Lovingly Alice - Characters

Characters

• Alice Kathleen McKinley is the protagonist and narrator of the series. She is an intelligent and open-minded girl. Her mother died of leukemia when Alice was four (or five; she can never remember). Alice often feels as though she doesn't know how to "be a woman" because of this. She has strawberry blond hair and green eyes. Alice is a reporter for the school newspaper 'The Edge' in high school. Alice wants to be a psychiatrist, psychologist, or school counselor as mentioned in several books. The summer before college she's going to be working on a boat with her friends Elizabeth, Pamela, and Gwen.

• Benjamin McKinley is Alice's father, and usually the perfect person for Alice to turn to for advice. At the beginning of the series he was portrayed as a "shy" kind of person. He is torn by the death of his late wife, but manages to find confidence to date again later on and marries Sylvia Summers, Alice's 7th Grade English teacher in Including Alice.

• Lester McKinley is Alice's brother. There is a seven-year age difference but Alice feels very close to him. Even so, Lester is often too busy to deal with Alice and shies away from most of her questions, or answers them sarcastically. During most of the series, he is studying philosophy, graduating with his master's degree in Alice in Charge. Lester has a number of girlfriends. He juggled two girlfriends (Crystal Harkins and Marilyn Rawley) for the first half of the series.

• Elizabeth Price is a devout Catholic who is very uncomfortable knowing that boys know she sweats, digests, and other things. She has strong opinions about sex, and is quite philosophical. Alice, Gwen, and Pamela are always understanding of her feelings. She loosens up as she gets older, though. Her friends describe her as beautiful because of her long dark hair and thick eyelashes. She is one of Alice's three best friends. She is said to have started liking one of their friends Keeno.

• Pamela Jones is an outgoing blond whom Alice met in 6th grade. She bounces between two boys (Brian Brewster and Mark Steidmeister) for several books. Later she gets involved with a boy named Tim. She sometimes says things about adulthood and sex that can shock Elizabeth. She has the most difficult home life due to her parents' messy separation and divorce. She is insightful when it comes to boys. In Almost Alice, she gets pregnant, but soon miscarries. She and her boyfriend break up because of that. She is one of Alice's three best friends.

• Gwen Wheeler is a smart, talented girl in Alice's group of friends. She meets Alice and her friends in 8th grade. She is one of Alice's best friends and tutored Alice in algebra. She wants to become a doctor, and she is African American, which causes her to be singled out on occasion. She often has good ideas and opinions, and works well with children. Previously she could not go to Pamela's house because Pamela's father is racist,however upon meeting Gwen, Pamela's father is impressed and does not ask her to leave.

• Sylvia Summers begins as Alice's 7th grade language arts teacher whom Alice adores. Alice wants her dad and Sylvia to date, so she invites Sylvia to a Christmas choral performance at a local church with her father without her father's knowledge. Later in the series, Ben and Sylvia get married and Sylvia becomes the stepmother Alice has been wishing for.

• Patrick Long is Alice's boyfriend but is now in college due to an accelerated program which enables him to get through high school in three years. They were together during 6th grade but Alice ended that because she missed the "friend Patrick" and thought she needed more of it than the "boyfriend Patrick". They eventually got back together. Then they broke up again at the beginning of high school because a girl named Penny in their grade was flirting with him and he didn't try to stop her. His relationship with Penny didn't last more than a few months, while his with Alice lasted more than two years. Patrick asked her to go to the prom with him and they continue their relationship after he goes away to college and also while he will be away in Spain for a year. They were and still remain very serious in multiple books.(in "Incredibly Alice" he tells Alice that he wants her)

• Aunt Sally is Alice's deceased mother's sister. She lives in Chicago with her husband, Milt. Alice sometimes mistakes her memories of her mother with memories of Aunt Sally. Aunt Sally is very good at giving advice to Alice, but sometimes with personal questions Alice asks Aunt Sally's daughter, Carol instead.

• Sam Mayer is one of Alice's serious boyfriends whom she met in 8th grade. He is the photographer for the school newspaper. Alice broke up with him after a few months of dating because she felt mollycoddled.

• Marilyn Rawley was one of Lester's serious girlfriends. She has long brown hair and plays the guitar. She gets married to a man named Jack in Alice on Her Way. She begins working at the Melody Inn in Alice in Lace. In The Grooming of Alice, she is hired as the assistant manager in Mr. McKinley's music store. In "Incredibly Alice" she gives birth to her and Jack's first child, a daughter named Summer Hope.

• Amy Sheldon tries to become friends with Alice and her friends, but the friends reject her because of her strange personality. In Alice in Charge, Alice encourages Amy to become a roving reporter for the school newspapers. She may have Asperger Syndrome. She was also in the later books in 2011 (Alice in charge)molested by a student teacher. The story was actually told by Alice herself.

• Penny Is one of Patricks' ex-girlfriends. She allegedly stole Patrick away for Alice before the 9th grade started. Later on when Alice and Patrick make up Alice still cannot forgive her. Until they begin to talk. Alice later finds out they really didn't connect as well as Alice and Patrick did. (Patrick also mistakenly called Penny Alice on an occasion) Penny and Alice will probably have a rocky relationship always but they are considerably closer then in the earlier books.
• Scott Is an older boy whom Alice has a crush on. But it shortly ends after Alice invites him to dance and realizes that he doesn't like her that way.

• Rosalind is Alice's best friend in Takoma Park. In later years, she and Alice reunite and email each other often. First Seen In Starting with Alice and also in the prequels, Starting with Alice, and Lovingly Alice.

• Mrs. Plotkin is Alice's 6th grade teacher who helps her learn that it's what on the inside that counts. To Alice, she is like a grandmother. Mrs. Plotkin has made several trips to the hospital because of heart problems, of which she died.