Alice McKinley. Main series

The summer before she enters the seventh grade Alice starts dating Patrick, but she is confused about her feelings, especially since she has no mother to go to for advice.

Seventh grader Alice decides that the only way to stave off personal and social disasters is to be part of the crowd, especially the "in" crowd, no matter how boring and, potentially, difficult.

When motherless Alice turns thirteen she feels in-between, no longer a child but not yet a woman, and discovers that growing up can be both frustrating and wonderful.

While planning a wedding as part of an assignment for her eighth-grade health class, Alice thinks about her father's and older brother's love lives and learns that you cannot prepare for all of life's decisions.

Thirteen-year-old Alice sets long- and short-term priorities for her life as she experiences the complexities of young love.

During the summer between eighth and ninth grades, Alice and her friends Pamela and Elizabeth decide to improve themselves through exercise.

In her freshman year, fourteen-year-old Alice experiences changes and challenges with friends, family, and school activities, which leave her feeling better about herself than ever before.

Fifteen-year-old Alice finds it hard to adjust to the changes in her life when her father gets married and her brother moves to his own apartment.

"It's the summer before junior year, and Alice is looking forward to three months of excitement, passion, and drama. But what does she find? A summer working in a local department store, trying to stop shoplifters, and more 'real life' problems than she could have ever imagined: A good friend becomes seriously ill, Lester has more romance problems than even Alice knows what to do with, and the gang from Mark Stedmeister's pool is starting to grow...

In the second semester of her junior year of high school, Alice gets back together with her old boyfriend Patrick, gets a promotion on the student newspaper, and remains a reliable, trusted friend.

Along with the usual concerns of senior year in high school, Alice faces some very difficult situations, including vandalism by a group of Neo-Nazis and a friend's confession that a teacher has been taking advantage of her.

Seeking one last adventure before going off to college, Alice and her friends find summer employment on a Chesapeake Bay cruise ship.