Lost Them All

Question:

Hi! I’m now 26 years old and I still love Alice. I began reading Alice when I was in 6th grade I believe. I was lucky enough to get the first book, The Agony of Alice, as my first Alice book and I remember reading about Lester taking her clothes shopping for school and the horror she felt when Lester couldn’t find her size and basically made her feel like a freak.

Of course there was also the embarrassment of seeing Patrick for the first time in a dressing room in his underwear! After that book I was hooked. I found out how many Alice books were published and spent every spare moment reading them up until the last book (at the time). I love how Alice is just a normal girl and that the books take you through the trials and hardships of growing up. It was wonderful to read about her obstacles and triumphs, and I honestly learned how to deal with certain things through the experiences of Elizabeth, Pamela, and her.

When I entered adulthood and got my first job I made it my mission to buy every Alice book and reread them all including the new one I hadn’t read yet. I steadily collected each book as it was published and whenever I did get a new book I could not just read the new one. I had to go back to the beginning and read everything in order, every time like clock work. Unfortunately, about 2 years ago I lost all of them. I went through some of my own hardships and everything I owned was lost. I haven’t had the honor of reading quite a few of the final books even. I think I left off with Alice in the Know and had started Dangerously Alice. My life is going so much better now and I have 2 little girls myself and I have decided I’m going to get the first few in the series for my oldest who is 5. I want to start reading them to her because I just know she will love them just as much as I do. My goal is to collect every one of these wonderful books once again and finally be able to read all I’ve missed.

These books kept me going through high school. Whenever I felt down I would just turn to Alice and knowing that someone else was experiencing things just like I was (even if she was a fictional character) just made me feel all the better.

Thank you so much Mrs. Naylor for creating such a great series and helping guide millions of little girls just because they got to know Alice. I’ve read so many more books that you’ve written but Alice has always been my heart when it comes to you!

Phyllis replied:

I was so sorry to hear that you lost all the books, but happy to know that life is going better for you now.  I know all about difficult times, as readers who have ever read my adult autobiography (Crazy Love) know.  But most bad times don’t last forever, and it’s almost impossible to go through them without learning something valuable that you can use later.  Please start your daughters off with “Starting with Alice.”  How nice to have little girls to share the books with.