Amazon.com (ISBN 0440402212, Paperback)

Sam's big sister Anastasia (Anastasia Krupnik, Anastasia at Your Service) thinks he's, well, there's no other word for it, weird. Their parents say he's precocious. But Sam knows, even on the morning of his birth, when there are bright lights, and he's cold, and someone is messing around with his belly button, that he's just Sam. And as the younger brother of the original drama queen herself, Anastasia, Sam deserves a book all to himself. From those early moments at the hospital, to his first steps and words, to his lively days of nursery school, Sam escorts the reader through his mischief-filled life. His highly developed--and hilarious--verbal skills allow readers to get behind the fascinating logic of a toddler: Why won't it rain lipsticks and plastic pretzels if he flushes them down the toilet? And the King of Worms most certainly does deserve a prize at the pet show. Award-winning Lois Lowry has an uncanny ability to understand children of any age. Without ever patronizing, she manages to make their foibles wildly funny and unerringly true. (Ages 9 to 12) --Emilie Coulter