Anastasia's Chosen Career

This one had some great moments, but it felt somewhat dated to me. ( )

This was my favorite of the series when I was a kid, but now I think I like the first one best. Still, it's a MAKEOVER STORY! ( )

Anastasia returns to form in this volume of the series. Anastasia decides to take a modeling class to help her with her school project "My Chosen Career"...which is to be a bookstore owner. That sounds like the most excellent career in the world. However, this is also the least realistic of the Anastasia books so far. I find it unrealistic that the Krupniks would let their 13 year old daughter attend a modeling class in downtown Boston by herself. I find it unrealistic that Robert Giannini who appeared in the first and second books of this series would coincidentally show up in this same class. I also find it unrealistic that a 13 year old would have saved up enough babysitting money to take a $119 modeling course in 1987. I remember being paid $3 an hour to babysit in 1991. Oh, well. I always enjoy reading this book, even as an adult. ( )

Anastasia only has one week to work on her school assignment called "My Chosen Career." She must first develop poise and self-confidence. So Anastasia takes the plunge and spends her life savings on a modeling course at Studio Charmante. She has one week to interview a bookstore owner, write a report, and complete her modeling course. Luckily her new friend Henry is with her most of the way so hopefully he can help her out. Only she has the answers! ( )

In one of the more mediocre Anastasia books, our heroine makes a typically teenage decision to enroll in a modeling course over spring break to make herself better and more glamorous. She persuades her parents to let her visit the city on her own by feigning interest in interviewing a friend of her father's for her school paper on "My Chosen Career." Over the course of the week she befriends Henry (Henrietta) Peabody, a stereotypically loud-mouthed Black girl who is destined to break free from her blue-collar background by becoming a successful model, and Ellen Page, an unsuccessful bookstore owner with a wealthy husband and a heart of gold. Anastasia decides that it's okay to not be stunning and that being a bookstore owner might be a good career choice after all. The book loses points for some pieces of formulaic writing, benign racism, and insulting depictions of the two characters who, though not fat by any stretch of the imagination, are not *as* thin as everybody else. ( )