Married Now, but the Alice books still take me back….

Question:

I read my first Alice book when I was in 5th grade and never felt such a connection to a character before that.  You had my nose in a book for weeks until I had gone through all the books in the series…  only 3 at the time!  I am turning 30 this year and every couple of years I buy the latest few books and catch up on Alice and the rest of the gang.  Although I am older and married now and have different problems and concerns now than I did when I was Alice’s age, the books still bring me right back to high school and make me remember vividly what I went through.  What a treat!  I find almost nothing more enjoyable than getting my hands on an Alice book I have not read before and diving in to see what happens next.  For a while I was younger than Alice and thought that maybe I was being influenced by her decisions and situations since I felt so similar to Alice.  However as I have gone on to age (much!) faster than Alice, and still seeing our experieces being so similar, I realize that you have just managed to completely capture adolescence.  I didn’t lose my mother or have a step parent, didn’t have the same types of experiences with friends or boys that Alice did or career goals or anything like that.  However, I still felt she was me.  I don’t know how you do it but I am sure the younger generation in your life is very fortunate to have someone like you around with all the wisdom of experience, but the ability to remember and know exactly what it was like to go through everything for the very first time.  I hope they appreciate you.  I am so sad that my time with Alice will be ending soon, but thank you for making sure we all get to find out just exactly what happens throughout her life!  I read everything I can get my hands on, but my favorites are still about Alice.

Phyllis replied:

And what a treat for me to know that after all these years, you are still following the Alice books.  I wrote my last paragraph of the last book the other day, and I will miss Alice too.  Thanks so much for writing to me out of your own busy life!