The Agony of Alice

Alice’s mother died when she was four, and now Alice is looking for a mother figure. She has her sights set on Miss Cooper, a sixth-grade teacher, but instead Alice is assigned to Ms. Plotkin’s class. Ms. Plotkin is dumpy and frumpy, not the kind of woman Alice figures she can get advice from about transitioning from a young girl to a young woman. Alice gets a boyfriend, her period, and puberty hits. These elements combine to put this book on the banned list, but I think it is an insightful and eye-opening piece of literature for middle-school and older elementary students. The writing is excellent, as well, as the author utilizes a natural speech pattern for dialogue. She also includes believable characters and situations that show more perhaps many young women could relate to.

While this book is skipped over by many of the elementary studenst at my school, it is almost a rite of passage for girls growing into young women (especially at the middle school level). Most young women can relate to the trials Alice goes through. show less

The first chapter threw me a bit, with Alice looking back over the 'mistakes' of her past, but once she moved into the present, I was entirely charmed by her voice. Alice is 11, starting at a new school, and wants terribly not to do anything awful, and to find a mother. Needels to say these two wishes do not come true - and plenty of hilarity happens all round. I loved Alice's relationship with her father and brother, and her interactions with the teachers at her school were wonderfully written. I didn't find it dated, and I look forward to reading the rest of the book in the series. I'd give this to tweens looking for realistic, funny stories.

Very cute and sweet. No real mean girls, no real dysfunction, no major whining or melodrama... but not too innocent, either. I can definitely see the appeal for some girls. But would I have loved it when I was a pre-teen? I think maybe, but otoh I might not even have picked it up, being more into horse stories and fairy tales at the time.

It got better, richer, after the first several chapters, and I have hopes for the sequel(s). I see there's more titles in the series than I can imagine reading, though, so we'll see.

Reviewed by Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com

Once again, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor takes us inside the mind of Alice in THE AGONY OF ALICE, and shares all the crazy adventures and thoughts that we never thought a pre-teen would have.

Alice McKinley is moving into a new house and entering the sixth grade. Almost a teenager, Alice just wants a little help getting used to all of those crazy issues that girls experience. And only having a father and brother, neither of whom know that girls do not wear jeans on the guy's side of The Gap, Alice could definitely use a little less male influence and a lot more of a female role model.

Things aren't working out so great, especially when the McKinley's new neighbors just so show more happen to bring them dinner, even though Alice's father promised that they would go out to eat. And Alice doesn't get Miss Cole, the gorgeous teacher that all of the girls want to be like, but instead is assigned to Mrs. Plotkin's class, the not-so-beautiful teacher. And then there is her brother, who knows nothing about being a teenage girl, and can only complain about the way Alice chews with her mouth open.

It seems like Alice needs someone to show her the ropes on being a girl --and quick!

Alice McKinley is just so innocent that you can't help but fall in love with her. THE AGONY OF ALICE is perfect for any pre-teen who isn't quite sure of what lies ahead for them and the obstacles that they just might have to face. show less

Alice is motherless, and going into her new school’s sixth grade. She desperately wants to fit in and act more grown up, but without a mother, how does she know how to go about it? She decides that the best way to do this is to be in the sixth grade class of Miss Cole, the beautiful and graceful lady she wants to emulate.

Instead, she gets stuck in Mrs. Plotkin’s class. Mrs. Plotkin is dumpy and has no physical attributes to her name. Alice can’t believe her luck…until it gets worse! When she tries to fit in, it seems as though she’s humiliating herself instead. Like how she is rude to Mrs. Plotkin in an effort to get transferred to Miss Cole’s class. Or when she wears too much perfume to try to emulate Miss Cole. Or when she show more walks in on a boy in his dressing room, only for him to turn out to be Patrick, the safety patrol in her class.

Will the humiliations ever end? Or will Alice just learn to accept the good with the bad, and thus begin to grow up as a result?

This is the beginning of a marvelously realistic series about a girl going through puberty, social changes, love, family, and friendship. Alice is sweetly vulnerable yet lovingly feisty, a girl caught in the web on the way to being a teenager. Every girl will be able to relate to Alice on some level. show less

(The Agony of Alice is the first Alice book Naylor wrote, but the fourth if one is reading chronologically as she grows up.)
The Mikenley's (Alice, her father, and her older brother, starting college) move to a new home and she will be stating a new school.
Alice sets out to find the perfect mother figure to help her out, since her own mother died when she was young. Her first choice is the beautiful 6th grade teacher, Miss Cole, but she ends up in the class of Mrs. Plotkin, a dumpy, gray-haired slow moving woman.
Of course, Alice learns many life lessons during the course of the book, some of them hard ones.
In spite of a few spells of meanness early in the book, Alice remains a sympathetic, likable character - and a completely believable one.

In this first book in the Alice McKinley series, Alice is in 6th grade and starting over at a new school. Her mother died when she was little and now Alice decides that she needs a female role model because she feels embarrassed at some of the 'childish' mistakes she's made. She sets her sights on a teacher at school, the glamorous Miss Cole, but is disappointed when she's placed in Mrs. Plotkins's class instead. Throughout the year, Alice begins to grow up, although she sometimes feels like she's growing backwards.