Alice Blog

Did you know someone like Pamela?

Hi ma’am, I LOVE the Alice series and want to ask you did you know a girl who was boy-crazy like Pamela, or did you know a girl who got pregnant in high school?

No, I didn’t.   Just made her up.

Why become friends with her?

Dear Phyllis,
Why did Alice become friends with penny after penny literally flirted with Patrick while she admittedly knew Alice and Patrick were together and then stole him from her? If I were Alice I wouldn’t accept her friendship because what she did really broke the girl code. Why did penny think she had the right to ask for Alice’s friendship or even the right to steal her boyfriend? Also, why didn’t she call up penny later on in life after Alice and Patrick got married to rub it in her face? I know I would’ve.

Alice simply grew beyond that.  To carry a grudge like that hurts the doer more than the recipient.  Besides, you can’t “steal” a boyfriend who isn’t willing to be stolen, right?

To an Amazing writer!!

Hello! Sorry to bother you. I just wanted to know why is it that Patrick only went to only one dance with Alice which was his senior prom? Why didn’t he ask her to the Jack of hearts dance instead of Marcie?

Because he’s still new at love.  He’s still looking around, comparing.  Boys mature later than girls, and at this point in his life he’s actually more concerned with what he wants to study in college and what kind of work he wants to do than who he’s going to marry.  And he should be.   He shouldn’t marry first and then try to figure out how he’s going to support a family and what education he needs.  So he’s wise to look around and compare.

Now I’ll Tell You Everything–The best one!

Hello from New York City!! I’m 16 and I grew up with Alice like so many other girls and I’ve read all 28 books. I just finished reading Now I’ll Tell You Everything & that one has to be my most favorite… By the way, Thank you for making her marry Patrick and giving her a good life! I loved Everything about the book. Did you come up with the title or did your publisher?

I’m trying to remember, because we really struggled over some of the titles.  My editor, Caitlyn Dlouhy, thought up many of the long ones, but for some reason we had a hard time with the final one.  But I seem to remember saying finally, ‘Okay, so this last book tells the reader everything, so let’s just call it “Now I’ll Tell You Everything!”

What do you think?

As the wonderful woman who wrote the amazing Alice series, Do you think that Patrick always loved Alice even when they were teenagers but because they were so young he didn’t realize what the feeling of love was yet? and that’s why he left her for penny in 9th grade and amanda when he went to the Peace Corps? that’s what I always thought, what about you? was I right?

Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t think that Patrick or many other boys in 9th grade really know about love yet.  I think he was feeling romantic toward her and enjoying the experience, but I think he left her for Penny (and remember, he really had proposed dating both of them but Alice turned it down) because he was getting to know girls as people and delighting in it.  He might have added a couple more girlfriends to his collection if he could.  HE WAS ONLY 14!!!    I think that each time he dated a new girl, he ended up comparing her with Alice, and each time Alice won out–even though he was far away in the Peace Corp.   And that’s when he realized he truly loved her and that she was the one for him.

Everybody loves Alice!

Dear Phyllis,
My name is Felicity, I’m 16 years old and I’ve read every single Alice book out there and they are wonderful! Almost every girl at my school loves the Alice books and they really look up to you and Alice. Some girls are obsessed with her! She truly is a remarkable character created by a talented and remarkable writer. I absolutely cried from pure joy when Alice and Patrick got married, had children and grew old together, All the girls in my school were happy about that too! they were TERRIFIED that you weren’t going to make them end up together but I’m glad they’re finally together forever and always. I also think that the job you gave Alice was indeed the best for her because she always found ways of helping kids at her school so being a guidance counselor was definitely the best fit for her. Some of my teachers even grew up reading the Alice books. I speak for all the girls in my school when I say thank you so much for writing Alice and giving her such a wonderful ending!

You made my day!   MY worry was that, after promising 28 books in the series, one new book a year, I might get run over by a bus or something and not live long enough to write them all, but hurrah!  Still here!

Patrick’s Virginity

I’m not sure if this question has been asked or not, but if it was I’m so very sorry. Who was Patrick’s first love? Would you say it was Alice or was it someone else? Who did Patrick lose his virginity to? and lastly, Does Patrick really wish he was Alice’s first or that she was his first?

Yes, it has been asked.  He may have loved whoever he met in the Peace Corps , but obviously not enough to marry.  I think Patrick was delighted at the way things turned out–that he and Alice married–but as far as losing his virginity, and who the girl was, I have no idea.  I only travel around  with Alice, remember; I’m in nobody else’s head.

Thank You

 

I am currently 28 years old. I first read some of the Alice series at 14/15. I wrote you how much I enjoyed the series and you sent me a signed Alice poster that meant the world to me. I had a stressful home life and I put the poster up in my little closet that I kept a light in and read inside of it because I wanted to treasure it to myself. I grew up in a very strict religious household and your books taught me life lessons and I wanted to BE Alice so much. I can’t thank you enough for sending me a poster when I was young. I also can’t thank you enough for writing the books. I’m currently on the last leg of the series that I never got to go back and finish. It’s been a treat reading them as an adult going through another stressful time of COVID and purchasing our first home with my husband. I even found solace in your series when my husband was in the hospital for five days with COVID and I was home alone sick myself, hoping he’d return to me (he did).

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being the author little girls needed. And I’ll be reading the Alice series when a smile is needed over and over again for many years to come.

I hope this finds you well.

 

I am indeed well, and am so sorry you had to experience your husband getting COVID.  I was relieved when you told us he was home again.  The whole nation (world) has been rattled by this, and we have lost a lot of wonderful people.  I ‘m so glad that the Alice books have helped you.  I know that some religious teachings seem blind to human sexuality and how it naturally works–who see it as a necessity for populating the race, but leave out the excitement and enjoyment of it.  I’ll always carry with me the sight of a young girl, with an Alice poster in her closet, reading my series in there,

Real true love?

Hi, I’m 12 and believe it or not I’ve read ALL the Alice books in just 2 years and I love them! But I’m still learning about life and love and thought they would prepare me. I was just wondering was what Alice and Patrick had real true love even though they dated other people and Patrick thought another woman was attractive?

Absolutely.  “The course of true love never did run smooth.”  Even though there will be times that you feel bored, or impatient, or angry, or disappointed in the other person, you will know that overall, you respect the one you’ve chosen, you know when  you both need space and can fill an afternoon with your own project and let him do something he loves that doesn’t appeal to you.  If Alice had never dated any other boy–I would simply not have allowed her to marry Patrick.  The real, true answer is that there are hundreds, thousands of men out there who would have made a good husband for her, but who can date them all?  The thing is to find a person who suits you in so many ways, shares so many things with you, that you decide this is the person you’re going to settle down with.  You don’t just go “tasting” every new prospect that comes along.

How long did they date?

Hello, I hope your doing great. I just want to say I love the Alice books but a few characters I didn’t like such as penny. I understand that Patrick didn’t really like penny as much as he liked Alice and that he was simply just attracted to penny which is why they didn’t date long. Am I on the right track about that? my main question is how long did she and Patrick date? I know they started dating in September at the beginning of 9th grade but then they broke up in the second semester of 9th grade so I think they dated for at least 5 months. Not nearly as long as Alice and Patrick did. If you could guess, how long did they date? was I right?

Yes, I think that’s about right.