Dangerously Alice

Dangerously Alice. Written by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. 2007. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York. ISBN 13: 978-0-689-87094-1, ISBN-10: 0-689-87094-9. 294 pages. $15.99. Recommended for 7th-12th graders. (Ages 12-18).

As part of a series that is regularly challenged in libraries and schools around the country, Dangerously Alice lives up to its name and keeps up the controversy. Alice, now a junior in high school, continues her journey of self-discovery as she deals with the tamer issues of changing friendships and family dynamics and more touchy subjects of budding sexuality and teenage drinking. After being made fun of for her cautious, goody-two-shoes personality, Alice tries to take more risks and explore the darker side of life, which culminates in a new relationship with “fast” Tony and a dicey secret assignment that puts her and her friend Liz out on the mean midnight streets of a nearby town. Amid the danger, Alice also copes with more everyday troubles—getting used to her step-mother’s new role in the family, crushing on a senior who doesn’t feel the same way, and worrying about the PSAT test. Naylor carefully balances Alice so that she never alienates the reader by making her too risky or shy. Alice is your middle-of-the-road teenager, an “everygirl” as others have put it, allowing girls of every style to see themselves in her.

Not all parents will be comfortable with some of the situations included in the novel. They might not want their child, now blossoming into a young adult, to read candidly about sexual encounters or unsupervised parties gone wild. And yet, whether parents like it or not, these situations are not simply fantasies made up by Naylor. They remarkably resemble a reality that teenage girls face every day. The book doesn’t condone bad behavior or promiscuity, but rather has Alice contemplating her actions and decisions, acknowledging when she is unsure, and asking for help when she needs it. She follows a moral compass, setting an excellent example for today’s teenage girls in a world filled with enticing risks and rapid change.

As schools and public libraries deal with challenges to putting Dangerously Alice on their shelves, the novel provides a ready-made argument against censorship. In public speaking class, Alice’s teacher is sharply criticized by a parent for an assignment about controversial topics and takes it up with the school board. The students rally around their teacher and put on a demonstration to defend their rights to think and speak freely. After the objecting parent has a chance to formally complain, the principal sides with the students, believing that teenagers need to “study a controversial subject from many points of view—the hallmark of an educated person.” Librarians and teachers alike could use this message to defend the novel. The Alice series teaches that controversy is inevitable in our world. Teenagers who read about controversial situations in books or learn it in the classroom might be better prepared when these situations come up in real life.

Dangerously Alice should be commended for its accurate depiction of modern teenage life and the way that Alice navigates through it. Perhaps better suited to public library shelves as recreational reading rather than school libraries shelves of educational standards, this novel still deserves to be openly read and discussed by teenagers and their parents alike.