Being a teenager is tough.  It is a hard thing to go through.  No one seems to know about this as much as Alice McKinley.  Alice is a teenage girl growing up in the book Achingly Alice, written by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.  The book is one in a long series that is  very realistic, and that is the appeal it has to many young people.  Young people want to read books they can relate to, not books about this and that, and that Alice books are something perfect for young readers.
 The story takes place in a small, nice suburban city.  The city is much like Portland Maine, and the direct setting is eerily similar to North Deering.  That gives the story a nice appeal, the feel that it is like a true life story.  The book doesn’t take place in some mansion, and the characters aren’t all rich and snotty with famous parents.  The adults that they live with all have normal jobs, they all live in middle class homes, and all live lives like the people you would meet every day.
     The main character of this book is your every day average 13 year old girl.  Alice McKinley lives with her father and brother, and has her two best friends always by her side, like most people do.  She always has some problem to endure, and of course, like most stories, always figures out what she needs to do by the end of the story.  That’s what helps to make the story so real.  Real problems, real solutions.  Just what people want to read.
     As you can tell, the plots are pretty basic, and cover basic qualities of life.  In this specific story Alice is trying to get her dad to marry his long time girlfriend-and her former english teacher- Sylvia Summers.  The one problem ,though, is that Ms. Summers also has another boyfriend, the vice-principal of Alice's middle school.  Some how she schemes and plots, but always knows that the small lies she tells will get her into trouble.  Eventually he conscience gets to her, and she ends up apologizing.  But not after she has a good talk with Ms. Summers, leaving her happier and less stressed than she had been before.
     As you can obviously see, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is a terrific writer, with fabulous book ideas.  Alice is one of the most real, and creative characters I’ve ever met in my readings, and I hope to be able to read more Alice books in the near future.  You should try reading some too.