Letter From Germany

Comment:

I don’t really know if you are ever going to read this. But anyway, I want to tell you something.

I don’t exactly remember how old I was when I first encountered one of your Alice books. I must have been about 12 or so, when I was at a local bookstore and I was looking for a new book. Then I discovered “The Agony of Alice” and “Alice in Rapture, Sort of”. Those two books were stuffed into one paperback. My decision was quite quick and I purchased it. As soon as I was done with the first two books of the Alice Series, I had to buy one after another. I didn’t always read them in order because sometimes when I wanted to buy the following book, it was out of order, so that I had to buy another one. But no matter which book you read, you can always follow and even if you haven’t read the book before, you can understand everything. At some point, I had read them all. Even the two of the three books before “The Agony of Alice”. The Alice series have probably been my favorite books of all time.

Two weeks ago, I decided to read them all again. 14 books, one after another. I read one per day. And even now, with the age of 18, I still love them. It doesn’t matter that Alice is younger than I am, I still love, love, love the way the Alice books are written. I love Lester’s sense of humor. I love Alice and her, sometimes weird, thoughts. How she overreacts sometimes. I had to cry so bad when Mrs. Plotkin died in hospital. I felt the pain Alice had to feel when she broke up with Patrick. While reading, I can just be in the world Alice is living in.

And what is even more; I always thought the Alice series had ended after book nr. 14. But I was wrong. They just hadn’t been translated into German anymore! And when I found the Alice homepage, I found out that there are up to 25(!!!) books! So of course, I just had to order the following ones. And Phyllis, I can’t tell you how excited I am that the Alice story is actually going on!!

Well, I guess, what I actually wanted to tell you: I am just in love with the Alice books. It is so much fun reading them, and sometimes I sit in bed and have to laugh about what Lester just said or what Alice just did. I can sort of relate to Alice at some points and I just want to let you know that it makes me so happy reading them. I guess I want to thank you for what you have published.

I just wanted to let you know. And I am seriously so happy to know that it hasn’t ended yet and I can’t wait to hold number 15, Patiently Alice, in my hands.  I hope you are well and I wish you all the best,

Phyllis replied:

It’s always a pleasure to hear from readers in another country.  I guess your are reading German translations of the Alice books, and of course that makes me curious how they handle sensitive passages.  Now I will make you even happier by telling you that there are a total of 28 Alice books, not 25, not including the 3-book paperback bindups of her high school years.  I know how you feel about the sad parts.  I cried too when I wrote them.  And Lester always makes me laugh.  It’s hard for me to realize he’s just a character, not a real guy.  Thanks so much for taking the time to write to me.