Book Review: I Like Him, He Likes Her

Synopsis

“Find a Penny pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck…except, of course, if that Penny is charming and pretty and funny, and the person picking her up just happens to be your boyfriend. Alice McKinley’s freshman year is not as “lucky” as she was hoping it would be. But she’s is trying to look on the bright side. There are worse things than being single for a semester… for a school year…for the whole summer…. At least Alice can count on her best friends for support—in theory, anyway. Lately they haven’t been all that there-for-her. In fact, it seems like Pam and Liz are suddenly involved in intense, secret conversations whenever Alice is around. Single is starting to feel a whole lot like solo.”

-Synopsis from Goodreads

Review

Reading this was a trip down memory lane! The Alice series will always have a special place in my heart. I Like Him, He Likes Her by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is a collection of books #13-15 in the Alice series. Each book (Alice Alone, Simply Alice, Patiently Alice) follows Alice through her freshman year of high school. Although the series itself follows Alice’s life in chronological order, there is enough recap at the beginning of each book that you can pick up in the middle of the series and still follow along.

Fun fact: The Alice series regularly appears on the banned and challenged books lists because of explicit language, sexual content, and a myriad of other topics that parents claim are inappropriate. This translates to: they don’t want their kid to read about this because they don’t want to have to talk about it. As with pretty much all banned and challenged books, deeming them as such only makes them more popular.

I have found the Alice books to be sweet, plain and simple. Yes, there’s a lot going on in each book, but that’s life, right? I just love reading about her adventures, and the comic relief provided by her aunt and older brother have, at times, made me laugh out loud. I know that Naylor’s writing style isn’t for everyone, but she is such an acclaimed children’s author and I have so much respect for her and her work. I could go on, but I won’t 🙂

I’m eager to read the rest of the Alice books this year, some of which will be re-reads and others, including the final book, are brand new to me.