Alice has come a long ways since The Agony of Alice (1985) introduced her as a sixth-grader. Now almost 16, the likable suburbanite continues her thoughtful approach to a basically happy life. Her entertaining narrative mixes serious issues and humor around a new boyfriend, a class trip to Manhattan and her hopes of finally getting her driver’s license. In a chapter titled “The-New-Girl-Who-Came-to-Learn-About-Sex,” she reluctantly attends a class at her church about relationships and intimacy, which turns out to be informative and even fun, and gives her perspective when one of her friends has a casual encounter that includes oral sex. The 17th installment in the series, and more than twice as long as the first, this will be most satisfying to readers already familiar with the cast of characters and involved in Alice’s ups and downs, which echo the lives of many teenage girls. (Fiction. 13+)
