Author(s): Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Children Fiction

Come and meet Alice. Here she is on the brink of being a teenager and discovering that life is just one big embarrassment. Things are not made any easier by the fact that she has no female role model - Alice's mother died when she was four - so there is just her father and older brother - and what could they possibly know about being a girl and growing up? Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's lively, witty style, mixed with poignance and perception, has captured the essence of adolescent anxieties as we follow Alice through the trials and tribulations of growing up. Alice and Patrick are getting married! They have to plan a wedding and honeymoon and set up a home, all for five thousand dollars - as a project for a Critical Choices unit in health class. And some of their classmates are facing even tougher make-believe situations. But sometimes Alice feels as if her real life is just as complicated. Critical Choices is supposed to teach Alice and her friends how to make decisions - but how can you plan for anything when life seems like an obstacle course?