Book excerpt: Alice's senior year is off to a rocky start in this relatable novel from Newbery Medalist and three-time Edgar Award–winning author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. It’s the beginning of Alice’s senior year and she finds herself facing some difficult situations. A sudden increase in vandalism at the school leads Alice to discover an angry and violent group of students—teenage neo-Nazis. And if that wasn’t bad enough, she learns that a new, attentive teacher has been taking advantage of her friend. Between these crises, harder classes, college applications, work, and friends, Alice wonders just how much responsibility she can take. It’s great to start feeling like a grown-up, but does the world really have to throw her everything all at once? Alice has the choice to step up…or melt down. The decision is simple and true to the character that readers have loved for years: Alice steps up—and in a big way.