Your Questions Answered
Question:
I am so very close to being done reading I like him, He likes her. I feel as if I have so many questions. my friend let me borrow the book and told me to read it..now that I am almost done, I am so in love. This is the question that I think is the most important. Since I started reading I like him, he likes her, I think I will just keep continuing reading from there. Is that ok? Or should I start reading the books from the very beginning? I think I really want to just read about her high school life. Another question of mine is, what is the name of the book of her senior year? Sophomore is ” Its not like I planned it this way”, Junior is “Please don’t be true”..correct? I just need the name of the senior one. Am I missing any of her books? Is there more than four books of her high school life? Is there any books after her high school life? How did you come up with a girl like Alice?
Phyllis replied:
It’s fine just to keep reading the high school books. For those who know Alice and her brother from their earliest years, the episodes will be deeper and more meaningful, but you can always go back and read the whole series from the very first book, which is “Starting with Alice,” when Alice was in third grade and Lester was a teenager. You can get those books in paperback. You are correct about the titles of the high school 3-book bindups. The three books of her senior year have not been published yet, since the last book that would be in that volume, “Alice On Board,” has just come out in hardcover. The publisher will probably wait a bit to publish the bind-up, as they don’t want to affect sales of the hardcover. Once they’ve decided on a pub date, they’ll tell me the name of the bind-up and I’ll print it here. There will be one final book in the Alice series, which takes her from age 18 to 60. It’s title is “Always Alice” and I’m still revising it. The publisher will be bringing that out in the fall of 2013, not the spring.
Posted on: June 16, 2012
Question:
Like so many other people I wanted to say that I really really love your books!I am 16 now and I started to read your books when I was 12 and one week ago I started to read the Alice Series again
Phyllis replied:
I love hearing that old fans are rereading the Alice series. That seems to be a favorite summer pastime. Thanks so much for writing to me.
and I can still laugh when I read them and this series is one of my favourite! You are one of my favourite authors!
Posted on: June 16, 2012
I’m a great fan of Alice and have been a loyal reader for over 10 years. I am nearing the end of my college career, and I received an internship to work for the Humane Society of the United States in D.C. this summer. When I found, out my excitement for the job was quickly supplanted by the knowledge that I will be so close to Silver Spring and Tacoma Park, where so much of my childhood fantasies took place while reading your books. My plan, silly as it may be, is to purchase the new Alice book, travel to Maryland, and read it somewhere in Silver Spring. I hope it is everything I have imagined it to be! Thank you for filling my childhood-and adulthood-with such joy and imagination.
Phyllis replied:
A writer mixes up the real with the imagined, you know, and everything has a different name. But I think you will still find Dales Music Store on Georgia Avenue, which became the Melody Inn in my books; if you drive through Takoma Park, almost any of those big Victorian houses could be the one Lester roomed in for so long, and if you take East-West highway to Bethesda, you will find the Unitarian/Universalist church on Cedar Lane where Ben and Sylvia were married. The Humane Society is dear to me because we had many connections after the publication of my book Shiloh. So you are in familiar territory. Best of luck with your internship!
Posted on: June 16, 2012
Question:
It’s easy for a book to make me laugh, but for one to have me so involved as to actually make me cry… That’s something I’ll Always come back to.
Phyllis replied:
I think many readers feel the same way. Thanks for writing.
Posted on: June 16, 2012
Question:
I was wondering if you have any pics of these characters that i am putting in this email , Alice, Sylvia , Lester, Patrick Long, gwen wheeler, elizabeth price, pamela jones, jim sorringer, nancy, amy sheldon, lori, karen, jill, mark, brian, justin, donald sheavers, takoma park, leslie, faith, molly, penny, uncle harold, uncle howard, grandpa mckinley, aunt sally, uncle milt, carol, kirk, martin, marie, marilyn, david, rosalind, billly.
Phyllis replied:
I’m afraid you’ll have to use your imagination. I try to mention characteristics from time to time, realizing that there are always new readers to the Alice books, besides those who have followed them for years. Occasionally I will mention Alice’s strawberry blond hair, or the fact that Gwen and Yolanda are African-American or that Ben is sort of roly-poly, but I don’t do this often because it would get pretty boring. And you guys wouldn’t buy the books if they had pictures, now would you?
Posted on: June 16, 2012
Question:
I just wanted to let you know what a blessing your Alice books have always been to me throughout my life.
I was so excited when I read my first “Alice” book. The girl inside was my age, and like me, imperfect in so many ways.
She had a funny older brother named Lester, an amusing Aunt, and a great Dad. (And a terrific boyfriend!) I’m 18-years-old (tomorrow is my 19th birthday) and I’m a Christian. Even Christian girls have questions about growing up, relationships, bodily changes, and other girly stuff. I’ve learned so much about myself from reading your books, and as the only girl in a family of 5 brothers, I’ve found a wonderful sister in Alice.( I’ve both cried and laughed with Alice.)
You’ve also influenced me to begin writing fiction myself. I would like to be a novelist too, someday.
Thank-you for all the hard work you’ve put into the Alice series. I hope that one day, I’ll have a daughter who can grow up knowing my favorite
character too.
Phyllis replied:
Of course Christian girls have questions too. We all have bodies and we all have the same problems. I’m so glad you enjoy the Alice books. You could write stories of your own if you have five brothers! Best of luck, and thank you for writing to me.
Posted on: June 16, 2012
Question:
I do appreciate your response and that you responded so quickly. However, I must repectfully disagree with the notion that just because something is true to life makes it also appropriate for young readers. I feel that is is irresponsible to glamorize teen sex in a society where this has caused so many problems for young people. Books such as yours can be very influential as kids so often believe and mimic what they read.
Would you write a story geared towards middle schoolers about Charles Manson just because it was true to life if you thought it could be influential in making then follow the same path? Would you write about suicide in this manner? To me writing about teen sex is similar in that you potentially influence young girls to rob themselves of their innocence, do whatever feels right and be able to sluff off the consequences as easily as closing the book.
I am sure I cannot convince you of the point, and I do not know if you are a parent or not, but I can tell you that as a concerned father in today’s society it is very difficult to monitor what your children see and books such as yours do not help in trying to bring up girls to regard purity as something sacred and sexual promiscuity as immoral. I hope you will consider this in your future books.
Phyllis replied:
I appreciate your writing to me again, but I think we’re comparing apples and oranges here, because there is nothing remotely healthy about invading a home and murdering people, whereas I don’t look at sexuality in that way. Our approaches toward teenage literature are radically different, in that you look at teen sexuality as pure vs impure and innocence vs guilty, while I took at teen sexual urges as a natural part of growing up, and I believe that the best way to approach the subject with teenagers is to accept how they feel and write about the various ways of dealing with these sexual feelings. Having taken part as an adult in a church-sponsored sex education course taught in the church, I feel strongly that teenagers should be encouraged to accept their sexual feelings and deal with them appropriately–that masturbation, for example, provides a healthy release, that mutual masturbation between a teenage couple is also safer than intercourse, and that sexual intercourse between a teen couple does not always end in pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease, but it does have risks, and a young couple should be aware of these risks and feel a responsibility toward each other if they choose this option. Some teenagers choose abstinence, and this is perfectly acceptable, and an individual decision. What I try to avoid is the good/bad stereotype–that sexual relations between teenagers is always going to end up badly, that those who engage in it are sinful people, etc. Our children know from their own experience that there are good students with a good plan for their lives who have had sex without bad consequences. And this is what I mean about being truthful. For me, both as a writer and as a parent, I feel obligated to stress that sexual urges are natural and healthy and that there are wise ways of dealing with them and not-so-wise. If you read my Alice books, you will find that some of the characters make healthy choices, some do not; and just as in life, some face difficult consequences, others do not. I think the best way to insure that young people listen to us is to tell the truth.
Posted on: June 15, 2012
Question:
I know I have already written to you before, but I feel that I need to ask you a question. I have not read all of the books, but from the ones I have read, I find it remarkable how much I do not have in common with her, yet I can still feel her pain and happiness, her all around feelings. I think that this is what makes the series so attractive to me. My question is, when you first started to write the series, did you know how appealing it would be to readers of every age? You probably get asked this question all the time, but I’m interested. I am also interested in reading the rest of the available series. I really love your series. I sometimes catch myself getting that exited feeling at Alice’s happy times, and that sad feeling at her sad or miserable times. Thank you for writing a really cool series.
Phyllis replied:
I never really know until a book is published and I hear from readers just how attractive or unattractive it will be for them. But, like you, I find myself feeling along with Alice, happy on her good days, really bad on the sad ones. That’s the way it’s always been with my writing, however. If I don’t cry in the sad scenes and laugh out loud at the funny ones, then I figure my readers won’t feel it either.
Posted on: June 15, 2012
Question:
The other night I got a phone call from my youngest sister; she is 12 going on 13. I am 27. She had called to let me know she had finished “Mockingjay” and announced to me she was going to start reading the “Pretty Little Liars” series, as it is popular with her friends at the moment.
In my mind, my first reaction was “no, no, no.” I did not feel they were appropriate for her age, but it got me thinking. When I was her age there was a book series of a girl and her friends, a girl who was very dear to me and helped me through sticky situations with my own friends at that time.
While trying to keep our conversation straight, I was wracking my mind to remember my “friends” name, was it Amanda? No, that couldn’t be right! Being pregnant, it being late, I couldn’t believe I could not remember. I went back to picturing my grade school/middle school library, I could see the section on the wall but still nothing came to mind. I tried everything I could think of on Google, “books for girls 12-14”, “popular girls books in the 90’s”, nothing!
After checking my fanfiction.net page, I went to the books section and thought, “maybe just maybe, it’ll be listed on here. I know I’ll know it when I see it.” Starting with the numbers and moving into the A’s, I finally spotted it. “The Alice Books”, yes Alice my dear, dear friend Alice, how could I have forgotten her name, had 1997 really been that long ago? So I sent Olivia an email, I am hoping she can develop as special of a friendship with Alice as I had not so long ago.
I keyed in your name and found the Alice website, and it makes me so happy to read some of the letters girls have written to you. Also the way you have written back to them, how amazing. I wanted to say thank you so much! All of my memories of her came flooding back to me, and I cannot wait to get out of work and go find Alice again. I am also hoping that one day my own little girl will enjoy her company as much as I did, and I cannot wait to see what Alice has been up to in my absence.
Thanks again so much!
Phyllis replied:
I’m so glad you reconnected with the Alice books again. It’s wonderful that you have recommended the series to your younger sister. Thanks so much for letting me know.
Posted on: June 15, 2012
Question:
Your books are so great!
I was wondering about, not exactly wondering but was surprised, that whenever a character is not caucasian, it is a really big deal.
Like when Lester stars talking about Tracy, he says she is African-American, everyone stoops chewing. Why? Why does it matter?
Or Gwen’s race is mentioned almost every time she is there- this is not true of anyone who is white, but it seems if the character is not Caucasian, their kin coler is always being talked about. Or for another example, when Alice goes to Camp Overlook, the first thing mentioned is the color of everyones kin, I do understand that that was part of the plot, them all being a bit racist, but it didn’t seem necessary to list everyones skin color first off.
I really don’t mean to be critical, and I love, love, love, your books, it was just something that confused me.
Thanks for writing!
Phyllis replied:
You make an excellent point. The reason is that I’m mentioning it for readers new to the series. And I tell them because sometimes writers are criticized for not having multi-racial characters in their books. Also, in case a producer is reading the book with an eye to making it into a movie, I would like them to know how I view each character, even though they often change things around. It’s important to me that Liz has fair skin and very dark hair, that Alice has a few freckles and burns easily, etc. So it seems equally important that they know that Gwen is African-American.
Posted on: June 15, 2012
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