Incredibly Alice

Plot

The novel opens with Alice and her friends plunge into the final semester senior year. Alice complains that she can’t do anything, like sports or a club, because she isn’t into stuff like that plus the year is almost over. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is be honest with yourself—and sometimes the most incredible thing you can do is sneak a little fun into all this soul-searching. (Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, 2011)

Alice wants to make her last year of high school fun, though her friends say it's going to be fun anyways because they have each other. One of Alice's friends, Gwen, suggests finding work on a cruise ship over the summer. Gwen didn’t want to work on the cruise ship just for money but also to have some fun with her friends while working. While at first hesitant, the group of friends changes their minds and all the girls apply to work on the ship after graduation.

Alice's AP English teacher, Mrs. Rosen, asks her if she could stay after class for a few minutes. Mrs. Rosen talks to Alice about writing poetry and asks if she knew about the Ivy Day Ceremony. Alice replies “yes” with a full speech about it. Although Mrs. Rosen wants her to write a poem for it, but Alice is unsure as she feels that she cannot write poetry.

After working on stage crew for the preceding three years, Alice decides to try out for the senior play. She calls Pamela, saying, ”tell me if i'm crazy, but i'm going to try out for the part of Anne.” During the next few days of the tryouts and Alice is so nervous, doubting that she will make it. The day when the list is posted everyone congratulates Alice, and she was so confused until she saw a crowd by a list of names. When she pushes her way through the crowd, all of her friends are by the list yelling and screaming with joy. She looks for her name and there it is, Anne: Alice McKinley.

Since Alice has not been getting much sleep, the next few weeks are hectic, and rehearsals are making them even worse. The day of the play had arrives and Alice is scared but also happy to be performing in the play. As Alice enters the stage she "not only had butterflies in her stomach, she had horses galloping around and gorillas in hiking boots". As an hour had goes by and the first performance is done, Alice realizes that it wasn't so bad after all!

Alice and the cast and crew from the play go bowling. Ryan drives Alice and some friends home. Alice is the last stop, and she and Ryan end up kissing before she leaves the car. Afterwards, she walks into her home and wonders why she had done that. She doesn't want to say anything to Patrick cause she doesn't know how he would react to it.

Later in the novel, Alice, Liz, Gwen and Pamela spend the day at the mall because they were invited to a baby shower.

The group of friends finally graduates high school and Patrick is Alice's prom date.

Major themes

Reception

One of the newest entry in a series that sits in second place on the ALA's (American Library Association)list of most banned/ challenged titles of the 21st century said Kirkus. Myers-Ricker said, although refreshing to read a YA novel in which the female protagonist is smart and funny and has a good relationship with her family, readers new to the series will long for something more exciting from Alice and her one dimensional friends". Lisa A. Hazlett said straightforward and honest, there are important messages in this delightful engrossing novel: Jill reveals that life is not always a romantic media fantasy. Alice shows that risks are necessary to find success,and that everyone's pain shows something different about adulthood.