Alice Blog

Censorship

Question:

I am currently taking a class in Children’s Literature. I am writing a paper on Censorship on the Alice series. I was quite shocked that the series have been censored throughout the years. I don’t know why I didn’t know all along. Do you have any quotes that I should put in my paper?

Phyllis replied:

What upsets authors the most is that some parents think they can dictate not only what their own child reads, but what the children of other parents can or cannot read as well. They don’t just want the librarian to refuse to loan out an Alice book to their son or daughter; they want the Alice books to be removed from the library so nobody else can read them.

Posted on: October 20, 2009

Questions:

Question:

Alice, Pamela, and Elizabeth are my best friends! When I read an Alice book, I feel like I’m right there with them, talking about the same things! I have a few questions though…

Did you write the Alice books starting from 5th grade up? Or did you start in the middle and write the earlier books later?

How come Alice looks different in a lot of the book covers?

Is the girl who does the photos for Alice look like how you picture Alice?

Are Alice and her friends a lot like you in your childhood?

Thanks for reading I love the Alice books and so do all of my friends! We all got hooked on them when we were 10 and we still read them now! Thanks for writting my favorite books that I will never forget

Phyllis replied:

I wrote “The Agony of Alice” first and later wrote the three prequels. The art department decides on the covers, and sometimes used illustrations, sometimes photographs. Sometimes the characters look like I described them, sometimes not so much. Some of my friends resembled the book characters, but mostly I made the characters up.

Posted on: October 20, 2009

When will I Lose My Virginity?

Question:

i was wondering what age i would most likely loose my virginity at? i no i still have a pretty long time to go since im only ten years old but i still wonder wat age ill have sex. im guessing maybe 18 but it could take a lot longer. i just wanted to no what u think oh and i love the alice books.

Phyllis replied:

Are you going to put it on your calendar? It’s not a matter of age, it’s a matter of maturity. If this is the biggest thing that concerns you when you’re eighteen, then you still have some years to go before you’re ready.

Posted on: October 20, 2009

I Want to be Super Popular

Question:

i no ur really good at giving advice so i was wondering if u could give me some. im in the fifth grade and im having popularity problems. im a pretty good student with pretty good grades, a bit above average. and i have plenty of friends but im not miss popularity either. im about average on a popularity scale actually. i wanna be super popular but i dont no how. im nice to my friends and i help them if they need help but i wanna be super popular. please help mrs naylor and lets hope by next time everybody wants to be friends with me. p.s. i love the alice series it is the best series ive ever read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Phyllis replied:

Hmmm. You’re a pretty good student with above average grades with plenty of friends, yet you want to be Miss Popularity. Why? What would that give you that you’re missing now? And why do I get the feeling that even if you were Miss America, there would still be something missing fromyour life?

Posted on: October 20, 2009

Talks up a Storm on the Internet

Question:

there is this boy I talk to him on the internet but when I try to talk to him in person we hardly hold a conversion but on the internet we have lodes of things to talk about. I was wondering why do you think he has a hard time talking to me in person but when I talk to him on the internet he can talk up a storm? from JD P.S. I loved your new Alice book it made me happy it made me sad but it was a wonderful addition to the Alice series.

Phyllis replied:

Some people just find it easier to talk on the Internet. They don’t have to worry about how they look, how they will sound, how to fill in a pause, all the things you have to think about when you’re with someone in person. When you’re together, it would help if the focus is on some project at hand, not each other. That’s why it’s often so much easier to meet people and make friends when you’re on a committee, a volunteer job, a team, a choir–anything where you have something in common you can work on together.

Posted on: October 20, 2009

The Mean Ones

Question:

hi phyllis. i really need help. remember those girls i was telling you about? the mean ones? well i asked why they have a problem with me and we got into this discussion and one of them was sort of being nice to me and i just asked how things were going for her, meaning everything, and she said leave me alone and actually hates me. the other one wont be friends with me till the other girl and i sort it out, but theres nothing to sort out. we were all like BFFS last year, well one of them was. i am gonna make up names, pam and kate. kate i was friends with last year. i tell myself you dont need them, you dont deserve them, but then i think of all the good times we had, and i wis i could go back to that, but then i dont. sorry about all this, its a mouth full. i just really want to know your point of view.

Phyllis replied:

It happens. It happens to individual people, it happens to groups, and it especially happens, it seems, in middle school and early high school. Girls are trying to sort out their own identity, and it’s tied in strongly, for better or worse, with the girls they hang out with. I sure can remember hanging around with some people with whom I had very little in common, and acting particularly silly. I wasn’t mean to anyone, I was just someone I hardly recognize now, I did such stupid stuff. That won’t help your problem, I know, but about all I can say is hang in there. Of course you miss the fun you used to have. My writing critique group finally stopped meeting after about 26 years, and I miss it horribly. But people’s life circumstances change, personalities can change, people move away… Concentrate on making other friends. Some of these girls will drift back to you, some will drift further away, and you’ll make other close friends, I promise.

Posted on: October 20, 2009

Love It So Much!

Question:

i wanted to say to you a couple of things, i am from israel and in israel not allot of kids read this kind of books like alice
but i love it sosososososo much i can’t even explain, i am 13 and a half and i am so excited to write you!
i love alice so much that i can feel that she is actually my friend!
she is my insperation, i am so excited to open a new book f alic every single time
i wanted to thank you that you made my reading expirience so interestng and fun!
thank you so much,

Phyllis replied:

Thank you so much for writing to me. I know that readers in the U.S. are interested to know that the Alice books are being read in many other countries as well, and that you have written to me from Israel.

Posted on: October 20, 2009

Who’s More Important?

Question:

hey phylis i was reading your fan mail page and i wanted to say to the girl that had the guy play games with her heart. I wanted to say that i have been in the receiving end of it and also the giving end of it. I’m not proud of what i did and i bet the boy wasnt either. i felt like crap for it i mean i even kissed the poor dude which was soooooo wrong of me. BUT what i wanted to say was that a boy like that isn’t worth your time and isn’t worth affecting you like that. I let it affect me pretty roughly and with my personality disorder i became extreamly upset and did some bad stuff but once i felt better im like whose more important in this situation me or him. and i decided it was me just like you should.

Phyllis replied:

If you’re speaking of the guy who kissed, said all the right things, then broke it off the minute he got back home, yes, I agree; she should consider herself and her feelings of primary importance here and not waste her time on him. But when you treat someone else that way and play around with HIS heart, he’s the one I’d side with, and the least you could do would be to apologize. Most of us are going to be in both those situations to some degree in our lives. We will discover we are using certain people to our advantage–we act friendly because they provide a ride/a date/a movie ticket, etc.–and we get them thinking we like them more than we do. And there will be people who treat us the same way. We’re often told we should care for the environment and leave as little of a carbon footprint as possible, but we should also do the same with feelings, and leave few footprints on people’s hearts. (My sermon for the day).

Posted on: October 17, 2009

Should I Wait Until I’m About Thirteen?

Question:

i love the alice books and read all of the ones that have been published but i am only 10 years old. ill be 11 in three months but i no im kinda young for alice. im not going to stop reading them because i love them so much!!!!!!!!!!!! do u think i should wait until im about thirteen or fourteen before i read alice in charge next year? thanks so much for your advice i love the alice series and your an amazing author!!!!!!!!!!!!

Phyllis replied:

Well, you are rather young to be reading the most recent Alice books, but if you had no trouble with “Dangerously Alice” and “Intensely Alice,” you can get through “Alice in Charge.” You will probably get much more out of the later Alice books if you read them again when you’re older. It’s not that you won’t understand the story now, but by then you will have more of the feelings and emotions that Alice portrays in these books, and the problems she faces will be more real to you.

Posted on: October 17, 2009

Only Let Down my Guard 3 Times

Question:

i am a person that like to do things for themselfs i hate being told wat to do in other words i am an independant person and hates wen ppl do things for me cuz they underestimate me i have only let my guard down 3 times all in this past summer and they were all for guys one doesnt like me one is now my ex and the other one likes me but doesnt now i like him i have tryed to show him but he must b blind i have taken up my guard on 2 the one that likes me and the one that we r just friends but i cannt get my guard back up on my ex and we broak up 8 months ago do u have any sugestions

p.s.i thank u soo much for the books and for being a great writer

p.s.s. sorry that i have really bad spelling

Phyllis replied:

Nevermind the spelling, I’m trying to read between the lines to see what it is you’re really trying to tell me. It seems as though you’re a person who keeps people at a distance; you want to do things your own way, without someone telling you what to do. You may be happiest when you are grown by having your own business or working at a job where you work alone. But you also realize you need people, and where people are involved, you are cautious. You talk about “letting your guard down,” as though this is a failing, and I’m guessing you’re referring to sex or sex play. And you find that you can’t get over feelings for your ex, even though you try. Am I reading this right? I think it might help if you concentrate awhile on letting your guard down for friendship’s sake with both guys and girls. I think if you felt more comfortable around people in general, if you could carry on easy conversations and joke about yourself–if you could do little favors for others and accept little favors from them–all in a nonsexual way, it would make you more self confident, and you’d know better how to deal with your attraction for boys and to handle their attraction to you.

Posted on: October 16, 2009