Alice Blog

Did I Pick the Right College?

Question:

I was wondering if you would mind giving me a little advice?  It seems so petty to say this, but I feel really bad that I didn’t end up going to a better university.  I ended up going to my safety school, and although I’m happy to be saving my parents money, I still feel bad.  My brother was accepted into almost every school he applied to and went somewhere very prestigious.  In my mind, I feel like I’m always compared to him and other students like him.  I know I should be grateful for everything I have, but every now and then this bothers me.  I don’t know what I should do to stop feeling this way.

Phyllis replied:

The first two years of my post high-school education were taken at a local junior college.  Later, I got my BA from a good, but not prestigious, university.  During those junior college years, and in the years between those and my last years of college, I credit most of what I learned from a book, still on the market, called “Good Reading,” given to me by a friend.  It lists the best-known books in a number of fields and tells a few sentences about them–The 20th Century Novel, Religion, Psychology, Biography, Drama, Politics, Anthropology, Biological Sciences, History, etc. etc.  With no particular plan, I looked up the fields that interested me most, read a bit about each recommended book, then went to the library and checked out the ones that appealed.  I read book after book on psychology, anthropology, sociology, Russian novels, French novels, history…  Most of them I read from cover to cover because I really liked them.  If I found a book dull or uninteresting, I took it back and checked out something else.  Finishing college is important because it shows prospective employers that you could be counted on to show up for class, complete assignments, write a paper, think a problem through…..  But what I learned on my own affected me more in my daily life.  You will find in your post-college life that no one will ask you for a critique of Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury.”  No one asks you to compare Freud’s theories to Adler’s.  But you will recognize references to literature; you’ll have an understanding of why people often do things in groups that they wouldn’t do on their own; you’ll be fascinated at how early cultures tried to explain the universe; you’ll be able to join in conversations on a wide number of subjects, and to ask intelligent questions in a debate.  No one will care whether you got this background of learning from an elite university, a state college, or a public library. Trust me.

Can You Tell Me Anything?

Question:

I have been waiting for the new book to come out by reading the other Alice books….. ALL of them. And its starting to the point where I can almost tell what Alice and her friends are going to say. Can you tell me ANYTHING about the book?? I already know its about Alice from 18-60. Please help me!!!

Phyllis replied:

Only four more months to wait!  August 27th is the pub date.  It’s possible, if bookstores get them early, they might reserve one for you.

Free Book

Question:

Hi! I was wondering if you could send me an autographed book from you. I love your alice books so much! I feel like Alice is my best friend. Thank you for being the best author ever!

Phyllis replied:

I’m afraid if I sent out free books, I would soon be out of business.  Writing is my profession, so I can’t give away books any more than a furniture maker can give away free chairs. That’s why we have bookstores.  But I’m delighted that you feel as though  Alice is your best friend.  That’s a great compliment for an author.

Summers With Alice

Question:

I was thinking back to the different books I read growing up and I remembered the Alice series! In middle school, my childhood best friend and I had our own secret book club that was exclusive to just us — we would each find a book, read it, make the other read it once one was done, and later discuss everything. She came across the first Alice book and we spent all of that year and the later summers immersed in the life of Alice. I am an only child and I grew alongside Alice and felt like she was my imaginary sister or sort of guidance through a part of my adolescence. For whatever reason, ‘The Grooming of Alice’ was the last that I had read of the series. I remembered there was a website for the book and decided to Google it and more than a decade later (oh my gosh, I feel ancient right now!) the life of Alice is still very much in existence and still growing! I didn’t realize how many books there were to the collection, but it was a happy surprise. I am curious to what Alice has been up to all of these years and can’t wait to take time out of my busy day to relax with stories of Alice and her friends and family. Thank You for keeping a part of my childhood alive.

Phyllis replied:

I love the idea of you and your best friend reading the Alice books together.  I would have loved to hear some of your conversations.  The final book of the series, “Now I’ll Tell You Everything,” will be published this summer.  Publication date, August 27th.   Thanks so much for taking time to write to me.

A Movie or Series?

Question:

I was wondering if you are ever going to make a movie or series about alice and her friends If you ever did im pretty sure everyone would start watching i I wish you would come out with a movie or series thanks

Phyllis replied:

I’m not sure if you realized that the Alice books are a series of 28 different books.  But perhaps you were referring to a TV series.  There is just one Alice movie, “Alice Upside Down,” which is based loosely on “The Agony of Alice.”   Yes, it undoubtedly would make a good TV series, but no one has approached me yet about that.

Your Own Life?

Question:

Hi, Mrs. Naylor! I love your books, and the way I can nod in agreement when Alice feels a certain way. Alice is my best friend, and she always will be, whether she is 13 or 60. There isn’t much distance between us, because we both live in the Northeastern part of the U.S. I’m from New Jersey. Well, there isn’t much more to say except that I love you, and you’re my favorite author ever. You’re my role model. Ever since I was about 9, I’ve known that writing was my calling, and reading the Alice Series has only increased the intensity in that fact. I guess, if I had to ask you a question, it would be: Which of the Alice books most resembles the experiences of your life? Thank you so much for writing the Alice Series! I can’t wait for “Now I’ll Tell You Everything” to be released!

Phyllis replied:

It wouldn’t be any one book, but there are number of experiences that were either mine, similar to mine, or that happened to a friend.  Playing Tarzan with Donald Sheavers actually happened to me back in fourth or fifth grade, and it still embarrasses me to think about it.  Overhearing something intimate in my parents’ bedroom was another, though I was definitely not hiding in their closet.  Falling down the stairs and wetting her pants actually happened to my mother the first day of her high school back in 1914.  I’m so glad you love the Alice books.  Thanks for writing.

Alice in Germany

Question:

I just wanted to tell you that I absolutely love your Alice-books! I started to read them in German a long time ago (I was probably 11?) until book 14 plus the prequels, and then they stopped publishing them. So after a while I started reading the rest in English and I have to say that I enjoy them even more than the German ones because the German publishers left out a couple of the scenes that deal with ‘body issues’ (like Elizabeth’s first encounter with a tampon or the whole story around the douche). Wow, that sounds like I’m only interested in this kind of topics. What I meant to say was that through reading the original books I feel closer to Alice and the world she lives in.
I should probably tell you that I’m 23 now and that one of my subjects at university is English, so your books really help me to improve my language skills. Moreover, I learn a lot about everyday life in the USA.

A couple of months ago I bought a kindle and Alice on Board became my first ever ebook. Then I decided that I wanted to read the first books in English, too, so I bought all the books for my kindle and read them all again. I cannot wait until the final book comes out and find out what happens to Alice and her friends. I wonder whether you include information on Rosalind in the book? Because I’d love to know if she really works in the elephant house… 🙂 I hope that Alice does not die at the end of the book, probably of leukemia just like her mom… I’d rather see the book ending with Alice and her friends gathering again to open the time capsule at age 60. But please, please, please change the title back to Always Alice, the other title sounds so wrong for the series since the word “Alice” is not even in it. In addition to that, it’s much too long. 🙁
I’m wondering if Alice on Board is going to be published as a paperback edition; not as one of the ones including three books, but as a single one? Since I already own the two books that were published before I don’t need them again on my shelf but I  started with paperbacks I would like to have all books as paperbacks so they look more alike. I also noticed that you use some words related to Germany, like German chocolate cake or even Himbeersaft. Have you ever been to Germany or do you even speak German? And you once mentioned that you would upload a kind of Alice-encyclopedia on you website because you want to give you reader free access to it. Would it be possible to offer a kindle version of it, too? It would be great if the whole series was complete on my kindle.

Phyllis replied:

Thank  you for your well-written email.  I’m delighted that you were willing to go to all the trouble to get the Alice books in English.  I know that a lot of publishers in other countries leave things out, and I believe that a book should be read the way the author wrote it.

How I wish that I could do all the things you asked.  I’m afraid that the final book will be titled “Now I’ll Tell You Everything.”  We know that it doesn’t use “Alice” in the title (I think there will be a sub-title using it, I’m not sure).  It will be different from all the other Alice books because it’s twice as long, and geared to adults as much as teenagers.  I don’t think that “Alice on Board” will be published as a separate paperback either; it will come out this May as part of a bind-up with two other Alice books–all the books of her senior year of high school.

No, I have not been to Germany, but I understand it’s beautiful.  The publisher still plans to allow fans to download an encyclopedia type of data book on Alice, but I’m not sure just when that will be.  What I can tell you most definitely, however, is that Alice does NOT die at the end of the last book.

NEWS FROM PHYLLIS

Hello, Readers:

The marketing people at my publisher’s have decided that we need both a change of title and cover for the last and final Alice book.  At some point soon, “Always Alice” will disappear from Amazon.com and the Barnes & Noble websites–and probably many more–to be replaced by “Now I’ll Tell You Everything!”  We don’t know what the cover will be yet–we’re still thinking.  Same book, same story, same characters–but a different title and cover.  Confused?  Hang in there.  It will be worth the wait.

Is it Possible to Find the Whole Alice Series in Indonesia?

Question:

Greetings from Indonesia. Sorry my bad english. I use google translate, you can translate back when I was a strange remark. I am huge fan of yours since The Agony of Alice published in my country in 2005. Since then I’ve herd all collections alice who last appeared in 2008 is up to Alice Including (but I still have not been able to find Alice the brave). Is it possible if serial alice published in the Indonesian language to the last episode? I still have
a thousand questions spinning in my head about the life of Alice. I really enjoy your writing even though you and I are separated by distance and  continents. I was so much to learn about how everyday life on the American teenager. In fact I want to one day visit to Maryland. Thank you accompany my days with the Alice series.

Phyllis replied:

Thank you so much for your email.  I think I understood it very well. I know that some countries bought only a certain number of the Alice books.  You would have to ask your Indonesian publisher to buy the rest of the books and publish them there in your country.  I would like to know more about the lives of Indonesian teenagers, and hope that some day you will be able to visit Maryland.

Which is Your Favorite Book?

Question:

你 好!!! That means hi!!! in Mandarin Chinese. Mrs. Naylor, I am so grateful toward the Alice series, I have learned so much through every single book I’ve read. Most of all, I’ve learned that during tough situations in life, you just have to push yourself to move forward. I started reading these books when I was around 8 years old. I’m currently eleven, and I’m from Hoboken, New Jersey. What I love about your books is Gwen. She is African American but Alice and the others treat her like anyone else. My parents were born in China, and I’ve gotten bullied because of it. Alice is my role model. She always acts on how others will feel, even if it doesn’t benefit her. And I am certain that 10 years from now, when I’ll hopefully be in college, I will do things the way Alice would when she was in college. My question: What’s your favorite Alice book? Or, which Alice book did you enjoy writing the most? Thank you so much Mrs. Naylor; you’ve put the light in my life.

Phyllis replied:

Asking me which Alice book is my favorite is like asking which of my sons I like best.  Each book is different and has special things about it that I like.  Some, like “Intensely Alice,” made me cry more than others when I was writing it; some like “Alice in April” or “Alice in Between” made me laugh aloud.  They are all just too different to try to guess, but I’m glad you love them so much.