Not yet as developed as she would like to be, but certainly no longer a child, Alice is simply, typically--thirteen. With her friends, she experiences the usual preteen fixations, trials, expectations, and disappointments, which emerge naturally through good plotting and effective dialogue.

The fifth book about Alice slips comfortably into formula, but fans of the motherless preteen (now completing seventh grade) won't object. It's not only Alice who's pausing on the verge of a next phase; her brother Lester, 20, is still happily enamored of the same two young women; and Dad's romance with Alice's teacher is still tempered by his wife's memory. Meanwhile, Alice and friend Pamela test their dawning maturity. Alice dresses up for a 13th birthday-gift evening with Lester, during which they rescue his friend Crystal from an obnoxious pickup; more threateningly, when Alice, Pamela, and their timid friend Elizabeth take a sleeper to visit Aunt Sally, an older man takes Pamela's grownup pose all too seriously. But on the whole Alice is comfortable being neither a child nor an adult; ``I was sort of between problems,'' she observes, and it's a pleasure to visit her in this unwontedly tranquil state. Still, a casual but unexpectedly warm kiss from old friend Patrick at book's end suggests that the new teenager—as thoughtful and lively as ever—will soon be on to the next stage. (Fiction. 10-14)"

Gr 5-7-The perennial heroine of five Naylor novels is back in a droll tale of early adolescent pluck, curiosity, and angst. Motherless since early childhood, Alice finds turning 13 a time of awkward transition from girlhood to womanhood, a topic she never hesitates to discuss frankly with her father and older brother, Lester. The highlight of her summer is a visit with best friends Pamela and Elizabeth to her Aunt Sally's home in Chicago. The girls travel without a chaperone, enjoying the sophistication of an overnight train trip in a sleeper car. Pamela is comely and deceptively mature-looking, and when she attracts the persistent attention of an older man, Elizabeth and Alice boldly and humorously stage her rescue. A sober touch is provided when Mrs. Plotkin, Alice's beloved sixth grade teacher and surrogate mother, has a heart attack and is hospitalized. By summer's end, Alice is beginning to feel more in control of her fledgling maturation as she renews her special friendship with old flame Patrick. This is bound to reassure the many adolescent fans who can identify with the ``in-between blues.''-Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT