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3rd out of 203 books
—
16 voters
The Agony of Alice (Alice #1)
Alice McKinley is about to become a teenager, but she doesn't know how. Her mother has been dead for years, and what do her father and her nineteen-year-old brother, Lester, know about being a teenage girl? If only she had a role model, like the beautiful sixth-grade teacher Miss Cole. But instead Alice gets assigned to plain, pear-shaped Mrs. Plotkin's class. Is Alice doo...more
Paperback, 131 pages
Published
August 1st 1997
by Aladdin Paperbacks
(first published September 1st 1985)
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Ngga ada satu orangpun yang pernah bilang sama gue, kalo jadi remaja itu SUSAH.
Lebih susah dari sekedar naik metromini ke melawai, terus ngerjain soal-soal spmb yang hasilnya cuma bisa menjawab 4 pertanyaan buat mata pelajaran matematika yang jumlah soalnya ada.. 25. And double that.
Lebih susah dari sekedar bangun pagi-pagi buta, menyeret badan ke kamar mandi, cuci muka-gosok gigi-pake kaos kaki dan sepatu lari, lalu membuka pintu pagar, nyalain mp3, dan mulai pemanasan. Lari pagi. Selama 3 bula...more
Lebih susah dari sekedar naik metromini ke melawai, terus ngerjain soal-soal spmb yang hasilnya cuma bisa menjawab 4 pertanyaan buat mata pelajaran matematika yang jumlah soalnya ada.. 25. And double that.
Lebih susah dari sekedar bangun pagi-pagi buta, menyeret badan ke kamar mandi, cuci muka-gosok gigi-pake kaos kaki dan sepatu lari, lalu membuka pintu pagar, nyalain mp3, dan mulai pemanasan. Lari pagi. Selama 3 bula...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
For my summer reading I chose to read the book The Agony of Alice. I really enjoyed this book, and it kept my attention throughout the entire thing. If I could I would rate this book at 4.5 stars, but since I am not able to, I rated it 4. This book was about a girl starting 6th grade at a new school, which was very convenient for me because she is my age, and having the same troubles as me. The Agony of Alice showed all of Alice's troubles like being new, getting a teacher that she didn't want,...more
I couldn't resist the book when I read the back cover:
"Life is like a dumpster. As soon as you get rid of one embarrassment, you pick up another. I new that this was going to go on forever unless I found someone to set an example for me, and by the time I got the mustard off my shirt, I'd made up my mind: I'd adopt a mother."
Obviously this book was going to amuse me and since Naylor is a Newbery Medal winner for Shiloh, I figured it was a sure hit. There are 26 Alice stories about Alice McKinley...more
"Life is like a dumpster. As soon as you get rid of one embarrassment, you pick up another. I new that this was going to go on forever unless I found someone to set an example for me, and by the time I got the mustard off my shirt, I'd made up my mind: I'd adopt a mother."
Obviously this book was going to amuse me and since Naylor is a Newbery Medal winner for Shiloh, I figured it was a sure hit. There are 26 Alice stories about Alice McKinley...more
I really enjoyed this book. Alice reminded me of myself at age 11. Embarrassing things always seemed to happen to me and I was always wanted to disappear. Alice lives with her father and older brother who have no clue how to relate to a girl. Her father calls her "Al" and her brother doesn't know that jeans come in girls sizes as well as boys. Her relationship with her family makes for some amusing scenes, such as the time a younger Alice asks her brother what a period is after hearing some olde...more
Oct 02, 2012
Sophie Riggsby
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
adorable-quotient-is-high
*Reviewed on Page Turners Blog for Banned Books Week on October 4, 2012*
According to the American Library Association (ALA), Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s Alice series has been one of the most challenged year after year. I decided that this had to be the year to pick it up. I needed to see for myself why the story would be so very controversial.
And here’s what I discovered – Alice is one of the most delightful narrators I’ve read. She’s in sixth grade and in search of a mother figure because her ow...more
According to the American Library Association (ALA), Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s Alice series has been one of the most challenged year after year. I decided that this had to be the year to pick it up. I needed to see for myself why the story would be so very controversial.
And here’s what I discovered – Alice is one of the most delightful narrators I’ve read. She’s in sixth grade and in search of a mother figure because her ow...more
BANNED BECAUSE OF BLUE BVD'S???
Poor Alice McKinney--only ll years old and no mother to show her how to become a woman or even face impending Teenage-hood. Her father is too busy at his music store and her much older brother is worse than useless--as if either of them had first-hand experience in distaff duties. Alice concludes that she needs to "adopt" some glamorous, spiffy, chic teacher as a fill-in mom.
But she winds up in the Wrong class to realize that goal so easily: she considers herself...more
Poor Alice McKinney--only ll years old and no mother to show her how to become a woman or even face impending Teenage-hood. Her father is too busy at his music store and her much older brother is worse than useless--as if either of them had first-hand experience in distaff duties. Alice concludes that she needs to "adopt" some glamorous, spiffy, chic teacher as a fill-in mom.
But she winds up in the Wrong class to realize that goal so easily: she considers herself...more
Read it in grade VIIIth, it is one of the few books that remains a part of my memory from that time. This happened to be (one of) my first book(s) about adolescence and growing up and I absolutely loved it. I don't remember much of its story now but I do remember identifying closely with Alice. Browsing through Goodreads I learnt that this is just the 1st part in a 10-11 book series and I am upset that I could never read the entire series. Nevertheless, this was the first book where I was introd...more
Alice is a simple girl who just wants to survive sixth grade at a new school. If only she had a mother to help guide her. Instead, she plans to adopt one of the sixth-grade teachers as her mother, except that doesn't go as planned.
As a matter of fact, nothing goes as planned for Alice. It seems that if it could go wrong, it does. Poor Alice. What's a girl to do when she doesn't really have the guidance of growing up only a mother can give? This is what Naylor explores in this novel.
Alice is an...more
As a matter of fact, nothing goes as planned for Alice. It seems that if it could go wrong, it does. Poor Alice. What's a girl to do when she doesn't really have the guidance of growing up only a mother can give? This is what Naylor explores in this novel.
Alice is an...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Eleven year old Alice feels she is growing backward. There are so many embarassing things she does like walking in on a boy in blue underpants in the fitting room and kicking a teacher in the arm at the Halloween parade. Just as Alice thinks she's a hopeless case, she realizes all the ways she's actually growing forward - the teacher she hated at the beginning of the year doesn't seem so bad now,and the boy in his underpants, he's actually kind of cute, and best of all, he likes her back!
Wonderf...more
Wonderf...more
Alice has just moved to Silver Springs and needs a role model, or at least someone to act as a mother to her and show her how to act. Sixth grade teacher Miss Cole is young, beautiful, and would fit the part perfectly, but instead Alice gets dumpy, old Miss Plotkin for a teacher. Also, there are the prerequisite Alice embarrassments, like seeing a male classmate in his underwear and kicking a teacher in the arm.
This book will ring true with preteens, unsure of their place in this world and how t...more
This book will ring true with preteens, unsure of their place in this world and how t...more
The first of a series that was on a list of frequently banned books so I took it out of the library to see what all the fuss was about. Horrors: 6th grade Alice gets her first bra and her first period.
Somehow I missed this series as my girls were growing up. It is that just right combination of funny and growing up agonizing. Alice reminds me somewhat of Anastasia, heroine of another good growing up series, who also has a list of what is going well and badly in life. In spite of the censors, I w...more
Somehow I missed this series as my girls were growing up. It is that just right combination of funny and growing up agonizing. Alice reminds me somewhat of Anastasia, heroine of another good growing up series, who also has a list of what is going well and badly in life. In spite of the censors, I w...more
Jul 24, 2012
Deborah
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Deborah by:
Joany
Shelves:
juvenile-fiction,
realistic
Alice is beginning sixth grade at a new school. The only person she knows there is Elizabeth, the seemingly perfect girl living across the street. Alice decides that living with a father and an older brother (her mother died when she was young) has left her with a gaping hole on how a young woman should be. The first day of school, Alice learns about the sixth grade teachers. She sees young, beautiful, cool Miss Cole and her opposite, frumpy, old Mrs. Plotkin. Alice is determined that Miss Cole...more
Still trying to find out why this book is banned.
Alice goes through sixth grade, keeps a list of if she's progressing or failing miserably as a human, and learns and grows as a person.
After an exhaustive internet search (okay, 2 minutes), I'm guessing that the few isolated instances from book to book that deal with REAL LIFE (how do you know when to wear a bra? do guys have these problems? etc) are what are pissing people off. Once again, stupidity rules when it comes to banned books. Would I le...more
Alice goes through sixth grade, keeps a list of if she's progressing or failing miserably as a human, and learns and grows as a person.
After an exhaustive internet search (okay, 2 minutes), I'm guessing that the few isolated instances from book to book that deal with REAL LIFE (how do you know when to wear a bra? do guys have these problems? etc) are what are pissing people off. Once again, stupidity rules when it comes to banned books. Would I le...more
This is one of those series that, somehow, I completely missed when I was growing up. I was totally unaware of Alice's existence until library school, when I learned that specific titles in the series are frequently challenged. Suffice it to say that there's nothing like a good challenge to make me want to read a book, which is what led me to Alice in the first place. I'm pleased to report that, once again, hyper-protective overly vigilant book challengers have led me to to another favorite. Ali...more
October 2011 re-read.
It's hard to believe I've been reading (and re-reading) Alice for 13 years. My Alice collection is mismatched from all the different print runs, so I broke down and bought the matching set with the new covers. I love them! The font and style has been synced for all of the volumes, and very small updates have been made (probably unnoticable if you haven't read these books over a dozen times) such as "milkman" being changed to "mailman." But this is still the same Alice who de...more
It's hard to believe I've been reading (and re-reading) Alice for 13 years. My Alice collection is mismatched from all the different print runs, so I broke down and bought the matching set with the new covers. I love them! The font and style has been synced for all of the volumes, and very small updates have been made (probably unnoticable if you haven't read these books over a dozen times) such as "milkman" being changed to "mailman." But this is still the same Alice who de...more
Reviewed by Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com
Once again, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor takes us inside the mind of Alice in THE AGONY OF ALICE, and shares all the crazy adventures and thoughts that we never thought a pre-teen would have.
Alice McKinley is moving into a new house and entering the sixth grade. Almost a teenager, Alice just wants a little help getting used to all of those crazy issues that girls experience. And only having a father and brother, neither of whom kno...more
Once again, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor takes us inside the mind of Alice in THE AGONY OF ALICE, and shares all the crazy adventures and thoughts that we never thought a pre-teen would have.
Alice McKinley is moving into a new house and entering the sixth grade. Almost a teenager, Alice just wants a little help getting used to all of those crazy issues that girls experience. And only having a father and brother, neither of whom kno...more
In the world of children's literature (and in recent years also YA), one name is mentioned above all others: Alice. To be specific, Alice McKinley--the intrepid heroine of Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's long running children's/YA series.
"The Agony of Alice" is the debut novel of this series, originally published in 1985 and now out in a variety of reprints with myriad versions of cover art. Personally, I'd be more willing to consider Naylor's prequel novel "Starting With Alice" (from 2002) to be the...more
"The Agony of Alice" is the debut novel of this series, originally published in 1985 and now out in a variety of reprints with myriad versions of cover art. Personally, I'd be more willing to consider Naylor's prequel novel "Starting With Alice" (from 2002) to be the...more
The agony of Alice is a great book! It is about a girl that is about to become a teenager, but she does not know how. Her mom died when she was just a baby. She lives with her dad and her older brother Lester. They mover every year. When they moved this time they had to go to school right away. Alice, when she got there and everyone waited on the playground to hear their named called by their new teacher. When Alice heard her named being called she jumped, and looked over to where she heard it b...more
Apr 10, 2011
Heidi (awesome group member)
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-in-2011
What a great middle grade read. You know a middle grade book is above average when you can read it as an adult and still love it. I felt like I could really relate to Alice. My own mother died when I was 13 so I know what it is like to want to find a "replacement mother". I feel like Ms. Naylor did a wonderful job of showing how hard it is to be a tween and think all the crazy thoughts someone that age thinks. I am glad I stumbled upon this series ( I saw one of the later books when Alice is in...more
My 11-year-old self is giving this book 5 stars. I discovered Alice back in the early nineties and with much laughter, and a few tears, she got me through the roughest years of my life!
My 30-year-old self is giving this book 5 stars, as well. I re-read it just last week for the first time in over a decade and a half and my love for this book hasn't changed. I can't wait until my two daughters are old enough for the Alice series!
My 30-year-old self is giving this book 5 stars, as well. I re-read it just last week for the first time in over a decade and a half and my love for this book hasn't changed. I can't wait until my two daughters are old enough for the Alice series!
Decided to go through the whole Alice series--I know I've read this first one before, and I enjoyed it just as much this time. Alice McKinley starts off her sixth grade year in a new elementary school, stuck with a teacher she doesn't want, when she knows the teacher down the hall would be a perfect mother-figure for her. As Alice goes through the school year, she starts to realize what she can learn from Mrs. Plotkin, after all.
Alice McKinley is sure she is the most embarrassing person on earth. She is also sure it's because she doesn't have a mother to show her what to do. Alice thinks if she can only get the beautiful Miss Cole as her teacher this year, she can adopt Miss Cole as her surrogate mother and get back on the right track. Alas, she is Mrs. Plotkin's room, and Alice is mortified. Everything bad always happens to her! Will Alice ever grow up? Or will she keep growing backwards?
I thought Alice was so spot-on...more
I thought Alice was so spot-on...more
I loved Alice back when I was younger and I read almost every Alice book back then but honestly, I read this particular book over some time ago and realized that I didn't LOVE it anymore.
The thing about Alice was that she was our TRANSITION book from Judy Blume to the real world... or older literary genres.
At my age, and genre likes, but for a younger girl, this is perfect, hence the four stars.
The thing about Alice was that she was our TRANSITION book from Judy Blume to the real world... or older literary genres.
At my age, and genre likes, but for a younger girl, this is perfect, hence the four stars.
For Banned Books Week!
I really liked this book, and I think any fifth or sixth grader (or anyone who used to be one!) could relate to Alice feeling embarrassed and awkward and like she's moving forward and backwards at the same time. Also, I honestly can't understand why this series is on the banned books list. There wasn't much of anything controversial in it, unless it's just that talking about menstruation used to be controversial?
I really liked this book, and I think any fifth or sixth grader (or anyone who used to be one!) could relate to Alice feeling embarrassed and awkward and like she's moving forward and backwards at the same time. Also, I honestly can't understand why this series is on the banned books list. There wasn't much of anything controversial in it, unless it's just that talking about menstruation used to be controversial?
This is a super cute book for young people. Alice is a very charming main character and, from the youth perspective, Alice encounters many of those things that make young people wish they could just crawl into a hold and die. But she does it with grace and comes out better for it in the end. Alice learns some very important lessons, and it's good for kids to be exposed to these lessons through the books they read.
I now understand why the library has a million copies of the "Alice" books. What pre-teen girl doesn't want to read about periods, bras, and kissing? This book is short, humorous, and simply a good time. It's also worth noting that this reads like a predecessor to The Wednesday Wars.
Yeah. This book is pretty good.hah... At first, Alice thought that sixth grade was going to be the worst year ever, because she was not assigned to the teacher that she really wanted so badly. But, at last, it turns out to be really enjoyable. Alice loves the teacher that she was assigned to. Alice started to grow up too during sixth grade. Yeah... I enjoyed reading this book. 5 stars!
Like a slightly older, teeny bit edgier Ramona - Naylor captures all the goofy but deadly serious worries of being a kid, a girl, a sixth grader. I bought the whole series for my school library - we had zero - and read this to make sure I wouldn't have any crazy angry parents to confront. I'll be sticking up for this book and passing it out to my 4th and 5th graders, for sure.
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Phyllis Reynolds Naylor was born in Anderson, Indiana, US on January 4, 1933.
Her family were strongly religious with conservative, midwestern values and most of her childhood was spent moving a lot due to her father's occupation as a salesman.
Though she grew up during the Depression and her family did not have a lot of money, Naylor stated that she never felt poor because her family owned good boo...more
More about Phyllis Reynolds Naylor...
Her family were strongly religious with conservative, midwestern values and most of her childhood was spent moving a lot due to her father's occupation as a salesman.
Though she grew up during the Depression and her family did not have a lot of money, Naylor stated that she never felt poor because her family owned good boo...more
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Kalo dia sih,, aku bertahan karena belum cukup uang tabunganku XD
*tampar harun pa...more
Sep 23, 2010 02:22am
*minum baygon pake sedotan*
M o m o wrote: "nitip salam buat pacar dong :D
haghaghaghag"
Baiklah,...more
Sep 23, 2010 02:25am