We went to the library a lot when I was a kid. A lot. Now that I work up in circulation, I realize that my family was the one the library assistants probably hated. Baskets upon baskets of books. That was us. My mom read from the children's section a lot. She was the one who found Alice.
The Alice McKinley series is a long-running series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. It follows Alice McKinley from age 8 to 60. The majority of the series, being written for young people, focuses on age 8-18. There has been one book in the series per year for the past 25 years.
My mom knew I'd like Alice. I think the time I first read her, Alice was just a few years older than me. Now, I'm older than her, and it's me, not my mom, finding the newest Alice books at the library and checking them out.
I can't remember a time where I went to the library and didn't know about Alice. At various points in my life I have been both older and younger than Alice. For the past six or so years, I've been older than Alice. And the books don't have the same appeal as they once did, but I still like reading them. After all, I did grow up with her. I am her.
Next May, Always Alice, the final book in the series, will be published. It truly is the end of an era for me.
The Alice series was the first series I remember DYING to read. My mom would read the books before me to make sure they were appropriate, and I remember not being able to read Reluctantly Alice until I was in sixth grade. I couldn't wait to read those books. And I remember when I got the go-ahead to read the newest Alice book without my mother's permission. It was Alice on the Outside, and that cover (the original one, with the artwork of Patrick and Alice going in for the kiss) is burned into my brain.
Being able to read Alice on the Outside marks for me, when I was allowed free and full access to the library. That I was allowed to make whatever reading decisions I wanted.
Alice means a lot to me in the mythology in my life as a reader. The thought of not having a new book of hers to read for the first time in my entire life? That's heavy.
I guess, in the end, it comes down to what I wrote in my Reader Profile for my Children's Library Materials class:
Reading Alice made me want to grow up sooner, partially because I thought Alice was just so cool and did such fun things, and partially because there were some books in the series my mom would not let me read until I was older. At various points in my life, I have been both older and younger than Alice, and it is the one book series from my childhood that has not yet ended. The last book in the series comes out next summer, and that, I think, will mark the end of my childhood. Not the fact that I am in my twenties and can rent a car—no, Alice finally growing up. Alice was a friend who was always there—she made me laugh, cry, and no matter how embarrassing I thought my life was, Alice always did something way worse. More than a small part of me will be sad to let her go next summer.
