Way Back Wednesday - Go Ask Alice

I'm interrupting Way Back Wednesday this week with a book I just re-read over the weekend. My local public library - Mercer County Public Library - just acquired a new copy of this book and it practically jumped off the shelf and into my hands. Talk about a blast from the past.

Go Ask Alice

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416914633
ISBN-13: 978-1416914631

Go Ask Alice is a book I read when I was an early teenager and it scared the beegeezees out of me! It was years later before I realized this was a work of fiction - not a true teen diary by Anonymous as it was marketed.

Work of fiction or not, it is an interesting read into the teenage drug world of the 1960s. Although dated, I think this would be a good book for adults to read before they have "the drug" talk with their children.

The book begins with a 15 year old named Alice who is living in a perfectly normal home with two parents and a younger brother and sister. She had everything, but like most teenagers, she didn't realize it until it was gone.

Supposedly tricked into taking LDS when offered a laced Coke at a party, this work of fiction depicts Alice's downward spiral into drugs and her eventual climb back out the other side.

Written in "diary" form, it is a quick read and can easily be read in one night. Although continued to be touted as a true story, be aware that the truth of this book's origins was debunked many years ago. However, this doesn't stop it from being a good read.

*****Warning*****
Just a note to parents: This book is ranked very high on many of the banned books lists in the USA. If you care concerned about your children reading "banned" books, this many not be the book for your family.