Anastasia books

[SylviasMotherSaid]

Does anyone else remember these from the early 90s I think . I am sure her name was Anastasia Krupnik and that she wore glasses and liked writing lists of things she liked and disliked . They were probably published around same time as the Babysitters Club .

Lois Lowry

That’s it it’s strange I haven’t read them since I was around 10 and they popped into my head while lying in bed reading

They are by Lois Lowry. I never liked them because the publisher had 'translated' them into English English rather than leaving them in American English - Mum instead of Mom etc. I remember them translating '6th Grade' (or whatever Grade it was) to '6th Class' - a phrase never used in the UK. It used to really annoy me. I knew the books were set in America. It made them sound fake. The Babysitters Club books were also translated in this way. I had one actual American edition and as well as the covers being better than the UK ones I much prefered it was written in 'American'.
But that's me being weird .
I had quite a few of Lois Lowry's stand alone novels which I preferred. There was one set during the second world war which possibly might have been semi autobiographical? I also remember having a trilogy about a brother and sister and I can't remember what they were called.

I remember these! There was a great one where her parents left her alone for a few days and the house was in chaos. Thanks for the reminder OP I might have to hunt them down!

I LOVED the Anastasia books, which I think were published first in the 70s or 80s and continued into the 90s. I think Lowry wrote some books featuring Sam, Anastasia’s little brother, but I was a bit old for them when they were published. I also really enjoyed Lowry’s other books, particularly the Caroline books.

Caroline books !! I think that was the trilogy I just mentioned.
Look at this terrible cover though....

Just looked it up and she is 13 in the book where she is left alone for several days!! Wouldn’t happen now

Lego, the Caroline books might be ones you’re thinking of? Caroline and her brother (JP?) live in Manhattan with their divorced mother. I loved Caroline’s volunteer work at the American Museum of Natural Historu in the Paleontology Department.

The more serious books are Number The Stars and The Giver Quartet, both of which won the Newberry Medal, the highest children’s literature award in the US.

I think the autobiographical one might be A Summer to Die, in which the protagonist’s elder sister becomes ill and dies from leukaemia.

Proud well lets not go into the ridiculousness of a bunch of 11-13 year olds being left to babysit in the Babysitters Club! Sometimes they looked after actual babies - sometimes kids who were like only a year younger. Re reading them as an adult I realised they were essentially a bunch of latch key kids and it was a "you're the eldest so you're in charge" deal going on.

Good gravy! My Caroline books did not have such hideous covers.

Nor did my Anastasias.

Vanderley the autobiographical one I was thinking of is called The Woods at the End of Autumn Street but actually thinking about it now I think Summer To Die might have been based on real life not Autumn Street.
I read The Giver when I was a teen. It totally went over my head. Re read it as an adult and I was WTF .

I think that cover is the early 90s ones. 90s books had some awful covers. They really did.

Legoisthebest fair point although I was definitely babysitting my 7 year old neice during school holidays at aged 13- I got paid £10 for the day! I was minted …

Lego, Wiki informs me we are both correct: Woods is based on Lowry’s experiences when her father was deployed during WWII, and Summer is based on Lowry’s experiences of her own sister’s death at a young age.

I’ve never read Woods and am definitely going to find it at the library. And, I agree about The Giver!

I loved these books! I used to keep a “green notebook” like Anastasia’s

Vanderlyle I was about to go Google about the books so you have just saved me a job

Glad my Lowry fangirling has Ben helpful, Lego! 😄

I loved these too.

Also Nancy Drew.

I remember she wanted to call her little brother One Ball O'Reilly or something, but then settled on Sam after maybe her grandfather? And didn't she have a crush on a boy called Washburn Cummings?

Washburn Cummings! Wasn’t he always dribbling an imaginary basketball and swivelling his hips?

I think you’re right about Sam’s name. Didn’t Anastasia’s grandmother die right before Sam’s birth, so Anastasia at the last minute decided to name him Sam to honour her grandmother, who loved her husband dearly, even through her dementia?

Ah I loved these! Washburn Cummings

Oh, I read these! I definitely had the one with that cover, although I can't remember seeing it for years, so I probably borrowed it from the library.

Ah yes I had those ones with the hideous 90s covers . I think I tried my hand at having a notebook like hers as well .

Yes!! And she told her dad who disapproved and said she should never get involved with someone who had two surnames!! I seem to recall she also 'refused' to move house unless she could have a room in a tower so her parents found one!! I remember being very jealous of her and her parents that were much cooler and more 'understanding' than mine!