Alice-by-Accident ANNOTATION
Nine-year-old Alice must write about herself for an assignment in her London school, and in doing so, she sorts out her feelings about her somewhat prickly single mother, the father she has never met, her flamboyant paternal grandmother, and the rest of her sometimes confusing life.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
It's Just so stupid, asking us to write our life for homework. It's not even a weekend!
Alice Williamson-Stone doesn't see how she can write her life story as a class assignment. How can she fit 9 1/2 years into a couple of pages? Anyway, what's interesting in her life is not the "family and pets" stuff her teacher asked for. Her pets have died, and the only family she has is her mother. Until recently she had a beloved, interfering grandmother—Gene—but she's gone from Alice's life. Besides, as Alice discovered ages ago, she was born by accident, and that's the sort of private thing you don't write about for school. Alice does the assignment but she thinks it's pretty boring, until in doing it she discovers a need to write about her true life—the exciting, complicated, private parts.
In her secret notebook, Alice begins to write her"{ilustrated} ortoblography." Alice writes about her mother's difficult early life and her determination to become a "professional single parent." She writes how Gene, her absent father's mother, came along, and how she changed Alice's life, making it richer in experience but also more complicated. And she records on going quarrels between her mother and grandmother about how to bring Alice up, which ended with the Big Row. Now Alice has just her Number One person, her mum, struggling with problems of money, career, health, where to live, and how to manage on her own—problems Alice can only deal with by writing about them. Except when she tries to help . .
Lynne Reid Banks offers a compelling story of a creative child caught in the middle of a difficult, but very real and increasingly common situation. Poignant, funny, andstartlingly honest, Alice-by-Accident is certain to touch the heart of any child who has ever felt different, and of any adult who has to deal with the problems of children who come by accident.
Author Biography: Lynne Reid Banks was born in London. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she acted and wrote for the repertory stage. Later, she turned to journalism, becoming one of Britain's first female television news reporters. In 1962 she emigrated to Israel, where she married a sculptor, had three sons and taught for eight years in a kibbutz. She now lives with her husband in England. She writes, travels, and visits schools, at home and abroad, full-time. Among Lynne Reid Banks's popular novels for young readers are Angela and Diabola; Harry the Poisonous Centipede; The Fairy Rebel; The Farthest-Away Mountain; The Adventures of King Midas; The Magic Hare; Maura's Angel; and the award-winning Indian in the Cupboard books.
FROM THE CRITICS
Horn Book
The frustration [Alice] feels as she tries to understand her place in her family will resonate with middle�grade readers.
Publishers Weekly
"Banks serves up an unconventional, bittersweet slice of life, lightened with casual humor, concerning nine-year-old Alice (who came to her single mother `by accident')," said PW in a starred review. "An intimate, gratifying read." Ages 8-12. (June) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Children's Literature - Sharon Oliver
Alice was an "accident," a fact she's happy to share with friends and strangers alike until she realizes that accidents are not necessarily good. With a working single mother and a paternal grandmother who can't seem to get along and a father she's never met, nine-year-old Alice has many obstacles to overcome. When relations between her mother and grandmother seriously deteriorate, Alice is caught between loyalty to her mother, love for her grandmother and her longing for a father. The author has expertly captured the voice of this young girl who will win readers over with her imagination, courage and the common sense adults in her world are often lacking. 2000, Harper Collins,
School Library Journal
Gr 5-7-"This is very strange and a bit disturbing," writes Alice's teacher about one of the child's stories. The same applies to Banks's book. Alice, 10, lives in London and has never met her father. Her overprotective, single mother had fled an abusive home situation at 16 and become pregnant while at university. Though she loves her daughter, her unrelenting anger at the girl's father has left the family dysfunctional. Ironically, Alice enjoys a close relationship with Gene, her wealthy paternal grandmother, whom her mother contacted shortly after her daughter's birth. A riff between the two women shatters Alice's world, and she misses Gene even more when her mother becomes chronically ill. Forced to become more independent, the child develops a friendship with her baby-sitter's wild, unsupervised daughter. Then Alice almost dies from meningitis. At this point she is reconciled with Gene and receives an invitation from her stepmother to let her father into her life. Alice's school essays, along with her private journal, comprise this book, which is filled with realistic grammar mistakes, inventive spelling ("larfing"), and British slang ("grotty"), which may cause problems for American readers. Her life is recounted in a rambling, matter-of-fact manner that is easy to follow and enjoy, despite her troubles. Unfortunately, the story doesn't go anywhere, and the characters don't seem to learn or grow. Alice is accused of writing "soppy" endings for her grim stories-admittedly she can't stand sad, realistic endings. This again echoes Banks's book.-Darcy Schild, Schwegler Elementary School, Lawrence, KS Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|
Kirkus Reviews
Banks (The Key to the Cupboard, 1998, etc.) introduces a highly appealing character in an ultimately disappointing novel. Nine-year-old Alice Williamson-Stone loves to write stories, so much so that when her teacher gives the class an assignment to write about themselves, Alice can't stop and writes a full-length autobiography. Alice—spunky, resilient, creative, and funny—has had her share of hard knocks and sadness. Raised by a single mom, she learns early on that she came into life "by accident" (hence the title) and that her father wanted to play no part in her life. Alice's mother does the best she can, but she is often overwhelmed by the job of raising such a feisty girl on her own. Alice's paternal grandmother Gene, a famous English actress, enters Alice's life when Alice is three. She often takes Alice to the theater and ballet, encourages her love of books and art, and even takes her on a trip to Spain. Gene is the second most important person in Alice's life, and the void that's left when Gene and Alice's mother, who have always had a hostile relationship, have a final row and Gene is suddenly out of Alice's life, is enormous. But despite Alice's likable personality, this is not Banks at her best. The story is often confusing, with many jumps back and forth in time. Many plot elements are hard to buy—for example, it's difficult to believe that Gene could so easily drop out of Alice's life when she knows there are no other adults in Alice's life, aside from her mother. In fact, all the adults here come up rather short. The deliberate misspellings—"applord" for applaud,"dieremerjency," "ile" for aisle, "ortobiography" for autobiography—and deliberate grammatical mistakes will be confusing for children. The cover illustration depicts a girl of 14 or 15, while Alice is 9 and 10 during the course of the story. Although the reading level is 9 to 13, many of the older kids in that age range will resist reading about a child that much younger than themselves (the reason, perhaps, behind the misleading cover). (Fiction. 9-13)
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