Anastasia Krupnik -- Lois Lowry

I was feeling rotten Wednesday, so I went home sick.  Couldn't sleep.  Was feeling headachy, so couldn't sew or watch a movie.  Was cranky, didn't want to read anything new.

So I started re-reading the Anastasia books.  And let me tell you, there are few things that have perked me up faster:

Wednesday was the day that the members of the class were to read their own poems, aloud.

Robert Giannini stood in front of the class and read:

I have a dog whose name is Spot.
He likes to eat and drink a lot.
When I put water in his dish,
He laps it up just like a fish.

Anastasia hated Robert Giannini's poem.  Also, she thought it was a lie.  Robert Giannini's dog was named Sputnik; everyone in the neighborhood knew that; and Sputnik had bitten two kids during the summer and if he bit one more person the police said the Gianninis would have to get rid of him.

But Mrs. Westvessel cried, "Wonderful!"  She gave Robert Giannini an A and hung his poem on the wall.  Anastasia imagined that Longfellow was eyeing it with distaste.

I love how Anastasia always thinks of Robert Giannini as Robert Giannini.  She always uses his first and last names, even in the later books.

I love Anastasia. I always have.  I grew up on these books, and she was one of the few literary heroines who I really, truly identified with -- it wasn't that I wanted to be her, it was that I WAS her.

As a grown-up, it's rare for realistic fiction about precocious child characters to really work for me -- the kids usually fall into the Wise Beyond Their Years category or into the Mondo Precious (In Other Words, Yackworthy) category or into the Supposedly a Child But Actually Just A Mouthpiece for the Author category.  Now, though, re-reading Anastasia Krupnik, I'm finding that Lois Lowry really hit it -- she created a whip-smart, creative, funny, grumbly ten-year-old who is so real to me even now that it's hard for me to accept that she's a fictional character.  AND, not only are the books fabulous because of all that, but also because they're never condescending or trite or simplistic -- they are so clearly written for kids like Anastasia. And for parents of kids like Anastasia. And for adults who were kids like Anastasia.

And her parents. I love her parents, their relationship with each other and with Anastasia.  I love the realism of their conversations, that they often veer off into territory that goes over Anastasia's head, that would go over the heads of the intended audience of the book, because that's what happens in real life. Brilliant. The bit in Chapter Seven where Anastasia goes to the college poetry class her father teaches is an excellent (and hilarious) example.

I know I've said some of this before.  Sorry. I'm beginning to realize that I'm an Anastasia Krupnik fangirl.

In this installment, Anastasia toys with becoming a Catholic (because she'd like to get a new name, and because there are fourteen other Catholics in the fourth grade, and so if they start a club, she'd automatically be included), constantly revises her THINGS I LOVE and THINGS I HATE lists, falls in love with Washburn Cummings, develops more of a relationship with her 92-year-old grandmother and, the biggie, learns that she's about to lose her only child status:

"How long does it take to make a whole book of poems?"

"Well, let's see.  That last book of mine took me about nine months."

Anastasia groaned. "That's a long time.  You could get a baby in nine months, for pete's sake."

Her parents both laughed.  Then they looked at each other and laughed harder. Suddenly Anastasia had a very strange feeling that she knew why they were laughing.  She had a very strange feeling that her list of THINGS I HATE was going to be getting even longer.

Yet another thing I love about Anastasia:  Her regular use of the phrase "for pete's sake". I can imagine her hearing an adult saying it, liking the sound of it, and working it into her vocabulary.  I use it a lot. It never occurred to me that it's probably due to these books.

Oh, and I love Washburn Cummings:

On the day that he came to school wearing a tee shirt with an obscene saying printing across the front, and was sent home by the principal to change, Washburn Cummings made a quick trip around the J. Henry Bosler Elementary School, appearing briefly at the door of each classroom and opening his jacket to flash the tee shirt at each class. By the time the principal heard he was doing it, Washburn Cummings had flashed every classroom down through the second grade and was already headed down the front steps, bouncing an imaginary basketball and wiggling his hips.

Why did they change the cover art?  Okay, I know WHY they did it -- they did it to make the books more attractive to a new generation. Whatever.  I'm going to complain about it anyway. The old artwork was so perfect -- there she is, sitting at her desk wearing her Amelia Earhart shirt.  There's Frank the goldfish and her watercolors and her orangutan poster. Her notebook is even green, for pete's sake, and it's got lists in it. It's FREAKING PERFECT.  If the middle of her left thumb was visible, we'd probably be able to see her wart. And what do they replace her with?  Smirky Way-Older-Than-Ten Generic Glasses Girl Wearing A DENIM SHIRT??  LAME.

Comments

[Little Willow]

This will probably come as no surprise, but I adore the Anastasia books.

[Levi]

The Anastasia books were some of my very favorites, too. They really stuck in my memory. I regularly think of Washburn Cummings flashing all the classrooms--it was funny and true when I was a kid, and it's funny and true now. And her neighbor, Lloyd, who insisted on being called "Yoid" because that's how the double-l should be pronounced?

I hope my two nieces end up big enough nerds to enjoy the Anastasia books, because they're definitely going to get a batch when they're old enough.

[Nicola]

Anastasia Krupnik fangirls unite! Personally, I reserve my softest AK soft spot for Anastasia's Chosen Career, though I admit this is almost entirely due to the sequence involving chest hair and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

Seriously, this made my day.

P.S. And yes, the new covers sucksucksuck. If memory serves (questionable always), that's the edition where the hominid in charge of jacket copy didn't even read the book. Lame indeed.

[Lady S]

I really hate when they "modernize" book covers, especially when they use photos or stills from the movie.

A few years ago I discovered the Sam Krupnik books. I have made them very popular with the second and third graders at my school. I hope they will discover Anastasia soon.

[Sarah Miller]

Count me in as an Anastasia fangirl! I went through the whole shelf at the library. The first book was published the year I was born, so I like to pretend Anastasia and I are the same age. ;)

These were my favorites too. I remember how over-the-moon I was when the second one was published. It was like getting to see a good friend again. I still catch myself thinking of her as a real person. The new covers are ridiculous.

[Barbara O'Connor]

I, too, love Anastasia Krupnik. When I first starting writing for children many years ago, those books were my "text books". I studied everything about them - from the page count to the chapter openings, etc. Then, when I attended my first SCBWI conference (the national one in L.A.), I submitted my manuscript for critique. Imagine my excitement when I found out that my manuscript had been assigned to none other than LOIS LOWRY! I was in heaven - and have never forgotten it.

[web]

When I was in college I won an essay contest writing about children's books, and they wanted some visuals to put in a display case. I chose a copy of AK, (the original cover, of course) because I thought the cover looked just like me as a kid, albeit skinnier.

But I only love the first one. I always think that Anastasia got dumbed down as the series went on.

[Colleen]

You know I didn't find Anastasia until I was in my 20s - no idea how I missed her when I was younger as I was so into all the books for that (Harriet, EL Konigsberg, L'Engle, etc.) but I was thrilled to read them all. I have a soft spot in my heart for Anastasia; she is just so honest and true.

And the new covers suck beyond measure!

[Kasa]

Denim shirts are NEVER acceptable. Especially when you are supposedly trying to make the covers "hip." Everything about that cover just screams me in the 7th grade. And I was far, FAR from "hip."

[Lauren]

She wears a denim shirt because she works at Hollywood Video. Duh.

[bookbk]

"Anastasia Again" made me laugh so hard when I read it that I could barely breathe. I remember just lying there on the bed where I was reading, gasping and saying "Yoyd! Yoyd!" and laughing some more.

Like web, I'm not as crazy about the later ones. Especially the one where Anastasia's all worried because she has a crush on her female gym teacher and her mom is all, "Don't worry, lots of people have crushes and turn out normal." I was like, um, hello? Large number of girls reading this who are not going to turn out "normal"? Not that everything has to toe the party line all the time, but it wouldn't have hurt her to have mom add something along the lines of, "...or not, and they can still be happy."

/soapbox. Whew.

[Jessica]

I read Anastasia so avidly and continuously as a child that now, as a sort-of adult, I think back to something that happened to Anastasia and it almost feels like my own memory. For instance, every single time I had to analyze poetry for my English major, I would think about Anastasia's dad teaching her how to break apart "I wander lonely as a cloud," and it kind of seems like someone was teaching me...

very strange! I think these books need more play. I'm going straight to work and making sure at least one gets display status :-)

[Laurie]

I love Anastasia. One of my favorite lines from the first book is when she tells her parents she is becoming Catholic, and her father replies, "That is both interesting and preposterous."

(I like her parents almost as much as Anastasia, very unusually for any children's book.)

I am permanently, mildly annoyed that Lois Lowry is best known to everyone else for writing The Giver.

Anastasia's Chosen Career is probably my favorite, too, and made me want to visit Boston. As for the new covers--I see that she's wearing glasses, and count my blessings.

[jessmonster]

Anastasia is so imprinted on my brain. I reread the first one a couple years ago and, while I was pleasantly surprised to love it just as much as an adult, it was all so familiar, every little detail, that it wasn't really rereading. The name Mrs. Westvessel cracks me up. Also Washburn Cummings and those HIPS!

[GoldenInkweaver]

Definitly love the old artwok, and i can be included in the "new generation" category... I read one and NEVER forgot it...

[Laura]

Found this post from your "one star" post today (so forgive me for posting on such an old post).

Just wanted to add two things:

1 - My library makes READ posters for their employees and I'm so totally holding "Anastasia Krupnik" in mine.

2 - When I was 10, Lois Lowry came to my local bookstore and she and I recreated the conversation (from memory!) between Anastasia and her mother at the beginning of "Anastasia Again." The one that ends with "...there's no point in living if you have to live in the suburbs." I said Anastasia's lines and the wonderful amazing Ms. Lowry said Katherine's. It is/was/remains/will always be, one of the best memories of my life.