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I’m slowly making my way through Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s Alice series for the Themed Reading Challenge hosted by Caribou’s Mom and I’m enjoying each book that I read. I know I read them all years and years ago, but it’s always fun to revisit old favorites. I guess that’s what challenges are for.

In Alice in April, our ever-so-lovable main character has decided that since she is about to turn thirteen, she is now the Woman of the House and needs to take on more “womanly” responsibilities, such as doing her dad’s and brother’s mending, making dinner, and all the other lovely things that come along with growing up. As usual, disaster ensues and Alice is left more confused than ever! While all her planning is going on, Alice is also desparetly waiting for the boys in her class to give her a state name based on her chest size, the more mountainous the state, the more appealing her breasts are, I suppose and Alice also gets a glimpse into tragedy after a student in her class takes her own life.

In Alice-in-Between, poor Alice gets the blues over not fitting in. She isn’t maturing quite as fast as some girls, but not quite as slowly as others, causing her to feel left out and lonely. She becomes romantically interested in Patrick again and their “in-between” status is not helping her feel any better at all. Lester’s girlfriends make another hilarious appearance in this sixth book in the series and Alice’s dad begins to get more serious with her teacher.

Though the Alice books are more mature material than a lot of parents want their girls reading at 11 or 12, they really do cover realistic experiences and emotions that the girls go through. The books are funny, well-written, and always enjoyable. Two more down!

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Now Reading: This is Paradise!
Just Finished: An Abundance of Katherines

So... Dan came home after a freakishly long business trip. I could tell he had been away for quite some time, because he sent me a coupon for Borders. Obviously, he had forgotten how crazy the stacks of books in our house are and how they are threatening to EAT MY HOUSE.

Needless to say, I went and spent it. When it comes to books, you know I have no self control. My two purchases I'm most excited about are Sister Bernadette's Barking Dogand the The Norton Anthology of Children's Literature: The Traditions in English.

Anyway, let's talk about some books I've read, not ones I haven't yet (but I will say I started Sister Bernadette and it's awesome so far.)

Rosy Cole's Memoir Explosion: A Heartbreaking Story about Losing Friends, Annoying Family, and Ruining Romance by Sheila Greenwald came out around the time Oprah was pistol-whipping James Frey, which was timely.

Anyway, Rosy Cole (who has lots of books about her, but I haven't read the others) is writing a memoir for her writing assingment in school. She was supposed to write about the most interesting person in her family, so she chose herself! The problem is, her life is pretty boring, so she embellishes it a bit. She gets a lot of bad advice, especialy from her Uncle Ralph and when her friends see it, hoo boy, that's when things really hit the fan.

Rosy is a likeable herione. She is confident everyone will eat up her memoir and love it just as she does, and is genuienly shocked and suprised when everyone stops talking to her. Rosy's funny and incorrigible-- a cross between Eloise and Ramona Quimby.

The text is well-complemented by Greenwald's line drawings-- I especially likes how well she captures the facial expressions of her audience everytime Rosy reads her memoirs out loud.

I am looking forward to reading some of the other titles in this series.

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