The Impact of Alice

Comment:

Even as I’m writing the subject line, I feel as though “The Impact of Alice” could be a book in your series! I really hope it’s not too late for you to see this and reply.
Alice has been, and will always be an important part of my life. I remember reading the series in grade three; I loved the series so much that I wanted to write you letters of gratitude. This did not happen because as I started to read other readers’ comments, I realized that they’ve been along Alice’s journey for years. I had only been reading the series for a little over a year,and I didn’t seem special enough. Now, I’m in grade nine, and I’m only more thankful for Alice to have grown up with me. How could these six years, since then, pass by so quickly? Since then I’ve read the entire series numerous times, and I sometimes still wonder how different my childhood would’ve been without Alice. She was the one who guided me, pondered questions and ideas I was curious about. Up until this day, I can still picture Aunt Sal’s mortified face, to Patrick’s shock when Alice first “met” him in the change room.
As I grew up, so did Alice, and I CAN’T say that the series were just books. They were events that were written in a way that I didn’t just read them, I EXPERIENCED them. I’ve built a relationship with Alice, and it’s hard to forget all her little moments in middle school, high school, work, breakups, embarrassments, obsessions, Lester’s girlfriends, the Melody Inn, Mark’s death, marriage, and reading the time capsule letters. I’m almost scared to read the series again, because I know that I will cry. When her father passed away, I instantly flashed back to all the times he patiently guided Alice, how angry he was when he realized Alice set him and Sylvia up, to his final days, almost as if these were MY memories. The strongest moment was when Alice got back together at the end and opened the time capsule that they buried in grade seven. It was in this moment, that i realized I still remember the day Alice buried the time capsule, as though I was there with her and that she truly has aged because of all the events in between. Millions of readers probably have felt the way I do, and I’m really happy that you receive the recognition that you deserve. I want to thank you graciously, and it’s so hard to explain all of these words that I have bottled up inside of me for years. Thank you for the wonderful impact you’ve made on your readers, and yes, I may not be special in any way, but Alice has lead me to believe that anyone can be special in their very own way.
Phyllis replied:

Your email really means a lot to me.  I’m so glad that you feel the books have helped you along the way.  I wish I’d had a similar series to read when I was growing up, because I had a lot of questions too, and some were just too personal, I felt, to ask my mother.  I know she would have answered the best she could, but still….  There were a lot of things that happened in the books that made me cry as I wrote them, but also things that made me laugh, especially Alice’s discussions with Lester.  And yes, each of us is special.  Until human beings are cloned, which I hope will never happen, there will never be another person “just like you.”