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'''The Alice series is a young adult book series written by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, consisting of 25 books and three prequels. The Alice series follows the main character, Alice McKinley, known as "Al" to her father and older brother, as she grows up in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her mother died of leukemia when she was five. Alice has a hard time at first growing up in an all-male household but her father and brother, Lester, prove to be honest and open about almost everything Alice has to talk about. She has very little memory of her mother, often confusing memories associated to her mother with her aunt. She seems to bear a striking physical resemblance to her mother, especially her strawberry-blond hair. Other characters include Alice's three best friends, Pamela, Elizabeth and Gwen, her first serious boyfriend, Patrick, her next boyfriend, Sam, her prudish Aunt Sally (who frequently provides a little comic relief), Lester's many girlfriends and her seventh grade Language Arts teacher, Miss Summers, whom she tries to get her father to marry (with eventual success). The Alice series broaches many topics including relationships, dating, sex, friendship, life problems, families, God, supremacy and gay/straight controversies. The books have made the ALA (American Library Association) list of most challenged books for several years, making it to number one on the list in 2003 for their sexual content.'''

The Alice series is a young adult book series written by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, consisting of 25 books and three prequels, and it has been frequently challenged, as documented in the American Library Association's lists of the 100 most frequently challenged books from 1990-2019. The main character is Alice McKinley, and the Alice series covers her development through adolescence and puberty to the final book, Now I’ll Tell You Everything, where Alice turns 60 years old. Through intimate relationships, jobs, disastrous accidents, and accidental parental meetings, the journey from a child into a grown-women is narrated in the Alice series. Important and notable characters are Alice’s three best friends, Pamela, Gwen, Elizabeth; her first love, Patrick; her aunt, Sally; her brother, Lester; and her father. Dating, sex, friendship, familial matters, religion, and homosexuality are some of the controversial themes that Phyllis Reynolds Naylor uses to narrate the life story of Alice McKinley.

Background (New Section)
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor was born in 1933 in Anderson, Indiana. Naylor has written over 125 adult and young-adult novels, 28 of them in the Alice novel series. Naylor was awarded the Edgar Allen Poe award in 1984 by the Mystery Writers of America for Night Cry. In 1992, Naylor won the Newbery Medal for Shiloh.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor was raised by both her parents, Eugene and Lura Reynolds, who fostered a conservative and religious upbringing. As a teenager, Naylor wrote for her Church paper and certain school celebrations. Naylor later attended and graduated from Joliet Junior College in 1953. During her first marriage, Naylor worked for the Board of Education’s philosophy office in Rockville, Maryland, and for the Montgomery County Education Association. After her divorce, Naylor achieved a B.A. in psychology from American University in 1963. Naylor considered a Ph.D in the psychology field, but redirected her career path since she was more interested in becoming a professional writer.

The foundation for the Alice series, The Agony of Alice, was originally planned as a novel with no intentions for it to be developed into a series. In an interview with Elizabeth Devereaux in 2002, Naylor said, “I just wanted to write about a motherless girl looking for a role model who finds it not in the most beautiful teacher at school, the one she had hoped to get, but in the homeliest.” Then, as she explains in the interview, Naylor started reflecting on her own personal moments, which became an inspiration for a series of books based on the original Alice character.

Reception (Add ON) ( OLD )
The Alice novel series, which includes 28 books, has 2.5 million copies in circulation. Naylor’s ability to narrate Alice Mckinley’s life as she ages across 28 books is highlighted by Edie Ching, an instructor who specializes in children’s literature at the University of Maryland, who remarks: “The fact that Phyllis could write a series in which her main character went from childhood to adulthood over time — and in each book was fully realized at that particular stage of her life — shows her depth and talent as a writer.”

In 2003, the Alice novel series, according to the Baltimore Sun, was the most controversial novel series because of the illicit sexual content. The American Library Association’s list from 2000-2009 states that the books in the Alice series were the second most frequently banned books in the decade, following the Harry Potter series. The series covers many controversial topics that are included in young-adult literature like masturbation, menstruation, and the evolution both physically and mentally of the main character. In The Grooming of Alice, Alice inspects her genitalia in a manner common to teaching the audience, most often a child, about sex. In the fourth book in the series, All But Alice, Alice, Lester, and her father converse about a song called “My Necrophiliac Brother”; school libraries in a Minnesota district banned the book. In Webb City, Missouri, multiple Alice books were removed from the shelves of school libraries in 2002 due to the use of homosexuality in the narrative.

Awards[edit]
The Alice series has received the following accolades:


 * Alice in Agony: Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (1987)
 * Reluctantly Alice: Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (1993)
 * Alice the Brave: Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (1997)
 * Outrageously Alice: Best Books for Young Adults (1998)
 * Simply Alice: Amelia Bloomer List (2003)

Controversy[edit]
The Alice series has been the center of much controversy:


 * Top 100 most frequently challenged books: 1990-1999
 * Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009
 * Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books: 2010-2019
 * Top 10 Most Banned and Challenged Books for 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, and 2011

The Alice series (Add ON) ( OLD )
The Agony of Alice (September 1, 1985) - Covers 6th Grade (Alice moves from Takoma Park to Silver Spring and struggles to make friends in her new school. All the while, she is dying for beautiful Miss Cole to be her teacher but later realizes it is what is on the inside that counts.)

The Agony of Alice (September 1, 1985) - 6th Grade (Alice moves with her father and brother to Silver Spring, Maryland. The void of her mother, who tragically died of cancer, is heightened through Alice’s desire to have a woman-figure to help guide her through adolescence and puberty.)

Dangerously Alice (May 8, 2007) - First semester of 11th Grade (Alice sheds her "good girl" image by taking risks and considers becoming sexually involved with her boyfriend.)

Dangerously Alice (May 8, 2007) - First semester of 11th grade (Alice is determined to defy the perception of her of being “Miss Goody Two-shoes”, so she becomes rebellious by sneaking out and dating Tony. Alice’s attitude towards life is changed when her friend takes part in a drunk-driving accident.)

Almost Alice (June 18, 2008) - Second semester of 11th Grade (Alice and Patrick go to his senior prom and big changes happen for Pamela)

Almost Alice (June 18, 2008) - Second semester of 11th grade (Alice is excited about attending prom and worries that the invite from Patrick will accidentally revive their late relationship. Pamela creates drama when she publicizes that Alice and Tim are on the verge of being sexually active together.)