Your Questions Answered

More Alice Books?

Question:

I just finished reading Intensely Alice (in one day I might add) it was so good I loved it! I was wondering if you are planning to write more Alice books? Please do I don’t want to stop learning about her! I love these books SSSOOO much! DO plan to wirte about her in college too? Please keep writing I LOVE these books

Phyllis replied:

The very last book to come out will take Alice from 18, all the way up to age 60.

Posted on: June 21, 2009

Yummilicious?

Question:

i looked on your site and figured out the answer to part of my last question! but you said you already have the last book writtin so I was wondering what is the name of the last book and the second to the last book! And I forgot to mention but your books are YUMMILICIOUS or in this case READILICIOUS!

Phyllis replied:

The very last Alice book in the series will be titled “Always Alice.” That’s book #28. That’s already written, but not published. The book coming out next June, “Alice in Charge,” is book #25. I haven’t written, or titled, books number #26 and #27.

Posted on: June 20, 2009

How Many Pages?

Question:

I know the next alice book will be called Alice in Charge but how many pages will it consist of and will the book after this next one be the last book or will there be two more after alice in charge??

Phyllis replied:

I don’t know how many pages there will be in the book. I turned in 250 manuscript pages, but that always translates into more pages when put into a book. There will be three more books after “Alice in Charge,” which is coming out next June.

Posted on: June 20, 2009

Stupid Thing I Regret So Bad

Question:

hi p. i did this stupid thing n now i regret it so bad. i like this dude n i wanted 2 tell him that. idk y i want to tell him. i think i xpected him yo feel the same way or something. anyways last tym we were chating n i told him that i think that he’s cute. and he ended up saying OK n that was it, now im so mad that i told him, to tell the truth, i no that even tho he MIGHT have had lil feeling 4 me. i knew that nothing would have happened. we r a totally different ppl. idk wat 2 do. im not hurt or anthing but i gss i want it 2 go back 2 where we were b4. we weren’t frnd or anything but we were THERE. that might make sense but idk . so wat do u think i shold do?

Phyllis replied:

Look. You didn’t ask him to marry you. All you said was that he was cute and he said OK. Just keep your conversation light and on other subjects and don’t mention it again. But if you want to make sure he gets the message that you only want to be friends, tell him that you’ve made a list of all the guys you know who are cute, and then he’ll know he’s nothing special!

Posted on: June 20, 2009

Would You Promise?

Question:

hey phyllis i love your alice books so much that i couldn’t resist reading any other books would you promise finish writing your alice books before you retire? please?

Phyllis replied:

I promise. There are three more books to go. Would it help you to know that the very last book is already written and is in a fireproof box here in my office, waiting to be sent to the publisher when the others are written? P.S. I don’t plan to retire. I will keep writing as long as I can hold a pen.

Posted on: June 20, 2009

I’m Alison!

Question:

First of all, you’re an amazing author.Last May, when Almost Alice came out, I was so excited to read it since i had been waiting a year for it to come out. I live in Canada so i couldn’t find the book in any book store, or my local library where I usually find them, then basically just own them seeing as i repeatedly request the books.I used to look in the library online to wait for them to get Almost Alice once a week, then once a month as I got more disappointed. I was the first person to request Almost Alice.I waited around a month for it to finally arrive which was around a week ago. For some reason, I read the back of the book first and to my surprise I WAS ON THE BOOK! I’m Alison. The one that got something to drink and went to my room to read the whole book in a night. I was soooo excited!! This is the most exciting thing that has happened to me. IM ON YOUR BOOK. You. The amazing author that writes these wonderful books that everyone reads. You read my email and you put it on your book! Thank you so much. I literally jumped up and down running and screaming around the house for an hour. I still get hyper when I think about it. I just requested Intensely Alice a minute ago. It’s great I’ll get to read this new book right after I read Almost Alice(which, by the way, was FABULOUS!)since the library took a while to get Almost Alice. you’re so amazing, thanks so much.I’m definately gonna go to a book store, turn around all the Almost Alice books, and take a picture of all the Alison’s ha ha

Phyllis replied:

I’m glad that made you so happy! Actually, I don’t put those quotes on the back of the books. I share some of the fan letters with my editor, and she’s the one who decides which ones to use. She has various reasons for choosing the ones that she does. I’m always surprised to see them too!

Posted on: June 20, 2009

Next Book

Question:

What is the next (25th) book going to be called and when is it going to come out?

Phyllis replied:

The 25th book is titled “Alice in Charge” and will be published in June of 2010.

Posted on: June 18, 2009

Don’t Want to Ruin Our Friendship

Question:

Every year I forget about your books and then a new one comes out and I see it at a friends house, book store or library (surprisingly usually within the first week of publication) anyways every year I read the new book like five times then buy an old book or two. By doing so I own about ten Alice books, which is funny. It’s amazing I get hooked again after every new book. Thanks sooo much. I think I can also relate to Alice really well myself and going through a lot of the same things.

Also I have a question to ask you. One of my best friends likes me, he told me and I think I like him too. I don’t want to ruin our friendship if something were to go wrong and we wouldn’t even talk anymore. We practically already hang out three times a week and act like we’re dating so I’m not sure what would be different, because we already share ice cream cones, watch movies together, exc. Do I even need to tell him I’d like to go out with him or will it make a difference? Niether of us have dated anyone else for about half a year and I don’t think he plans on it. So we already have a good line between friendship and dating, but should I talk to him and establish the relationship better? If I were to it’d be kind of akward though, what should I do? Thanks

Phyllis replied:

This guy has already told you he likes you. You see each other three times a week. You watch movies and share ice cream cones, and he’s one of your best friends. What is it you still need? If you went to movies in theaters instead of watching them at home, and bought two ice cream cones instead of one, would that make it more of a “date” to you? You want to establish the relationship better by…..? Wearing signs on your back that say “WE ARE DEFINITELY DATING?” Or is it that you want to share more with him physically–kissing, hugging, stroking? I’m having a hard time figuring out just how you want to make a good situation better. If it’s more physical closeness, what about just laying your hand over his during a romantic scene. Snuggling up to him during a chainsaw movie. Decide what you would need to give you the feel of a “relationship” and then ask yourself whether it’s something superficial you can more or less show off to other people (being seen in line together at a movie or sitting together ina restaurant), or whether you need more in the way of romantic moves on his part.

Posted on: June 17, 2009

I Screamed and Ran Away

Question:

Hi! I’ve e-mailed you twice before and I’d first just like to say thank you for all your advice. Like, I no longer walk around so scared of everything, and my dad accepted to sending me to public school this year, so yay! 🙂 I just read Almost Alice two days ago, I finished it the same day I got it, and I guess it was kind of a disappointment—but only because I’d been waiting for it for about nine months and it turned out being so short. I still think it was an awesome book. Anyways, yes, so there, I wanted to say thank you for your advice and for writing Alice! All the times I’ve felt like I hadn’t a friend in the world, I found one in your character, and I’m just truly grateful to you for that.

Um, but moving on 🙂 — I’m sorry I ramble — I sort of have another question to ask you. I suppose you can say I don’t have a mom, my parents are divorced and I haven’t talked to her since I was nine?, and although I do have a bigger sister I’d just sort of feel embarrassed asking her this kind of stuff, so here goes: When will I know if boys like me, like, you know, that? I mean, is there a way to tell?

I’m fourteen now, and there are two boys in particular I’d like to know about. The first is a boy at church; he’s my age, and we’re in the same group thing that we attend during the regular service for all the 6-8 graders. I’ve never talked to him directly before, but (according to my brothers) he used to stare at me all the time, and sometimes I even caught him doing it. He just stopped last Sunday actually—or, well, I didn’t notice him doing it at all then. And like, once when I wasn’t there, when my little brother went instead of me and the youth pastor introduced him as my little brother, he (the guy I’m talking about) apparently was the first one to say “Yeah, I know her”, which makes me kind of embarrassed and curious, because I don’t think I’ve ever even said hi to him. Now I’m just wondering, does he like, did he like me? I’m so confused. Another reason why this sucks too is because up to last week, I’ve been denying all hints of having a crush on him, because I didn’t, but now I think I sort of might…

The other boy I think it is safe to say I am over, but I would still like some words of wisdom about him. You see, he’s two years older than me, and two years ago we used to go to the same chess club, the one my brother used to run. Everyone always teased me about having a crush on him, and then one day at a community celebration, when he called out hi to me, some thing or another overcame me and I screamed, knelt, and ran when I saw him (because I had a crush on him) and then didn’t see him ever since….last month. When I found out he works now at the city Superstore. It was such a shock when I saw him, because I was so embarrassed from two years ago, and anyways, what I’m confused about is when he saw me—I was with my younger brother and my older brother and his girlfriend—he didn’t say hi to me, or even look at me. He had a quick conversation with my brothers, but he didn’t even look at me! And then, just two weeks ago, I was there again, with a different brother and my same younger brother. This time, HE came over to US, while we were at the check-out stand, and he looked right at me, except I averted my gaze. And he said hi to my brothers and shook their hands, but I clammed up and hid behind my brothers and didn’t even acknowledge him, and now I can’t help wondering, did he come over to talk to us (to me)? Or, like, what…?

Yikes. I’m a bit of a motormouth I’m afraid. 🙁 I’m truly apologetic about that. I know you’re not a mind reader, Mrs. Naylor, but if you can, it’d be awesome if you helped me out. Even if you can’t, I’m still just thank you so much.

Phyllis replied:

Any day now I expect to get a letter from a guy saying, “There’s this girl who used to be in the same chess club with me, and I can’t figure her out. I’ve heard that she had a crush on me, but one time I called out “Hi” to her and she screamed, knelt down, and then away. That sort of shook me up, so the next time I saw her with her brothers, I went over to talk to them and she hid behind her brothers the whole time. Mrs. Naylor, do you think she’s OK? Is it safe to try talking to her again?”

I get the feeling sometimes that unless a guy makes an announcement in front of all his friends, after a trumpet fan fare, that he likes a girl, she doesn’t want to say or do anything to encourage him, even though she’s crushing on him. I think you need some down time just accepting guys as friends, no matter how much you like them, and getting far more comfortable with them than you are now, so that the feelings between you can grow. There is no thermometer you can stick in his mouth that will tell you his romantic temperature.

Posted on: June 17, 2009

Love Alice

Question:

I LOVE Alice its my favorite series. Alice, Elizabeth, and, Pamela seem so real to me.

As soon as i finish a book about Alice and realize i don’t have another about her i get really upset and go to my computer and search Alice.

the next day, i go to a book store or library and get the next one

Phyllis replied:

That’s wonderful to hear! Enjoy!

Posted on: June 16, 2009