'At first Ben doesn't want to sit next to Alice. He thinks she's scary. She tells him off for sloppy drawing and careless handwriting. She even complains about his table manners! But when Ben starts to take Alice's advice he sees a few changes.Maybe sitting next to her isn't as bad as he feared. So what will Ben do when he gets the chance to go back to his old seat?'
School can be a difficult time for kids, not only do you have the pressure of trying to learn and proving how well you've learned through tests and assessments, but you also have the trials and tribulations of making friends, interpersonal drama, and the often quite nasty attitudes that kids get around each other. Any one of these things can be bad, but when all clumped together school can become a minefield. As such its understandable that kids just want to keep their heads down, avoid drama, and get it over with as quickly as they can.
Unfortunately for Ben, his carefully crafted school life it thrown upside down when a broken window means he needs to move, and he gets put next to Alice. Alice scares Ben, and he doesn't want to sit with her. She criticises his drawing and makes him redo it, she tells him his handwriting is bad and how to improve it, she even complains about how he eats his food at lunch time. And whilst these things might be annoying, or even seen as bullying, Alice never seems to do it out of malice, and goes out of her way to tell try and get Ben to try harder, to do better, and to slow down more. And he's shocked when he begins to see positive results. His work is singled out as being better, and he enjoys his lunch more when he slows down and savours it.
As the day wears on the two of them begin to like being around each other, they start to bond, and Ben even comes to like Alice. So when he's told that he can return to his regular spot the next day he comes to reevaluate what he really wants.
At its heart, Next to Alice is a story about not judging people too quickly. Ben thinks that Alice is bossy and scary, but she's just a bit direct. She sees things a certain way, sees what might be the best, most practical solution, and tells people to do it. But not because she's mean, because she wants what's best. From an outside perspective you can understand why Ben might not want to be sat next to her, but just like him, the more you're around her the more you realise she's actually pretty cool. Too many people make snap judgements about people based on next to no information, and teaching kids from a young age that you should really give kids a chance is a lesson that needs to be taught.
The book isn't a hard lesson though, as there's quite a bit of humour and a few jokes thrown in that make the book quite enjoyable to read. A lot of this comes from people being scared of Alice; such as when another student turns round to mock Ben, but quickly changes his mind when Alice gives him a 'you sure you want to?' kind of look. These jokes work well because they're often accompanied by really lovely illustrations. Gareth Conway provides the art on the book and it complements the story beautifully. The small expressions on the kids faces, the way their body language puts across what they're feeling, really helps to land a lot of the humour, and you start to really visualise a lot of what makes Alice a fun character because of that.
Anne Fine is an author who has received huge amounts of praise for her children's literature, and whilst Next to Alice is a short read it really does illustrate why Fine is considered one of the best children's writers around. Next to Alice is such an enjoyable and engaging read that I was honestly disappointed that it was over so quickly.
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