Anastasia Has the Answers by Lois Lowry

From the Publisher

Anastasia continues the perilous process of growing up, as her thirteenth year involves conquering the art of rope climbing, playing Cupid for a recently widowed uncle, and surviving a crush on her gym teacher.

Publishers Weekly

The sixth story about irrepressible Anastasia Krupnik begins with Anastasia deciding she cannot attend the funeral of her Aunt Rose in California. Anastasia, it turns out, is afraid not only of flying, but of dying. So the Krupniks leave Anastasia and her brother with a sitter, and she must face her fears and problems without her parents for several days. Determined to become a journalist, Anastasia believes she should have ``all the answers,'' and is dismayed to discover things do not always go her way. She's humiliated in gym class because she's the only one who can't climb the ropes, and, upon her parent's return, her plan to fix up her newly single Uncle George with her friend Daphne's divorced mother falls flat. But in a hilarious ending that only Anastasia could set in motion, she not only puts things right, but realizes that a lot of people consider her very special. Funny and touching, this new book is every bit as lively and touching as Lowry's first five, and definitely another winner. (812)

"Anastasia has become a beloved character in children's books and once again she doesn't disappoint."

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8 Humiliated by her inability to climb a rope in gym class, 13-year-old Anastasia schemes to overcome the obstacle and impress her beautiful lady gym teacher, on whom she has a crush. Counterpoints to the plot are Anastasia's matchmaking efforts on behalf of a newly widowed uncle and a friend's mother, her struggle to make a smarmy recitation come alive and her attempt to view life as a journalist. In fact, each chapter begins humorously with Anastasia's efforts to make the day's events fit into ``WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY,'' somehow , nonetheless , reading in the style of the National Enquirer . The language in Lowry's stories about Anastasia is always natural, but . . . Answers also benefits from this stylistic variation. The surrounding characters, from baby brother Sam playing funeral on the floor to bereaved ``Clark Gablish'' Uncle George are colorful and quirky and distinct. Anastasia manages, with some help from her mother, to resolve the rope conflict. The story's other elements fall, quite literally, into their own likely and lively places. Not only does Anastasia have the answers, but she's also at the top of her form. Carolyn Noah, Worcester Public Library, Mass.

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