Anastasia Krupnik

Lois Lowry’s Anastasia series was inspired by her desire to write something fun and uplifting while publishing other books with a darker tone. Anastasia Krupnik launched an episodic series in which the protagonist deals with everyday ups and downs, thus giving young readers a role model for understanding life’s many challenges. This pattern of confronting the positive and negative sides of events continues in Book 2, Anastasia Again! (1981), in which Anastasia learns that moving involves the sorrow of saying goodbye but also the joy of meeting new friends. In the third installment, Anastasia at Your Service (1982), Anastasia takes a job as a “lady’s companion” to a wealthy elderly woman in her neighborhood to keep her busy over the summer while her friends are away at camp. She realizes her employer expects her to be a maid, which is not what Anastasia intended. Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst (1984) shows Anastasia as a seventh-grader struggling with both internal and external conflicts. In this installment, she relies on a bust of German psychologist Sigmond Freud for advice, only to learn that she truly is relying on herself through the most difficult times.