Baby Alicia Is Dying

by Lurlene McDaniel

Desi thinks it's totally unfair that innocent baby Alicia was born HIV positive. Now the eight-month-old Alicia lives at Childcare because she was given away by her sick teenage mother. Desi can relate to feeling unloved. Her parents give her all the material things she needs, but there seems to be a wall between her mother and herself.

Working at Childcare has opened Desi's heart and allowed her to feel the love that she's been longing for. But Alicia is not her child and there is no cure for her condition. Can Desi cope with the harsh realities and still believe in love?





Working at Childcare has opened Desi's heart and allowed her to feel the love that she's been longing for. But Alicia is not her child and there is no cure for her condition. Can Desi cope with the harsh realities and still believe in love? -->

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, Teen, Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult Contemporary

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1993

About the author

Lurlene McDaniel (born c. 1948) is an author who has written over 50 young adult books. She is well known for writing about characters struggling with chronic and terminal illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes, and organ failure.


Other places to find her are...
https://www.facebook.com/lurlenemcdan...
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/aut...
http://www.youtube.com/user/LurleneMc

Reviews

[Katie Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never known or loved a baby that was born HIV positive but while reading the book Baby Alicia is Dying by Lurlene McDaniel I felt like I have loved Alicia ever since she was born. The book of how Desi whole life has changed is told by her. Desi thinks that it is unfair that eighteen month old Alicia was born HIV positive and is now living in Childcare since her mother gave her up.
Desi Mitchell is the reason I loved this book, because she is what I think a perfect person would be. Yeah maybe she has some flaws but who doesn’t. She goes to her aunt’s work called Childcare, which is a place where HIV positive babies go when their mothers are not able to take care of them, and falls in love with a baby named Alicia. Someone told Desi that “She better watch out for that one, she’s a real heartbreaker.” She loves Alicia just as if she were her own child. Desi is always there to take care of her when she is sick. She comforts her and keeps her company. She is in love with her. Desi Mitchell is one of the more important characters in the book.
An eighteen month old baby girl named Alicia is in Childcare. She is so precious. Alicia’s mother had given her up when she was born because she was too sick to take care of her. There is one thing that most people don’t know about Alicia and it is that she was born HIV positive. She looks and acts like a normal infant but she is far from normal.
Desi and her sister, Val, are really close. Desi feels like there is a wall between herself and mother. She feels like her mother loves her sister Val more because they have so much more in common. She explains it by saying “Their mother never seemed to touch her with the affection she showed Val.” Her mother gives her all the things she needs but she seems so distance.
Brain is the so called lover in this book. They met in biology class. Desi is really smart and was put in with all the “rejects”, where she meets Brain. Brain is not dumb he doesn’t like the part of biology where they cut things open. He has a very weak stomach. Brain and Desi instantly feel a connection when the meet.
Baby Alicia is dying is filled with very interesting characters. Like for example Desi. The book makes you feel like you’re a part of their life. You feel like you know every single detail about them.
The theme of the book is that love is a precious thing. Desi loves baby Alicia like she was her own. Also don’t take things for granted. Be happy with things while you have them. Love is something you don’t mess around with. Never let a day go by without telling the person or persons you love knowing that you love them.
The book takes place in Alabama, in Gainesville. It also takes place in present day times. It takes place during Desi’s freshman year of high school. Desi is going to a new school which is called Grady. Desi doesn’t really know anyone when she gets there expect her best friend Elizabeth. As the year goes on she meets Brian.
I really wouldn’t call anybody a hero in this book but if it had to be one I would pick Desi’s mother. I would pick her because she has changed so much in this book just for Desi. In the beginning Desi and her mother were not all that close but as the book ended that got closer. Desi learned secrets’ about her mother that she didn’t even know existed. Her mother learned how Desi was feeling about that she thought she loved her sister more than her. I think Desi’s mother is a hero because she changed just for her daughter. She made Desi feel more loved.
In a perfect life an eighteen month old infant would not be born HIV positive. Also her mother would have not have given her up. But guess what, this is not a perfect life. If you want to know more about Alicia’s long journey and see how a mother and a daughter are reunited this Baby Alicia is Dying is the perfect book for you. Oh and the end………. Is great!!

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

love this one

[2jordanL. · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my book the main character is a freshman named Desi.Other characters invovled are baby Alicia,Brian her biology partner,Valerie her older sister,Clare her aunt,Eva her mom,her dad,Sadie,Gayle,and Tamara from the childcare center,and her best friend Corrine.
The most important thing in the story is when Desi goes to the childcare center with her aunt.From the moment she's introduced to baby Alicia who immediately catches her attention and bonds with her who later becomes the most important thing in her life.Learning that Alicia has a deadly disease that could easily kill her one day makes Desi fall in love with her even more.
I think the authors audience is everybody.Maybe its for people who are judgemental and speak without correct information,like people who stereotype.Or it could even be people who suffer from tragic loss without knowledge or the courage to get through it and take it out on the world.
I think the authors purpose is to speak briefly about how what you do can and will affect those around you.Like how baby Alicia's mother did drugs and got out of control contracting aids which later after becoming pregnant gets passed on to baby Alicia.

[Randy Tramp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desi works at a Childcare. There she can feel the love she's been longing for through a baby with HIV.

I remember when AIDs was introduced into the vocabulary in America. People were afraid and shunned anyone who was HIV positive. Desi faced the same prejudice because she wanted to care for an "AID's" baby.

I loved this story on a few different levels. One, we've adopted nine children, many as babies. It's not hard loving those little ones. Second, it showed people working through their own feelings. It's a very good read for anyone, especially teens trying to find their way in life.

[Mary Bronson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was such a good book. I thought Desi was such a great main character and I liked how this book talked about a lot of hard topics for its time when it came out in 1993. How people treated others who had HIV and Aids and how mean they could be, but Desi is such an open minded character and how she started to care about Alicia and other other babies who were born with addicted to drugs and the HIV virus. The book also talked SIDS which is not talked about often.

[Vitianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish that Desi has a baby like Alicia because she loved her,the only problem is that she can't have Alicia, the baby isn't her's.

I didn't agree with Desi's friend, he told her to leave Alicia alone and to not pay attention.The good thing is she ignored him and took as much care to Alicia as she could.

The main character of this book is Desi and Alicia because it tooks about her mostly all the time.It also shows that Desi loved and cared about Alicia and it saids Alicia's name on the title.

I understood why Alicia's real mommy was really depressed when Alicia dyed even though she couldn't take care of her. She was still her daughther and she loved and cared about her,she also was very sad because she didn't have a chance to have her.

[Hsreaders]

This book is about a teenaged girl who volunteers at a place called Child Care, a place for babies who are HIV positive and whose mothers can't take care of them. Desi becomes attached to a baby named Alicia. Toward the end of the book, Baby Alicia gets sick and dies. Afterwards, Desi becomes closer to her own mother, who she never was close to before. This was a great book. It was sad, but I liked it. I think other kids should read it.

[Ale · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is about a girl who volenteers to help out in ahospital and ends up helping little kids with aids. She get really close with this little girl named alicia. But when the new hears about her. kids start treating her different. the won't get near her because they say they are afraid to catch aids. But that does not stop her from going to the hospital. when baby allicia catches a cold she gets really sick that....

[Featherheart · Rating 4 out of 5]

So sad I was crying. But well worth reading. McDaniel's books are excellent for any teen trying to understand a family member or friend's medical problems. She has them for everything: AIDS, cancer, heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes...you just have to find the right one. Or just read them all and wow your friends with your medical knowledge.

[Diana Townsend · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well... I liked this book but because of the title, I already knew what was coming so there was no suspense or emotion, I just read through it and afterwards I was like, okay, that was nice. The problem is the characters I think. Baby Alicia seems to have more personality than all of them! They read like robots and it makes a really good story line kind of boring to read.

[Alix West · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprisingly, this is not Lurlene's worst book, despite the racially questionable cover and terrible title. Read my full review at Forever Young Adult.

[Forever Young Adult]

Graded By: Alix

Read the drinking game and review here.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was amazing, I shed a few tears, I laughed out loud, I smiled what a heartfelt story. Loved it.

[Sami Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I used to love Lurlene’s books as a kid so I decided to read them again as an adult. I had never read this one before but I decided to give it a try because I was expecting it to be mostly touching and sad like the One Last Wish series was. Instead I realized how backwards and dated it was. I found it really weird and disturbing how she had so much trouble using the word “black” to describe black characters in the book and gave a lot of them negative stereotypes surrounding drug use and such but she had no problem saying the n word. I also got incredibly homophobic vibes from the book, especially the parts where Brian was talking about his uncle that had died of AIDS and how badly he had treated him because of the disease and the fact that he was gay (even though that last part wasn’t outwardly said it was definitely implied). I also found it annoying how Desi tried to stand in the way of Alicia’s biological mother visiting with Alicia, she was incredibly selfish for doing that especially since the mother had cleaned up her act and was actively trying to better her life. Overall, I would not recommend this book to anyone, I feel like it has too many bad parts to it that made it not enjoyable at all.

[Alycia_Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! It will tug at your heart strings and make you smile. This book is so well written that I could not put this book down. I think that this is a must read for everyone who loves a good, emotional story.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book I read by Lurlene as an 11 year old in the 5th grade. Talk about my heart being ripped out of my chest and shredded to pieces. Since then I’ve read almost all of Lurlene’s books.

[Teshawnn Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice

[*Weebles* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ugly cried for real! OMG what a great, but a sad story. I love, love, love Lurlene McDaniel!!!

[Alysha Rood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the type of book you could read over and over! It touches on some tough topics as well. You also need tissues for it as it is such a roller coaster of emotions type of book!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reliving a bit of my childhood again for laughs. Enjoyed it way more than expected, although I didn't expect much. Definitely a few parts that are a bit offensive, tone deaf, dated, etc.

[Reegs]

This book is good but so sad! All of her books are heartbreaking...

[Amélie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So sad 😨 R.I.P Alicia you will be missed

[Princesspeach · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this back in highschool many times and it left an imprint on my heart and I decided to pick it up again. Some books just have a way of staying in your heart and this book is one of them.

[Megan Mcleod · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cried while reading this at work!

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's important to remember that the real victims of racism are the white people who were just trying to help. Especially when Black people are unable to contextualize or react to their situation. There's no better way to infantalize a character than by making it an infant, and Lurlene McDaniel does a genius job of it in Baby Alicia is Dying. My friend Laura has a penchant for terrible books: sibling gangbang erotic mysteries, Satanist backmasking literature, Zondervan's teen "choice" series, several shades of grey, but her favorite bad author is Lurlene McDaniel, the woman who built a career on diseased teen drama romance. I read at least one of these in junior high and Laura read oodles of them, but lately she's been rereading. She says Baby Alicia is Dying is the worst, so when I pulled it out of the recycling bin and saw that '90s white teenager holding the chubby little Black baby, I knew I sort of wanted to read it in the way that one sort of wants to look at a car accident, so I put it on my hold shelf for a year and finally read it while getting over a brief bout of illiteracy a few weeks ago. In summary, Desi is a freshman in high school who volunteers at the home for HIV-positive babies and Baby Alicia is her favorite. There's a floppy-haired boy in her biology class for love interest, her mother opposes her volunteering with AIDS babies, people at school shun her, and someone even writes hateful things on her locker. Desi rages at the thought of Alicia's mom, a young addict, and tries to talk the volunteer coordinator out of letting her have a pre-custodial visit with Alicia, but it happens anyway. Meanwhile, Alicia is a cooing puddle of dark skinned adorable (Lurlene cannot say "Black"). Desi spends all her Christmas money on a Christmas dress for baby Alicia and her Desi's mom gets angry at her. I was angry too. If Desi had blown all her money on something that would be appreciated by a baby, say teddy bear or some stacking toys, yes, that's a good use of money, but one fancy dress? Babies don't care, and they grow. Lucky for Desi, Alicia still fits the dress when the book's title fulfills itself and Desi resolves her grief with a lot of melodrama and clunky dialogue. Desi also plants a rosebush for Alicia at the children's home, because what better to plant in a garden frequented by toddlers? Baby Alicia is Dying is a cluster of white patronizing on top of Lurlene McDaniel's usual sensationalist schlock about sick kids and their romantic lives, the drama is forced, the conflicts are clumsy, the characters are bland, and the worst thing about Baby Alicia is Dying is that it's not so bad. Desi is a stupid teen with the best of intentions who makes sacrifices for a child. The reveal at the end is that Desi's mom didn't want her volunteering with HIV-positive babies because she lost Desi's brother to SIDS, so not only is there a resolution but Lurlene gives us two-for-one disease tutorials. The shaggy haired boy in Desi's biology class lost a beloved uncle to AIDS. And after Alicia's memorial service, Alicia's mother appears. I needed that to happen so I didn't throw the book across the room. She tells Desi that she's been sober since Alicia was born and trying to go back to school, and get an apartment, and custody, and she's young, and she's HIV-positive too. And Desi finally starts to realize that Alicia was not born of a monster to be Desi's soulmate/dress-up toy, Alicia was a baby with a family who was a victim of poverty and a terrible disease.

Read this book: If you're the one who has to go back in time and explain to Ronald Reagan that anyone can get AIDS.

http://surfeitofbooks.blogspot.com/20...

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a girl named Desi. She never had love from her mother and felt there was an invisible wall between them. Her aunt Clarie is the only person that understands her. She told Desi to go to this program and there on Desi feel in love with this baby named Alica, which her mother abandon her. Desi's best friend, mother and the whole school doesn't want Desi to work there anymore because of Alicia, which is HIV positive. Her mother didn't want her to work there anymore because she doesn't want her daughter to be infected with HIV. Her mother didn't give love to her because she was afraid to love her. She didn't want her love to be ended like her last son.

[Isabelle Medina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this story is sad and broing because it about a girl who has a sister and her sister is going to college but her younger sister doesn't want her to go because she doesn't want ti be alone and she will miss her sister a lot.but she kept herself busy so she cared for a little girl named Alicia but the think about alicia is that shes really sick. She was born with HIV posititve. At the childcare she treaged her like she was her own child but she wasn't. And the bad thing is that she has to watch her friend die because there is no cure for her kind of codiction. And then Alicia died with sadnesss in Desi's heart.

[Sharlene · Rating 1 out of 5]

i seriously recommend this book its very good and sad.This book will keep you very interested in what will happen next.Its also sad to no that a baby will die knowing u can't do anything about it.Its even more sad when you get to attached its like loosing a family memeber or apart of you.But there also was good times in this book sometimes, but mostly....you would have to read it.I can say that this book made me cry.

[Vilija · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bawled my eyes out when I read this as a kid. I give it five stars not so much because it's surprisingly well written, but because of the visceral response it provoked from me. Okay, sure, I cry easily (except at Extreme Makeover: Home Improvement), but this book is why. I ached when I read this book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most of her books, this one kept me reading and crying. and reading.

and rereading..

this one was extra sad because babies shouldn't be sick nor dying (just my opinion)

was worth the reread though