Anastasia on Her Own

As always, Lowry's Anastasia's stories are enjoyable. Anastasia deals with the events in a realistic way. Caught between child and adult, mature for her age but still innocent, she has an imaginative and bold way of approaching things. Being the daughter of an English professor, she has an extensive vocabulary, which she uses. As a word-lover myself, this is fun to read. I also enjoyed watching Anastasia learn what it's like to manage a household. Her complaining in the beginning changed to gratitude when she saw how hard her mom worked.
I had an odd moment during this book, too, as I realized, I'm probably the age of Anastasia's parents - and I find I approve of their parenting style. I'm also not sure I would be as supportive of my daughter if she died my best white table cloth purple, but hey - too each their own.
I highly recommend these books. Although written in the mid-80s, other than the lack of cellphones, they don't feel dated or out-of-touch. Perfect for your 10-12 year old girls. ( )

Hilarious. Just plain funny as well as warm and believable. ( )

Not my favorite of the series, because the whole plotline about the date with Steve Harvey is way too embarrassing. But I forgot about Annie! HAHAHA. And the tap-dancing lesson salesman helping her cook dinner! ( )

Anastasia is a seventh grader who is in charge of taking care of the family and house while her mother goes to California for a job. Anastasia's little brother Sam gets the chicken pox and is forced to stay home from daycare, her father who is a professor can not stay home with Sam, so this leave Anastasia to stay home from school a week to take care of Sam. Anastasia realizes the hard work her mother goes through everyday to keep the house clean, dinner cooked, and work on her illustrations for books. The family tries to put a schedule together to stick by to make the house work easier, but it does not last. Anastasia is so delighted when her mother returns from her trip and appreciates all she does for the family. This is a great book for children to read to learn about responsibility and that parents should be appreciated for all they do because it is hard work. ( )

Anastasia's mom has to go out of town, so Anastasia is in charge. She thinks she can handle taking care of the house and her 3 year old brother, but she is sadly mistaken. Her dad is not much help.
This is the most ridiculous and sexist of the Anastasia books. Although they make a big deal of titling the housekeeping schedule "Krupnik Family Non-sexist Housekeeping Schedule" it is pretty obvious that Mrs. Krupnik does all the work around there and that the rest of the family would be (and is) lost without her. The happy little ending is that Mrs. Krupnik buys a microwave and therefore is better able to do all the housework. Bull. Still a pretty funny book, though. It just offended my feminist sensibilities. ( )