Alice Blog

I Hope You Sleep at Night

Question:

It’s free speech in the U.S. and people can say and write whatever they choose. My concern to you as an author is you shouldn’t write books for young girls and then start writing books for 9-12 years old without any warning that it could contain sexual content. To me it’s like a pedophile luring in a child and then ripping their innocents away from them without their parents awareness. Again, if your argument is I’m not close to my daughter will be wrong again. Hard working parents can not monitor every little thing in their child’s life. When I see her reading a book with a cute cover on it I am assuming she’s doing good by reading. I can’t read every little line in every book she reads. I’m pretty sure that goes with almost all parents too. I hope people are aware of your books and I pray you slap some kind of warning to your more mature books. At least to help out hard working parents who wants to be a good parent also. Yes 9-12 year olds do start their period around that age, but isn’t presumptuous for you as an author to step in and assume it’s okay to teach them this? What if they were not ready yet? What if the parent isn’t ready either? Who made you the judge to say a 9 year old should not be ignorant about sex? Yes I do have a close relationship to my daughter so don’t judge me Ms author. Because i am close to her is how I found out a series of books for kids with a nice cute cover could lead to such sexually materials unsuitable for a 9/10 year olds. you should be ashamed of yourself for selling sex in the world. Our world is so corrupted nowadays with so many sex on tv and entertainment I’m glad you are rolling in your money with the books you sell. I hope you are happy sleeping at night. Are you glad you are contributing to our society today? I guess you motto is to start early! Take some responsibilities with your books. Like I said hope you sleep well at night.

Phyllis replied:

If you could read the many letters and emails I get from parents thanking me for the Alice books, relating how reading the books together with their daughters has made them even closer in their relationship, you would understand how I do sleep very well at night. At the same time, I understand how difficult it must be for parents from other countries and cultures to deal with the relative openness we have here in the United States to choose what we read and to write what we want. If the publisher did not agree with me, they would not publish my books. If librarians did not feel that the Alice books were useful and wholesome for their students, they would not buy them. The Alice series is 28 books long, beginning with Alice in third grade, and the very last book will end with Alice, at age 60, reuniting with her seventh grade class. In between are the many things that happen to Alice and her friends, including sexual situations. I just don’t share your feeling about innocence versus guilt, or good and bad, or clean and dirty. Sexual feelings are natural and normal, and my hope is that in addition to writing truthfully about a girl growing up in America, the books will also help girls understand themselves, accept their feelings, and deal with them in a responsible way. If your aim is to keep your daughter innocent of sex, ask the librarian if the book your daughter chooses has anything at all to do with sex. I’m sure she can recommend other books that both you and your daughter will enjoy.

Posted on: September 28, 2011

I’m Portuguese and love your books

Question:

Hi! I am portuguese and I love your books… Especially Alices! I am 13 years old, and I love read your books!

Phyllis replied:

It’s great to know that Alice has readers in so many different countries.

Posted on: September 23, 2011

Why Do You write about Sperms and Sex?

Question:

I can’t believe what kind of author you are. I let my 8 year old start reading your early series of Alice and now she’s 10. why do you write things like toughing,sperms, sex, etc.. in your later books? i tusted your series thinking it was a “kids” book. I want to teach my kids the right things my way not thru your eyes. your books shouldnt be labeled or put in the kids section of the library. i am so surprise when i found out my daughter was reading your interpretation of sex. yes you can say you are good writer but not for little girls. they are confused at that age and you writing those things won’t help either. let the parent do the job. if not, recommend your older series for older kids!

Phyllis replied:

I’m not sure which Alice book you are referring to, but you mention the early Alice books, so I’m guessing it was “Lovingly Alice,” in which Alice is in 5th grade, and she and her girlfriends are discussing menstruation and sex at a sleepover. The suggested age group for this book is 9-12. I’m sorry if you feel that your ten year-old daughter should not be reading about such things, but I’m afraid I disagree with you. Girls are menstruating at an earlier age and we also read about girls who are still children themselves becoming pregnant. I and my publisher believe that girls should have information about sex and pregnancy, not be kept ignorant of them. If you don’t want your daughter to read books that your library has approved, then you should read the books ahead of time. But I do think you might form a good relationship with your daughter by reading these books together and discussing the things that she doesn’t understand.

Posted on: September 23, 2011

Rehoboth Beach

Question:

My name is Emily and my grandfather grew up in Rehoboth Beach,DE. I was reading
one of your stories and I came across it and I was wondering why you put
Rehoboth Beach in your book? We go there every year and I could tell that you
knew where everything was like the road before you get to the bridge,
bookstores and arcade. I also really enjoyed the books and look forward to
reading some more!

Phyllis replied:

Our family with sons and grandchildren have vacationed there many times.

Posted on: September 23, 2011

Another series?

Question:

i was wondering if you were going to make another series like Alice, after you finish with Alice series?

Phyllis replied:

No, I’m not about to start another series that takes 28 years to write! But I’m glad you like the Alice books so much.

Posted on: September 23, 2011

i was wondering if you were going to make another series like Alice, after you finish with Alice series? I abseloutly cannot unglue my eyes from each book, its too hard! I really love the Alice series. Sorry if this email is kind of bad, or childish. Im in 8th grade, and i know how to write emails and letters, but my parents are asleep and so i dont have there help or revision, and i was pretty sure that if i did not send it tonight i would get side tracked the next day and forget. I was also wondering, if in one of the last 2 books for Alice, if you could include a tornado in one of them. That would keep me on the edge of my chair in advisory, or whenever im reading the book. I know that pretty much the whole east coast gets them including maryland. I want to know how alice and her family and friends would handle that and how that situation in the book would go down. Your a spectacular author!

Phyllis replied:

Sorry, but there’s no tornado in Alice’s life. She has enough to deal with as it is, and the last book is already written. There are a zillion things that could have happened to Alice, and readers often send suggestions. But events need to have something to do with the basic plot, so I have to be very selective. It’s wonderful to hear that you enjoy the books so much.

Posted on: September 23, 2011

From a Mom

I want to thank you for your wonderful books! I am a mom of 2 girls (12 and 15), and I am American and live in Switzerland. My girls are growing up speaking German, so I started reading your books aloud to them about 5 years ago in order to keep them interested in reading in English; now they are totally hooked on the series and devour each new book as fast they can! I am extremely grateful for your honest writing style: In the time I was reading aloud, the books brought up many issues that I wouldn’t have otherwise necessarily approached as topics of discussion, and you really helped me to be closer to my daughters. We’ve had some wonderful discussions based on Alice’s experiences. Thank you so much for sharing your honest, healthy approach to life with so many people; these are exactly the kinds of stories young girls need to hear. There were also a few thing that were very good for me to hear myself ;-).

Many, many thanks and kind regards,

Phyllis replied:

I appreciated your letter so much. Yes, I wish I had known some of the things Alice now knows when I was growing up. I also hear from mothers who find that it is easier talking about personal subjects with their daughters when discussing it through Alice’s eyes and her misconceptions. Thanks again for writing to me!

Posted on: September 23, 2011

Email from Germany

Question:

First of all: Thank you so much for writing these amazing alice books! I´m such a huge fan and i will always consider alice as one of my closest friends.
I´m from Germany and my aunt gave me my first alice book for my 10th birthday. It´s called “Peinlich, peinlich Alice” and i loved it so much that my mum had to buy
all the others that were published in germany by then in one month because i wouldn´t stop reading.
Because i was reading so fast, alice “grew up” faster than i did but then publishing of your alice books stopped in Germany and i was sad beyond believe.
It was harder than breaking up with my first boyfreind because i felt so close to Alice. But then my mom found out that there are other books dealing with Alice so we started buying
them in english and by the time i was ready to read them, my mom gave me the alice books so that her age would fit mine and now i´m eighteen and so is Alice, at least almost.
I just love her so much and i´ve read all the books like a hundred times an dso did my mom. When we´re having dinner we often end up laughing about her because i acted like she would have or because one of us remembered something funny lester said (by the way lester´s most hilarious moment was when Alice discovered that mister sorringer was going to come to the wedding and she was going bananas and asked lester what they should do and lester told her that he was going to buy himself a magnum and shoot him between the eyes. I was laughing so hard i couldn´t stop for 2 hours). I feel just so close to her and she (you) really helped me growing up and helped me to accept and respect myself for who i am.
I hope you and your family and the people that are the most important to you are doing good. Lots of greetings and love from germany and when you get to work on alice for the next time, greet her and tell her that she´s great!

Phyllis replied:

I enjoyed your email so much. What a nice Mom you have, to buy the series and give them to you when you reach the right age. I’ve heard from a fewreaders that the German translations leave out quite a lot in some of the books. I think this is true of some other translations too, but I have no control over that. All the Alice books have been written now. I turned in the manuscript for #28 at the same time I turned in #27, but I don’t think the editor has read it yet. I may just like that last book best of all because it ties up so many loose ends, and lets you know what happened to each of the main characters. I hope you’ll like it too when it comes out in 2013.

Posted on: September 23, 2011

Alice

Question:

What really makes Alice Alice?

Phyllis replied:

Hmmm. This sounds like a homework assignment to me–“What makes a character real?” The answer lies with each reader. Whatever makes Alice seem real to you; I can’t answer for you.

Posted on: September 23, 2011

Dating Two girls at Once

Question:

Hi Phyllis! I am currently reading, ‘I Like Him, He Likes Her’ the Alice three pack. I was wondering, what made you what to make Alice and Patrick break up over Penny? I understand that he likes her, but that’s okay as long as he isn’t dating her and Alice at the same time. And, why did Patrick want to date two girls at once?
Phyllis replied:

Not everybody wants to be a couple right off. And I think that boys who are new at dating might not want to commit themselves to dating just one girl if another seems appealing. Girls usually feel differently about this, and because Alice and Patrick were considered a couple before, this is especially hard for Alice to accept.

Posted on: September 21, 2011