Alice on Board by Phyllis Naylor 280 pages 9781442445888

This is the latest in the  loooong Alice series. I first met Alice in The Agony of Alice1985, the first of 27 books. She was an awkward sixth grade looking for a female role model since her mother's death. She feels unnumbered by males, namely dad and her older brother. Alice is now much more self assured. This is her last summer before college. She and her three best friends are having a last adventures sharing summer employment as staff on a Chesapeake cruise ship. Cruising may be a glamorous adventure for the guests; it is demanding, hard work for the employees. The early Alice books are on the series shelf in the junior fiction area; once she started high school her problems caused the rest of the series to move to the young adult area of our collection. There are problems with guests (including the male guest who likes to shock the housekeepers), as well as the bosses. The company is having major financial difficulties. Alice also doesn't know what to do about her boyfriend who will be studying abroad for several years. Her friends also have their problems, including a difficult mother who can't accept her impending divorce. You don't have to read the 26 past episodes; this will easily stand on it's own. Once reading, you probably will want to back track and read more about Alice.