By Mary Hill
When you grow up with a series, it is sad to see it end. While in college, I met Alice. I picked up the first book The Agony of Alice as an assignment for my Young Adult Literature Class. I loved it. She was a young, shy tween who faced the difficulties of growing up without mother.
The most memorable quote from the first book:
“Life is like a dumpster. As soon as you get rid of one embarrassment, you pick up another. I knew that this was going to go on forever unless I found someone to set an example for me, and by the time I got the mustard off my shirt, I’d made up my mind: I’d adopt a mother.”
With 26 books in the series, I never seemed to have time to read them all. I hope to with my own daughter in a few years, however. As you start reading the series, remember the earlier books are appropriate for tweens, but as Alice ages the books are only appropriate for older teens. These books have been challenged for all kinds of issues including homosexuality. Read each carefully before allowing your child to read them. Some you may even want to skip based on your child’s individual make up.
This is especially the case for the last book as Alice is all grown up and deals with especially adult issues of “date rape” and her first real grown up sexual relationship.
As a Christian, I had trouble with Alice’s decisions to have a sexual relation outside marriage. The author seems to gloss over the real and sometimes sad consequences of such a decision.
Alice was smart in her decision, but when reality strikes, not ever girl will be as smart. Alice is a role model and this story is an “idealistic” look at how we wish young women will act, planning things for perfection that never really happens.
I know from experience that when we step outside God’s will, we will have emotional scars that can last a life time. From my personal experience with others in my life, I have also seen how jumping into relationships unprepared can impact an entire family in ways that cause turmoil and hurt. Additionally, the victims are the young children produced when even the best birth control fails.
Life is never simple as the author seems to make it, and it is full of tough decisions, sometimes regret, and a lot of times disagreements with others. Real people can be difficult and tough to deal with. At the same time, life can be wonderful and full of surprises as we also see in Alice’s story.
In the end, true love wins as I hope it will in my life and that of my daughter’s life. What is missing in Alice’s story is a relationship with Christ, however. As I read the books with my daughter, I hope I can show her how her life can be even richer if she seeks Him in all that she does.
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