A Girl Called Al

As a 12-year-old, I immersed myself in the fascinating and poignant world of Al. I really identified with her -- she is be-spectacled, precoscious, spent a lot of time alone, and came from a non-traditional family, but she was never "victimy." Rather, she seems to make the most of things, possessing a sort of a bittersweet pragmatism and independence that serves her well. I will never forget that Al read the Sunday New York Times cover-to-cover every weekend -- even the ads and the classifieds. I am 37-years-old and think of that almost each time I read the Times.

Two seventh-grade girls become friends when Al moves into the apartment building where the narrator (who is never named) lives. The narrator is initially skeptical of Al, who is slightly overweight and wears her hair in pigtails (to be a nonconformist, she says). But the two quickly bond, especially when the narrator introduces Al to her friend, building superintendent Mr. Richards. Mr. Richards, a retired bartender, offers the girls shooters of Coke and shows them how he ice-skates on the kitchen floor with rags on his feet to get it so shiny. To Al, he's possibly the most nonconforming person she's ever met. But, like anyone else, Mr. Richards has problems of his own...as the girls soon learn...

It is a really good book! Constance C. Green is a really good author. A Girl Called AL is one of my favorite books. I felt like I know AL. It is the best book ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I read and reread this book so many times as a "preteen"........the characters are wonderful and lovable, hilarious...I am sorry to see that the sequels to this are no longer in print...what a shame. This is an excellent, absorbing book for younger adolescents.