A Summer of Surprises for Alice It’s the summer after Alice’s freshman year, she’s survived her breakup with Patrick, and she and her friends are looking forward to their jobs as assistant camp counselors. Alice feels as if she’s finally gotten a handle on life. But Alice soon learns that the only thing she can count on is change. Pamela’s mother is contemplating coming home, Lester is contemplating leaving home, and even Alice’s father’s romance with Miss Summers hits an unexpected snag. But most surprising of all are the shocking revelations about some of Alice’s closest friends. Can Alice keep up with all the changes around her? Read more about Alice at http://www.SimonandSchuster.com/Alice Look inside for a complete list of Alice books. SIMON PULSE Simon & Schuster, New York Cover photograph copyright © 2003 by Nick Vaccaro Cover designed by Russell Gordon www.simonandschuster.com 1004 PHYLLIS REYNOLDS NAYLOR is the author of more than one hundred books, but the Alice books are some of her most favorite to write. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with her husband, Rex, and they are the parents of two grown sons. * * * Patiently Alice Books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor SHILOHBOOKS Shiloh Shiloh Season Saving Shiloh THE ALICE BOOKS Starting with Alice Alice in Blunderland Lovingly Alice The Agony of Alice Alice in Rapture, Sort of Reluctantly Alice All But Alice Alice in April Alice In-Between Alice the Brave Alice in Lace Outrageously Alice Achingly Alice Alice on the Outside The Grooming of Alice Alice Alone Simply Alice Patiently Alice Including Alice Alice on Her Way THE BERNIE MAGRUDER BOOKS Bernie Magruder and the Case of the Big Stink Bernie Magruder and the Bernie Magruder and the Case of the Big Stink Bernie Magruder and the Disappearing Bodies Bernie Magruder and the Haunted Hotel Bernie Magruder and the Drive-thru Funeral Parlor Bernie Magruder and the Bus Station Blowup Bernie Magruder and the Pirate’s Treasure Bernie Magruder and the Parachute Peril Bernie Magruder and the Bats in the Belfry THE CAT PACK MYSTERIES The Grand Escape The Healing of Texas Jake Carlotta’s Kittens Polo’s Mother THE WITCH BOOKS Witch’s Sister Witch Water The Witch Herself The Witch’s Eye Witch Weed The Witch Returns THE YORK TRILOGY Shadows on the Wall Faces in the Water Footprints at the Window PICTURE BOOKS King of the Playground The Boy with the Helium Head Old Sadie and the Christmas Bear Keeping a Christmas Secret Ducks Disappearing I Can’t Take You Anywhere Sweet Strawberries Please DO Feed the Bears BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS Josie’s Troubles How Lazy Can You Get? All Because I’m Older Maudie in the Middle One of the Third Grade Thonkers All Because I’m Older Maudie in the Middle One of the Third Grade Thonkers BOOKS FOR MIDDLE READERS Walking Through the Dark How I Came to Be a Writer Eddie, Incorporated The Solomon System The Keeper Beetles, Lightly Toasted The Fear Place Being Danny’s Dog Danny’s Desert Rats Walker’s Crossing BOOKS FOR OLDER READERS A String of Chances Night Cry The Dark of the Tunnel The Year of the Gopher Send No Blessings Ice Sang Spell Jade Green Blizzard’s Wake This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. First Simon Pulse edition October 2004 Copyright © 2003 by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor SIMON PULSE An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 www.SimonandSchuster.com All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Also available in an Atheneum Books for Young Readers hardcover edition. Designed by Sonia Chaghatzbanian The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Patiently Alice / Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.—1st ed. p. cm. Summary: The summer after ninth grade, Alice and her friends spend three weeks working as assistant counselors at a camp for disadvantaged children and cope with all kinds of changes. ISBN-13: 978-0-689-82636-8 (hc.) ISBN-10: 0-689-82636-2 (hc.) [1. Camps— Fiction. 2. Poor—Fiction. 3. Friendship—Fiction. 4. Remarriage—Fiction. 5. Family life—Fiction. 6. Single parent families—Fiction.] I. Title. PZ7.N24 Pat 2003 [Fic]—dc21 2002012887