All But Alice (Alice #4)

Reader reviewed by Stephanie

There are many things that young teenage girls want to be, and one of the biggest ones is to be into be one of the coveted few, the most popular, the most beautiful, while simultaneously dressing, acting, and thinking exactly like every other girl in the nation. In the winter of seventh grade, Alice McKinley wants just that. Her friend Pamela convinces her to join some clubs, most of which Alice couldnt give a whit about. She gets her ears pierced, and Pamela welcomes her into the Sisterhood of Women with open arms, while their bodily self-conscious friend Elizabeth nearly faints with terror from the news, and anything else that has to do with the human body.

In her family, strange sorts of love are in the air. For her older brother Lester, its the problem of trying to decide between two girls, Marilyn and Crystal, without adding any more into the mix. On the other hand, their father is certainly keeping his budding romance with Miss Summers, Alices language arts teacher, on the down-low.

Alice thinks its her dream come true when shes suddenly included in the Beautiful People group, a group of four girls and boys who are automatically paired together and silently receive the envy of everyone else in their grade. The trouble is, they dont do ANYTHING. All they do is stand next to each other and laugh and tease and talk chitchat about nothing. How much is it really worth to be in the popular group if Alice cant be herself anymore?