Now that she is setting into eighth grade, the class she used to envy, Alice discovers it isn't as exciting as she thought. She's tired of being the same old Alice, and longs to be a bit outrageous. Instead, she finds herself in situations that are more embarrassing then they are thrilling. She likes dressing up as a showgirl for Halloween, but hasn't counted on what happens in the broom closet at school. And she's delighted to be a bridesmaid, but feels awkward at the bridal shower. Even Patrick begins to seem childish to her. Elizabeth and Pamela, however, her two best friends, feel that life is changing too much for them. Elizabeth finds that a new a boy at school is attracted to her, while Pamela faces a serious problem at home. Lester, too, Alice's brother, can't quite believe he's losing his old girlfriend, Crystal. When Alice dials Miss Summers, however, the woman her father loves, there is always the hope that this time she will get the mother she has always wanted.

Alice has decided she needs priorities in her life—and the first is to get her favorite teacher, Miss Summers, to marry her father. The only problem is that the vice principal, Mr. Sorringer, wants to marry Miss Summers too, and Miss Summers seems to be having trouble making up her mind. How can someone be in love with two people at the same time? It doesn't make sense to Alice—until Sam, her friend from Camera Club, starts to pay attention to her. Sam is quiet and gentle, and a terrific dancer—Alice likes being with him. But Alice has been Patrick's girlfriend for almost two years—so why is she interested in another guy?

Alice likes her life, but she senses things are changing. She gets a little bored by her best friends Elizabeth and Pamela's constant chatter about clothes and makeup, and sometimes she feels excluded from their conversations. Her relationship with Patrick is becoming more complicated, too. From her cousin Carol, Alice learns that there are no easy answers to some of her questions about life. Then a school experiment and a new friend with a painful secret reveal some unsettling truths about the world Alice lives in. Growing up is even trickier than Alice thought—is she ready for the challenge?

Alice and her friends Pamela and Elizabeth are getting into shape for the new school year by dieting and jogging three miles a day. But soon she and Pamela are afraid that Elizabeth may be taking her efforts to lose weight too seriously. Could the most exciting summer of their lives be a little too exciting?

There's a new girl in town, and she's making Alice very nervous. The start of ninth grade—high school! — is every bit as exciting, and challenging, as Alice had hoped, and feared, it would be. She finds her self-confidence rising, and plummeting, depending on each new situation. Classes are definitely more interesting, but algebra is proving to be nearly impossible. Patrick is in the accelerated program so they aren't in the same classes anymore. And while she's thrilled to be chosen to work on the school newspaper, she finds that between an increased homework load and reporting assignments, she can't always join Patrick when he wants to go out. But the new girl in town, Penny, can...and does. Penny is everything Alice isn't—perky, petite, and cute as a button, and she doesn't hide her interest in Patrick. Alice senses her seemingly perfect relationship with Patrick starting to crumble, along with her self-confidence, and suddenly, Alice feels big and awkward and not particularly attractive. Could it be possible that Patrick could like someone else besides her? She can't imagine life without Patrick in it. But Patrick's behavior isn't the only thing that is baffling Alice. Elizabeth's nearly hysterical reluctance to go to her piano lessons has Alice and Pamela completely bewildered, until Elizabeth breaks down and shares an awful secret she's kept from everybody since she was seven... And as Alice struggles to keep her jealousy of Penny at bay, she watches her father handle unsettling news regarding his fiancé. Alice learns what trust is all about, and how confidence in yourself, and in others, is the most important thing of all.

Life After Patrick It isn't Alice and Patrick anymore; it's simply Alice, and much to her surprise, Alice is finding that's okay. In fact, working on the school play and becoming increasingly involved in the newspaper have Alice so busy she doesn't have much time for her best friends Pamela and Elizabeth—and they resent it. And if Alice ever needed friends, she needs them now. She's got a secret e-mail admirer she's not sure how to handle. Her brother, Lester, is plunging headlong into a risky romance with a professor. And her new friend, Faith, seems unable to break free of an abusive relationship with her boyfriend. It's not simple being simply Alice.

Having left home for three weeks to be a camp counselor, Alice is shocked when she comes back to discover how much has changed, such as her mother running off with a fitness instructor, her sister getting deeply involved with a guy, and her father having issues in his new relationship with Sylvia. Reprint.

Although excited about her father's pending marriage to Sylvia Summers, Alice begins to worry that she is losing her special place in the family as the festivities of the event seem to become the most important thing to everyone around her. Reader's Guide available. Reprint.

Freedom! It's the moment Alice has been looking forward to for years—her sixteenth birthday is coming up, and that means getting her driver's licence, with the freedom that entails. And before that important milestone, there's another delicious taste of freedom awaiting Alice and her friends—a class trip to New York City, promising some serious partying once chaperones have gone to bed. But sophomore year and driving lessons are a lot harder than Alice thought they would be, and then there's the problem with her new boyfriend, who is sometimes too attached to her. The older Alice gets, the more complicated her life seems to become.

It's the summer before junior year, and Alice is looking forward to three months of excitement, passion, and drama. But what does she find? A summer working in a local department store, trying to stop shoplifters, and more "real life" problems than she could have ever A good friend becomes seriously ill, Lester has more romance problems than even Alice knows what to do with, and the gang from Mark Stedmeister's pool is starting to grow up a bit faster than Alice is comfortable with.... Fortunately for Alice her family and friends are with her through it all, and by the end of the summer, Alice finds she knows a whole lot more than she had in June. Funny, touching, and always provocative, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor does it again, proving with this twenty-first book in the beloved Alice series that she understands what real girls think and feel.

Alice has always tried to be a decent person. She gets good grades, comes home on time, and has never really given her dad and her stepmom any reason to worry. But now that junior year of high school has started, Alice is a little sick of people assuming she's a goody-goody, so she decides to start shaking things up. First there are the dates with Tony, a cute senior who's a lot more experienced than Alice. Then the fights with her stepmom about the new cat, the car, and everything else start. But when Alice sneaks off to a party that her parents don't know about and a near-tragedy follows, she starts to realize every choice has a consequence, and danger rarely leads to good ones. Funny, realistic, and always provocative, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor does it again, proving that she understands what real girls think and feel, with this twenty-second book in the beloved Alice series.

Is it possible to be too good a friend—too understanding, too always there, too much like a doormat? Alice has always been a good friend to Pamela and Liz, a best friend to Pamela and Liz. But she's starting to wonder where that leaves her: What am I? An ear for listening? An arm around the shoulder? And then there's Patrick—after ending their relationship two years ago, he's suddenly calling again, and wants to take her to his senior prom. What does that mean? As Alice tries to figure out who she is in relation to her friends, she learns one thing—sometimes friends need you more than they let on...especially when the unthinkable happens. Always honest, brave, and true, the Alice series never flinches from big issues, and never discounts the small ones.

Wouldn’t it be great to go back to the time before Pam got pregnant, before Patrick left for the University of Chicago, before anyone was making any big decisions about sex or college or life in general? Wouldn’t it be great to get the whole gang together again, just once? What it takes for this to happen will change Alice (and the whole gang) forever. A funeral is not a happy reunion. Full of life—the good, the bad, and the heartbreaking—the latest Alice book reminds us just how much can change in an instant.

Alice’s memorable last year of high school is being overshadowed by some very difficult situations. A sudden increase in vandalism at the school leads Alice to discover an angry and violent group of students—teenage Neo-Nazis. Then an awkward hallway encounter gets a classmate to confess that a new, attentive teacher has been taking advantage of her. All at once, Alice’s safe and comfortable school starts feeling strange and serious—all this plus the normal senior year pressures of college applications and life-making decisions. Alice has two options: step up or melt down. The choice is simple, and true to the character that readers have loved for years….Alice steps up—in a big way.

Get ready to start your own incredible, amazing life…right? Alice McKinley is standing on the edge of something new—and half afraid she might fall off. Graduation is a big deal—that gauntlet of growing up that requires everyone she’s known since forever to make huge decisions that will fling them here and there and far from home. But what if Alice wants to be that little dandelion seed that doesn’t scatter? What if she doesn’t have the heart to fly off into the horizon on the next big breeze? And what if that starts to make her feel like staying close to home means she’s a little less incredible than her friends—and her boyfriend Patrick? Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is be honest with yourself—and sometimes the most incredible thing you can do is sneak a little fun into all this soul-searching.

In her last adventure before starting college, Alice takes to the open sea for the summer—and nothing can stop the tides of change. Everything Alice has ever known is about to change—from where she sleeps at night to how close her closest friends will be. So Alice is meeting that seasick feeling head-on by setting sail as staff on a Chesapeake Bay cruise ship. And like any last great adventure before starting college, Alice knows she’ll need sunblock, an open mind, and…oh yeah, all her best girlfriends. It’s the perfect summer job. Perfect, that is, when things are going perfectly. But when they’re not, Alice has to figure out how to weather unexpected storms of all sorts. Which could be perfect after all—perfect training for her next big adventure—college.

Alice McKinley is going to college! And everything, from her room to her classes to her friends, is about to change. Stoically, nervously, Alice puts her best foot forward…and steps into the rest of her life. Just how crazy will her college life get? Will Alice’s dream of becoming a psychologist come true? Are she and her BFFs destined to remain BFFs? And with so many miles between them, will Alice and Patrick stay together…or is there a hot, mysterious stranger in her future? As Alice well knows, life isn’t always so predictable, and there are more than a few curveballs waiting to be thrown her way. This is it. The grand finale. You’ve loved her, you’ve learned with her, you’ve watched her grow up through twenty-eight books. And now everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Alice McKinley will be revealed!

Find a Penny pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck…except, of course, if that Penny is charming and pretty and funny, and the person picking her up just happens to be your boyfriend. Alice McKinley’s freshman year is not as “lucky” as she was hoping it would be. But she’s is trying to look on the bright side. There are worse things than being single for a semester… for a school year…for the whole summer…. At least Alice can count on her best friends for support—in theory, anyway. Lately they haven’t been all that there-for-her. In fact, it seems like Pam and Liz are suddenly involved in intense, secret conversations whenever Alice is around. Single is starting to feel a whole lot like solo.

The ups and downs of high school life continue in the second and third bind-ups in the Alice series. In It’s Not Like I Planned It This Way, Alice’s sophomore year is chock full of change, from a new living arrangement, to a possible new relationship, to the newfound freedom that comes with driving. And in Please Don’t Be True, the adventure of growing up continues in Alice’s junior year, when she and her friends deal with issues like a pregnancy scare and a heartbreaking good-bye. But no matter what changes, Alice is as relatable as ever.

The ups and downs of high school life continue in the second and third bind-ups in the Alice series. In It’s Not Like I Planned It This Way, Alice’s sophomore year is chock full of change, from a new living arrangement, to a possible new relationship, to the newfound freedom that comes with driving. And in Please Don’t Be True, the adventure of growing up continues in Alice’s junior year, when she and her friends deal with issues like a pregnancy scare and a heartbreaking good-bye. But no matter what changes, Alice is as relatable as ever.

It’s Alice’s senior year in high school, and with this three-book compilation, you won’t miss a moment of it. Senior year is a big deal, but is Alice ready for it? Big decisions (college). Big parties (senior prom!). Big heartache (Patrick is in college—halfway across the country!). Alice needs to step up in a big way—to weather unexpected storms of all sorts. This compilation of three Alice titles includes Alice in Charge, Incredibly Alice, and Alice on Board.