Synopses & Reviews
Life, Alice McKinley feels, is just one big embarrassment. Here she is, about to be a teenager and she doesn't know how. It's worse for her than for anyone else, she believes, because she has no role model. Her mother has been dead for years. Help and advice can only come from her father, manager of a music store, and her nineteen-year-old brother, who is a slob. What do they know about being a teen age girl? andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;What she needs, Alice decides, is a gorgeous woman who does everything right, as a roadmap, so to speak. If only she finds herself, when school begins, in the classroom of the beautiful sixth-grade teacher, Miss Cole, her troubles will be over. Unfortunately, she draws the homely, pear-shaped Mrs. Plotkin. One of Mrs. Plotkin's first assignments is for each member of the class to keep a journal of their thoughts and feelings. Alice calls hers "The Agony of Alice," and in it she records all the embarrassing things that happen to her. andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Through the school year, Alice has lots to record. She also comes to know the lovely Miss Cole, as well as Mrs. Plotkin. And she meets an aunt and a female cousin whom she has not really known before. Out of all this, to her amazement, comes a role model -- one that she would never have accepted before she made a few very important discoveries on her own, things no roadmap could have shown her. Alice moves on, ready to be a wise teenager.
Review
"A wonderfully funny and touching story." - Booklist, starred review "Both hilarious and poignant...The lively style [captures] the essence of an endearing heroine." - School Library Journal, starred review "Breezy dialouge and a solid story line...readable, funny, and appealing." - Boston Globe
Review
"Anastasia Krupnik is one of the most intriguing female protagonists to appear in children's books since the advent of Harriet the Spy . . . Genuinely funny, the story is a marvelously human portrait of an articulate adolescent." Horn Book
"Anastasia Krupnik is one of the most intriguing female protagonists to appear in children's books since the advent of Harriet the Spy . . . Genuinely funny, the story is a marvelously human portrait of an articulate adolescent." Horn Book Guide
Review
"The well-turned phrase amuses, and the unexpected turn of events surprises in a plot that is tightly strung." Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
Review
"Humorous situations and dialogue to match seem to roll effortlessly from Lowry's pen, and her characters are consistently real and believable."and#8212;Booklist
Review
"As always with the Anastasia stories, pacing and character are excellent, and humor varies from laugh-out-loud farce to wry insights into a loving family." Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Twelve-year-old Anastasia is horrified at her family's decision to move from their city apartment to a house in the suburbs.
Synopsis
In the second book in the Anstasia series, moves to the suburbs! Anastasia is positive her family's move is the going to ruin her young life. How can she deal with matching furniture, split-level homes, or mothers whose biggest worry is dirty laundry? But her new home offers many surprises, not to mention a cute boy right down the street. Maybe the surburbs won't be so bad afterall.
Synopsis
Anastasia's tenth year has some good things, like falling in love and really getting to know her grandmother, and some bad things, like finding out about an impending baby brother.
Synopsis
Welcome to Anastasia's world in the first book of the Anastasia series! To Anastasia, being ten is very confusing. She has an awful teacher who doesnt like her non-rhyming poetry. Washburn Cummings, a very interesting boy, doesn't even know she's alive. And her parents insist that she visit her grandmother, who cant even remember Anastasia's name. On top of that, they're going to have a baby—at their age! To get back at them, she just might have to do something terrible.
Synopsis
Anastasia's seventh-grade science project becomes almost more than she can handle, but brother Sam, age three, and a bust of Freud nobly aid her.
Synopsis
Anastasia's got a problem:and#160;Her parents have become too embarrassing to be around. At first she blames them--they are the source of embarrassment, after all. But then she decides it's herself, her thirtee-year-old, hormone-ridden self. She has clearly become a seriously disturbed person, and she needs help, psychiatric help. But nobody else seems to think her condition is that serious, especially not her parents who don't think she needs to see a doctor. They think what she's going through is perfectly normal. Undeterred, the resourceful Anastasia takes matters into her own hands, as she secretly undertakes a course of therapy with th emost famous analyst of them all.
Synopsis
Her family's new, 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.
Synopsis
Anybody can run a household. All you need is a schedule. At least, that's what Anastasia thinks. So she and her dad decide to organize Anastasia's frazzled mother and help her run the household smoothly. But when Mom has to go away for a consulting job, Anastasia gets to test out her theory. The household quickly begins to crumble as Anastasia has to face Sam's chicken pox, an unexpected visit from her father's old girlfriend, and her first date ever. How is she supposed to take care of Sam and make a romantic gourmet meal? Anastasia has new-found respect for her mom and the important job she does.
About the Author
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor includes many of her own growing-up experiences in the Alice books. She writes for both children and adults and is the author of more than one hundred and thirty-five books, including the Alice series, which Entertainment Weekly has called "tender" and "wonderful." In 1992 her novel Shiloh won the Newbery Medal. She lives with her husband, Rex, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Visit Phyllis online at alicemckinley.wordpress.com