I Like Him, He Likes Her: Alice Alone; Simply Alice; Patiently Alice »

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor includes many of her own growing-up experiences in the Alice books. She writes for both children and adults and is the author of more than one hundred and thirty-five books, including the Alice series, which Entertainment Weekly has called "tender" and "wonderful." In 1992 her novel Shiloh won the Newbery Medal. She lives with her husband, Rex, in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and is the mother of two sons, both grown and married. Visit Phyllis online at alicemckinley.wordpress.com

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.