Alice is almost thirteen, and, according to her Aunt Sally, that means she is almost the Woman of the House. This Alice interprets to be a catalyst for change of some kind. First, she insists that their motherless and wifeless family go get physical checkups…only to be surprised when her Dad insists that she gets one as well!

In addition, Alice has taken it upon herself to get her house in order and plan her father’s surprise fiftieth birthday party. Of course, it turns out that all these things are more than one twelve-year-old girl can handle, which is when platonic help comes in. Pamela, Elizabeth, and the ever-caring Patrick are in, but Alice gets a surprise in the form of a sort of friendship with Denise Whitlock, the girl who used to bully her. Turns out Denise has a few shocking surprises of her own, too.

April culminates in her dad’s party and a shocking event that makes her grow up even more. It’s not even being almost the Woman of the House, but the ever-interesting Alice just might be able to figure out how to do it. With a bit of help from everyone, of course. ( )

i LOVED the alice books growing up! i definitely recommend them to all girls around 9-10 and up, and the good news is that she's still writing them! so the series starts out when alice is in elementary school and now she's in high school! ( )