What do you think?
Rate this book
Anastasia Krupnik #6
Anastasia Has the Answers
Humiliated.
That's how Anastasia Krupnik feels whenever she tries to climb the ropes in gym class. How come everyone else can climb up those hateful ropes?
Since Anastasia has decided to become a journalist, it should be easy to answer most questions. Then why can't she understand about Daphne Bellingham's parents' divorce? And why can't she please Ms. Willoughby in gym class?
Finally Anastasia thinks she has the answers! When a team of foreign educators comes to visit her school, she plans a big surprise that will amaze her classmates, Ms. Willoughby, and the visitors. What will she do when her big moment arrives?
That's how Anastasia Krupnik feels whenever she tries to climb the ropes in gym class. How come everyone else can climb up those hateful ropes?
Since Anastasia has decided to become a journalist, it should be easy to answer most questions. Then why can't she understand about Daphne Bellingham's parents' divorce? And why can't she please Ms. Willoughby in gym class?
Finally Anastasia thinks she has the answers! When a team of foreign educators comes to visit her school, she plans a big surprise that will amaze her classmates, Ms. Willoughby, and the visitors. What will she do when her big moment arrives?
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
60 people are currently reading
477 people want to read
About the author
Lois Lowry
168 books22.6k followersTaken from Lowry's website:
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.
Because my father was a career military officer - an Army dentist - I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.
I married young. I had just turned nineteen - just finished my sophomore year in college - when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow. My children grew up in Maine. So did I. I returned to college at the University of Southern Maine, got my degree, went to graduate school, and finally began to write professionally, the thing I had dreamed of doing since those childhood years when I had endlessly scribbled stories and poems in notebooks.
After my marriage ended in 1977, when I was forty, I settled into the life I have lived ever since. Today I am back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living and writing in a house dominated by a very shaggy Tibetan Terrier named Bandit. For a change of scenery Martin and I spend time in Maine, where we have an old (it was built in 1768!) farmhouse on top of a hill. In Maine I garden, feed birds, entertain friends, and read...
My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.
The Giver - and Gathering Blue, and the newest in the trilogy: Messenger - take place against the background of very different cultures and times. Though all three are broader in scope than my earlier books, they nonetheless speak to the same concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.
My older son was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world. But it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find a way to end conflict on this very fragile earth.
I am a grandmother now. For my own grandchildren - and for all those of their generation - I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another."
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.
Because my father was a career military officer - an Army dentist - I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.
I married young. I had just turned nineteen - just finished my sophomore year in college - when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow. My children grew up in Maine. So did I. I returned to college at the University of Southern Maine, got my degree, went to graduate school, and finally began to write professionally, the thing I had dreamed of doing since those childhood years when I had endlessly scribbled stories and poems in notebooks.
After my marriage ended in 1977, when I was forty, I settled into the life I have lived ever since. Today I am back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living and writing in a house dominated by a very shaggy Tibetan Terrier named Bandit. For a change of scenery Martin and I spend time in Maine, where we have an old (it was built in 1768!) farmhouse on top of a hill. In Maine I garden, feed birds, entertain friends, and read...
My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.
The Giver - and Gathering Blue, and the newest in the trilogy: Messenger - take place against the background of very different cultures and times. Though all three are broader in scope than my earlier books, they nonetheless speak to the same concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.
My older son was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world. But it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find a way to end conflict on this very fragile earth.
I am a grandmother now. For my own grandchildren - and for all those of their generation - I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
Read
June 9, 2020Props to Lois Lowry for publishing a story in 1986 that featured her main character 1) having a school-girl crush on a female teacher, 2) that teacher being Black, and 3) those plot points existing as normalcy, without so much as a shrug.
April 4, 2009
"oh world! i cannot hold thee close enough..."
December 23, 2022
Looking back, I think this book was kind of a formative influence on my childhood as I grew up—and I’m glad. Lowry packs more engaging characters and emotional honesty into 123 pages than most adult writers can in much longer books.
Also: Major props for the way Anastasia’s crush on Ms. Willoughby is depicted. This book is in some ways a product of its time, but it’s also impressively prescient.
Some other reviewers have struggled with the way Aunt Rose’s death was handled, and I totally see their point, but that subplot is peripheral enough that the issue has never really gotten in the way of the bigger story for me.
Also: Major props for the way Anastasia’s crush on Ms. Willoughby is depicted. This book is in some ways a product of its time, but it’s also impressively prescient.
Some other reviewers have struggled with the way Aunt Rose’s death was handled, and I totally see their point, but that subplot is peripheral enough that the issue has never really gotten in the way of the bigger story for me.
November 28, 2022
I love Anastasia, and I loved most of this book. Anastasia's crush on her female teacher, her inability to climb the ropes (I relate), and Anastasia has a really good mom. But I HATED how the aunt's death was handled. So dismissively,. and I didn't buy it. Sam playing funeral felt true to character and age- appropriate, and that didn't bother me. What did bother me was that Anastasia, who has shown herself to be awkward, but mature, in the past, would treat death as so unimportant and even make fun of the cause of death. Not buying it. Not my Anastasia.
August 24, 2022
I loved the journalistic addition to this one, with Anastasia attempting to answer the journalist's questions of who, what, when, where, and why of her life's situations. That being said, this was likely my least favorite book thus far in the series. I did not appreciate the way the aunt's death was handled. Far too cavalier for my taste. I found it seriously hard to believe that Uncle George (or anyone else) was mourning a woman who had died suddenly of food poisoning after 30 years of a happy marriage. I was proud of Anastasia's accomplishment at the end of the book!
August 23, 2019
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.
November 16, 2022
Perfect short reads with a realistic family, realistic tween problems, but a quirky spin. I like the illustrated covers better, more appealing to the actual audience I think.
January 26, 2023
This Anastasia volume includes some of my favourite and least favourite parts of the whole series. Aunt Rose's bizarre death (TW OCD, food fears etc) and the flippant way it's handled creeps me out! But Anastasia's crush on her teacher Ms Willoughby is my absolute favourite. There is some totally perfect insight into teenage girldom in this book, for example the scene where Anastasia and Daphne paint their toenails 'Fatal Apple' red:
Anastasia's determination to climb the rope at school, and her journey towards reaching that goal is a simple plot but with a touchingly executed message. Anastasia is inspired to work on her weakness and improve herself less out of shame and more due to the kindness and assurance give by the women in her life. Although the final rope scene is a little ridiculous, I do love how consumed Anastasia gets by her feelings, and how moved she is by words, art and culture. You can't review this book without quoting her favourite line from Millay: 'O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!' Anastasia may not know the most about poetry, like Jacob Berman with his ceaseless memory, but she definitely feels the most.
Anastasia finally stretched one leg out so that she could view her left foot with all five toes done. It looked glamorous. It looked like someone else's foot. It looked like the foot of a model in the bathing suit issue of Sports Illustrated. It looked like a foot that could climb a rope.Those moments as a teen girl, where such a small touch can be transformative and full of possibility, I find so real and moving.
Anastasia's determination to climb the rope at school, and her journey towards reaching that goal is a simple plot but with a touchingly executed message. Anastasia is inspired to work on her weakness and improve herself less out of shame and more due to the kindness and assurance give by the women in her life. Although the final rope scene is a little ridiculous, I do love how consumed Anastasia gets by her feelings, and how moved she is by words, art and culture. You can't review this book without quoting her favourite line from Millay: 'O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!' Anastasia may not know the most about poetry, like Jacob Berman with his ceaseless memory, but she definitely feels the most.
March 31, 2011
Anastasia decidedly does not have the answers. Anastasia's Aunt Rose dies, which is dealt with rather insensitively and cavalierly by both the author and her characters, and Uncle George comes to stay with the Krupniks for a while. Anastasia wastes no time in trying to set him up with eligible females. Another subplot to the story is that most of the females Anastasia knows are man-less, something Anastasia sees as quite the travesty. For such a notably humanist author, this is a rather sexist worldview. The final thread of the story is that Anastasia is incapable of climbing a rope in gym class. This is prominent on the cover of every edition of this book, but largely a non-story. Anastasia can't climb a rope. She practices quite a lot, then learns to climb the rope. Obviously.
Really, as much as I like the Anastasia books, I was not pleased with this one at all.
Really, as much as I like the Anastasia books, I was not pleased with this one at all.
February 28, 2018
Love this book!
H my mother loved these books when she was my age, and recommended them to me. So glad she did! Lois Lowry is a genius! Would really recommend this book for anyone seeking a fun read.
H my mother loved these books when she was my age, and recommended them to me. So glad she did! Lois Lowry is a genius! Would really recommend this book for anyone seeking a fun read.
September 18, 2018
I knew if I couldnt climb to the top of a rope in the gym I would just keep trying like anastasia did in the book. Then I would probably get it after a while. If you just keep trying, and wait long enough, usually everything comes to you. (L, aged 7)
November 29, 2008
Cute but not overly engaging. I like the series, still.
December 26, 2020
Note: This rating comes from my 12 year old self, in a recently discovered school assignment.
January 9, 2021
The grief plotline: Anastasia's poor Uncle George has just experienced a presumably heavy loss. At the beginning of the story, Anastasia's parents are planning to fly out for Aunt Rose's funeral and the discussion is fairly serious. Until the cause of death is discussed, and then deceased Aunt Rose is mercilessly needled because she died from salmonella poisoning; Anastasia is outlandishly insensitive about this point. Sam is also fairly insensitive, but he's what, four? He continually reenacts the funeral, which I felt was a realistic reaction.
The singles romance plotline: Uncle George, devastating loss aside, must now be looking for a lady, and Anastasia has a number of them in mind. Her senior neighbor, Gertrude Stein, is given the right of first refusal. Her friend's recently divorced mother is the next offering, but she's not really in the mood for a set-up. And finally, Anastasia's gym teacher gets the suggestive side-eye, although nothing immediately comes of it. Anastasia herself has a minor interlude after realizing she has a "crush" on her gym teacher. Anastasia and her mother have a conversation about how perfectly normal it is to have a crush on an adult woman, but it is pretty thoroughly dismissed as a idolization kind of moment, and not as though there might be actual romantic potential between two women. Yes, this was published in 1986, but reading it 25 years later there was an awkwardly missed opportunity here.
The rope-climbing plotline: Hands-down, most relatable. I, too, remember gym class in which the chosen activity was one I wasn't terribly good at, sparking all kinds of anxiety. In the end, Anastasia works with her mother and practices, and manages to improve. The foreign educational figures element of this plotline seemed out of place and unrealistic, and just a setup for the missed opportunity to recite poetry and therefore the renewed determination to show off the rope climbing.
Overall, not my favorite Anastasia, but the redeeming parts (Sam's perpetual funerals and Anastasia's rope climbing anxiety) are still worthwhile bits.
The singles romance plotline: Uncle George, devastating loss aside, must now be looking for a lady, and Anastasia has a number of them in mind. Her senior neighbor, Gertrude Stein, is given the right of first refusal. Her friend's recently divorced mother is the next offering, but she's not really in the mood for a set-up. And finally, Anastasia's gym teacher gets the suggestive side-eye, although nothing immediately comes of it. Anastasia herself has a minor interlude after realizing she has a "crush" on her gym teacher. Anastasia and her mother have a conversation about how perfectly normal it is to have a crush on an adult woman, but it is pretty thoroughly dismissed as a idolization kind of moment, and not as though there might be actual romantic potential between two women. Yes, this was published in 1986, but reading it 25 years later there was an awkwardly missed opportunity here.
The rope-climbing plotline: Hands-down, most relatable. I, too, remember gym class in which the chosen activity was one I wasn't terribly good at, sparking all kinds of anxiety. In the end, Anastasia works with her mother and practices, and manages to improve. The foreign educational figures element of this plotline seemed out of place and unrealistic, and just a setup for the missed opportunity to recite poetry and therefore the renewed determination to show off the rope climbing.
Overall, not my favorite Anastasia, but the redeeming parts (Sam's perpetual funerals and Anastasia's rope climbing anxiety) are still worthwhile bits.
July 11, 2023
3.5 per Anastasia ha le risposte
Recensione completa su Scheggia tra le pagine
In questo nuovo capitolo della serie, Anastasia si ritrova ad affrontare diverse situazioni: ha deciso di fare la giornalista, non riesce ad arrampicarsi sulla corda durante l’ora di ginnastica e un lutto in famiglia.
Anastasia è sempre spigliata e pronta a proporre soluzioni anche particolari; non si arrende mai e questo la rende una protagonista decisamente interessante.
In questo libro passa il tempo a scrivere brevi articoli di giornale per raccontare fatti avvenuti intorno a lei, precisa nel rispondere alle cinque domande cardine del mestiere, ma non si limita a questo. È di supporto a una sua amica che sta vivendo un forte cambiamento in famiglia e contemporaneamente si allena per arrampicarsi sulla corda e far vedere alla sua insegnante quanto sia tenace.
Insomma, Anastasia è così, eppure questo non lo reputo il miglior libro della serie.
Intendiamoci, continuo a consigliarvi questa serie, estremamente moderna e curiosa, tuttavia stavolta avrei preferito vedere uno scatto in avanti, qualcosa in più, una maggiore evoluzione o cambiamento. Durante la lettura qualcosa non mi ha convinta.
Recensione completa su Scheggia tra le pagine
In questo nuovo capitolo della serie, Anastasia si ritrova ad affrontare diverse situazioni: ha deciso di fare la giornalista, non riesce ad arrampicarsi sulla corda durante l’ora di ginnastica e un lutto in famiglia.
Anastasia è sempre spigliata e pronta a proporre soluzioni anche particolari; non si arrende mai e questo la rende una protagonista decisamente interessante.
In questo libro passa il tempo a scrivere brevi articoli di giornale per raccontare fatti avvenuti intorno a lei, precisa nel rispondere alle cinque domande cardine del mestiere, ma non si limita a questo. È di supporto a una sua amica che sta vivendo un forte cambiamento in famiglia e contemporaneamente si allena per arrampicarsi sulla corda e far vedere alla sua insegnante quanto sia tenace.
Insomma, Anastasia è così, eppure questo non lo reputo il miglior libro della serie.
Intendiamoci, continuo a consigliarvi questa serie, estremamente moderna e curiosa, tuttavia stavolta avrei preferito vedere uno scatto in avanti, qualcosa in più, una maggiore evoluzione o cambiamento. Durante la lettura qualcosa non mi ha convinta.
July 14, 2024
Questo libro è stato pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1986 quindi è ambientato in contesto completamente diverso da quello di oggi. Non aspettatevi telefonini, computer, internet, chatgpt, crisi climatiche e nessuna delle cose che volenti o nolenti caratterizzano il 2024.
Detto ciò, è un libro scritto con stile, bello, breve, divertente e intelligente. Bello l'accenno a temi che sono contemporanei oggi come l'omosessualità e l'integrazione razziale. Consigliato!
Se devo trovargli un punto debole: non è molto realistico. Né io né nessuna persona che conosco ha mai incontrato insegnanti così gentili e comprensivi nella sua carriera scolastica, anzi... Gli adulti nel complesso sono un po' idealizzati nella loro bontà. Suppongo che a 13 anni sia ancora bello illudersi che sia così 😅
Detto ciò, è un libro scritto con stile, bello, breve, divertente e intelligente. Bello l'accenno a temi che sono contemporanei oggi come l'omosessualità e l'integrazione razziale. Consigliato!
Se devo trovargli un punto debole: non è molto realistico. Né io né nessuna persona che conosco ha mai incontrato insegnanti così gentili e comprensivi nella sua carriera scolastica, anzi... Gli adulti nel complesso sono un po' idealizzati nella loro bontà. Suppongo che a 13 anni sia ancora bello illudersi che sia così 😅
April 2, 2020
I absolutely love how Lois Lowry approaches some really complex experiences, emotionally and psychologically, for pre-teen and teenage girls through Anastasia's stories. My daughter and I have had wonderful discussions of what a "crush" on a teacher might be hinting at as you grow up and are observing people you admire and are influenced by. We love Anastasia's confidence combined with her wild and free imagination! I also love the how Anastasia's relationship has been developing with her parents, especially her mother in this book. Anastasia reminds me of who Ramona Quimby might be as a teenager, so complex and lovable!
August 24, 2021
By far one of my favorites in the series. Having struggled climbing the rope in gym, I related to Anastasia a lot (especially reading the book as a teen), but alas, I have never succeeded in climbing the horrid gym rope.
This book is great. What I especially love (mild spoilers) is that Anastasia does have a crush on her teacher (heck I would too! She sounds awesome!), and Lowry treats this as normal! Anastasia is worried that she's weird, but her mom tells her she's not. That sealed the deal for me.
This book is great. What I especially love (mild spoilers) is that Anastasia does have a crush on her teacher (heck I would too! She sounds awesome!), and Lowry treats this as normal! Anastasia is worried that she's weird, but her mom tells her she's not. That sealed the deal for me.
January 12, 2024
O, world! I cannot like this book enough! Girl, I feel you, I can't climb a rope either, I like how normal Anastasia's crush on her gorgeous gym teacher is, and I feel for Uncle George. I'd be bewildered to be flown across the country and introduced to potential love interests a week after good ol' Sal Monella got my spouse. I'm so glad to be re-reading the Anastasia series.
May 3, 2021
I enjoyed reading this as a kid. It reassured me that my feelings towards women were normal.
I bought it recently so I could read it as an adult... it's pretty terrible. But I definitely would recommend it for kids (I was between 7 and 10 when I read it).
I bought it recently so I could read it as an adult... it's pretty terrible. But I definitely would recommend it for kids (I was between 7 and 10 when I read it).
October 27, 2017
Fun lil story about doing your best though the kids didn’t love it they were entertained enough.
January 29, 2018
I honestly love all of the Anastasia books. They are funny, and relatable, and real and great.
July 23, 2020
Ye not the best Anastasia book for sure, yet still enjoyable!
May 4, 2021
These books are even funnier in French :)
terrific translations!
terrific translations!
November 21, 2021
I'm here for the rope climbing and also for Sam playing funeral.
October 9, 2024
My least favourite of the Anastasia series.
November 4, 2024
Li para praticar o italiano
April 26, 2025
Charming
February 20, 2017
Another delightful story featuring Anastasia Krupnik. The neat thing about this book was her attempts at writing an article that answered the journalists questions of Who-What-When-Where-Why, which she did at the end of every chapter. Category: realistic, juvie fiction.
December 27, 2016
This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.
In the sixth novel of the series Anastasia Krupnik is asking the important questions: who, what , where, when, why, and how. The answers ought to be simple enough, but things are complicated for Anastasia by her adoration for her gym teacher, her inability to climb ropes like the rest of her classmates and her little brother Sam’s fascination with reenacting the funeral of their recently deceased aunt.
I feel like I repeat myself a lot in my posts about this series, but each addition is truly every bit as enjoyable as the last. The dialogue is spot-on, the characters are memorable and believable, and Anastasia’s positive attitude and sense of humor in the face of adolescent embarrassment are both entertaining and comforting. I was struck this time by how much I enjoyed Sam’s strangeness, and I found myself laughing out loud each time he found a new way of reenacting his aunt’s funeral procession and burial. This might seem morbid, but it rings perfectly true for Sam’s age and personality, and for the overall tone of the series.
As a person who hated gym class as a teenager, I would have related strongly to this book had I read it in seventh or eighth grade. I also loved the fact that Anastasia’s gym teacher wears a sweatshirt bearing the name of my alma mater, Vassar College. The overall sensibility of the story is still very dated, but Anastasia’s awkward adolescent experiences are universal, and with the right book talk, I think certain kids could still be sold on the series. It would really help, though, if the books could get some decent new covers.
In the sixth novel of the series Anastasia Krupnik is asking the important questions: who, what , where, when, why, and how. The answers ought to be simple enough, but things are complicated for Anastasia by her adoration for her gym teacher, her inability to climb ropes like the rest of her classmates and her little brother Sam’s fascination with reenacting the funeral of their recently deceased aunt.
I feel like I repeat myself a lot in my posts about this series, but each addition is truly every bit as enjoyable as the last. The dialogue is spot-on, the characters are memorable and believable, and Anastasia’s positive attitude and sense of humor in the face of adolescent embarrassment are both entertaining and comforting. I was struck this time by how much I enjoyed Sam’s strangeness, and I found myself laughing out loud each time he found a new way of reenacting his aunt’s funeral procession and burial. This might seem morbid, but it rings perfectly true for Sam’s age and personality, and for the overall tone of the series.
As a person who hated gym class as a teenager, I would have related strongly to this book had I read it in seventh or eighth grade. I also loved the fact that Anastasia’s gym teacher wears a sweatshirt bearing the name of my alma mater, Vassar College. The overall sensibility of the story is still very dated, but Anastasia’s awkward adolescent experiences are universal, and with the right book talk, I think certain kids could still be sold on the series. It would really help, though, if the books could get some decent new covers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews