Anastasia on Her Own

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.

When Anastasia's mother is out of town for two weeks, it's up to her to keep the household running. Sam gets chicken pox, and her father's old flame, Annie, pops up out of nowhere and worms her way into a dinner invitation. Anastasia invites her pseudo-boyfriend, Steve, to have dinner with them, and she's determined to make it a romantic first date. Needless to say, things don't work out as planned.
Not as funny as previous Anastasia entries, and I missed Mrs. Krupnik, since her parents are such interesting characters themselves. That Mrs. Krupnik seems to be the only one in the house capable of doing anything around the house makes this feel pretty sexist and dated.

From beginning to end, Mom is in charge, and everyone else just helps by doing things like making their own beds. She even feels selfish for taking a week to travel for work and does it mainly for the money. Also the implausibilities pile up... most weeks are not nearly as eventful as this one. Funny, but not the best in the series.

Growing up, the closest thing to these that I had access to was Trixie Belden. But the Anastasia books are even better than Naylor's Alice books, imo. More emphasis on humor, less on angst. Of course no one library has them all anymore, but I'll keep looking.

I read this book several times growing up and it seems to never get old! Anastasis' family is new and organized schedule for easy housekeeping makes Anastasia confident that she can run the household while her mother is out of town, until she hits unexpected complications. But when Mrs. Krupnik goes to California on a ten-day business trip, Anastasia finds that the problem isn't solved at all. It's hard to stick to a schedule that doesn't leave room for her little brother, Sam, who's come down with the chicken pox, and her father's former girlfriend, who's invited herself to dinner. Anastasia now has to come up with a plan to make everything happen before her mom gets back!

The Anastasia series was one of my favorite book series as a kid - partly because the main character's name was Anastasia, and partially because it's just such a cute series. I couldn't believe when I stumbled across one of the Anastasia books at a thrift store, and of course bought it & read it for the first book in my "YA of the 80's & 90's" book challenge.

The book is cute, full of kid-drama, and reminds me of life when I was that age.

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 show more for children to read to learn about responsibility and that parents should be appreciated for all they do because it is hard work. show less

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!