Anastasia Absolutely
Grade 4-7?Another Anastasia adventure, this time adding a new dog and a Values class for the modern 13-year-old's coping skills. During an early morning walk with Sleuth, Anastasia inadvertently deposits a bag of dog poop into the corner mailbox instead of her mother's envelope of illustrations intended for her publisher. When she later tries to correct her mistake, she discovers the mailbox has been removed. Anastasia assumes she is to blame and that she has become a federal felon. Finally gathering the courage to call the post office to admit her mistake, she learns that she not only has the information that leads to the arrest of a mail bomber, but also that the poop parcel had actually prevented the explosion of a bomb planted right before her "deposit." This effort falls short of the guffaws found in Lowry's earlier titles. The plot is pretty far-fetched and the dog-doo dilemma packs only so much humor. The Values class assignments tagged to the end of each chapter?scenarios drawn from modern life?are also a letdown. The "wishy-washy" responses from Anastasia and her family reveal neither humor nor depth of thought and are out of character from the Krupniks we have come to know. While children have come to expect more from this very talented author, the book is packed with believable dialogue and references to current groups and situations.?Claudia Cooper, Ft. Stockton Independent School District, TXCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.