Anastasia's seventh-grade science project becomes almost more than she can handle, but her brother Sam, age three, and a bust of Freud, aid her nobly.
Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Humorous situations and dialogue to match seem to roll effortlessly from Lowry's pen, and her characters are consistently real and believable." Booklist, ALA
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
From the Publisher
No one understands thirteen-year-old Anastasia Krupnic, least of all her parents and her little brother, Sam, who happens to be a genius. They're such an embarrassment. Why can't they be normal, like Anastasia?
Then-presto! Anastasia realizes that she has the problem--not her relatives--and she must find help immediately. There's not a moment to lose.
Though her parents insist she's normal and won't send her to an analyst, that doesn't stop Anastasia.
What will happen if they find out that Anastasia is secretly telling her troubles to the most famous analyst in the world? --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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More About the Author
Lois Lowry is known for her versatility and invention as a writer. She was born in Hawaii and grew up in New York, Pennsylvania, and Japan. After several years at Brown University, she turned to her family and to writing. She is the author of more than thirty books for young adults, including the popular Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader.s Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, NUMBER THE STARS and THE GIVER. Her first novel, A SUMMER TO DIE, was awarded the International Reading Association.s Children.s Book Award. Ms. Lowry now divides her time between Cambridge and an 1840s farmhouse in Maine. To learn more about Lois Lowry, see her website at www.loislowry.com
author interview
A CONVERSATION WITH LOIS LOWRY ABOUT THE GIVER
Q. When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
A. I cannot remember ever not wanting to be a writer.
Q. What inspired you to write The Giver?
A. Kids always ask what inspired me to write a particular book or how did I get an idea for a particular book, and often it's very easy to answer that because books like the Anastasia books come from a specific thing; some little event triggers an idea. But a book like The Giver is a much more complicated book, and therefore it comes from much more complicated places--and many of them are probably things that I don't even recognize myself anymore, if I ever did. So it's not an easy question to answer.
I will say that the whole concept of memory is one that interests me a great deal. I'm not sure why that is, but I've always been fascinated by the thought of what memory is and what it does and how it works and what we learn from it. And so I think probably that interest of my own and that particular subject was the origin, one of many, of The Giver.
Q. How did you decide what Jonas should take on his journey?
A. Why does Jonas take what he does on his journey? He doesn't have much time when he sets out. He originally plans to make the trip farther along in time, and he plans to prepare for it better. But then, because of circumstances, he has to set out in a very hasty fashion. So what he chooses is out of necessity. He takes food because he needs to survive. He takes the bicycle because he needs to hurry and the bike is faster than legs. And he takes the baby because he is going out to create a future. And babies always represent the future in the same way children represent the future to adults. And so Jonas takes the baby so the baby's life will be saved, but he takes the baby also in order to begin again with a new life.
Q. When you wrote the ending, were you afraid some readers would want more details or did you want to leave the ending open to individual interpretation?
A. Many kids want a more specific ending to The Giver. Some write, or ask me when they see me, to spell it out exactly. And I don't do that. And the reason is because The Giver is many things to many different people. People bring to it their own complicated beliefs and hopes and dreams and fears and all of that. So I don't want to put my own feelings into it, my own beliefs, and ruin that for people who create their own endings in their minds.
Q. Is it an optimistic ending? Does Jonas survive?
A. I will say that I find it an optimistic ending. How could it not be an optimistic ending, a happy ending, when that house is there with its lights on and music is playing? So I'm always kind of surprised and disappointed when some people tell me that they think the boy and the baby just die. I don't think they die. What form their new life takes is something I like people to figure out for themselves. And each person will give it a different ending. I think they're out there somewhere and I think that their life has changed and their life is happy, and I would like to think that's true for the people they left behind as well.
Q. In what way is your book Gathering Blue a companion to The Giver?
A. Gathering Blue postulates a world of the future, as The Giver does. I simply created a different kind of world, one that had regressed instead of leaping forward technologically as the world of The Giver has. It was fascinating to explore the savagery of such a world. I began to feel that maybe it coexisted with Jonas's world . . . and that therefore Jonas could be a part of it in a tangential way. So there is a reference to a boy with light eyes at the end of Gathering Blue. He can be Jonas or not, as you wish.
author interview
A CONVERSATION WITH LOIS LOWRY ABOUT THE GIVER
Q. When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
A. I cannot remember ever not wanting to be a writer.
Q. What inspired you to write The Giver?
A. Kids always ask what inspired me to write a particular book or how did I get an idea for a particular book, and often it's very easy to answer that because books like the Anastasia books come from a specific thing; some little event triggers an idea. But a book like The Giver is a much more complicated book, and therefore it comes from much more complicated places--and many of them are probably things that I don't even recognize myself anymore, if I ever did. So it's not an easy question to answer.
I will say that the whole concept of memory is one that interests me a great deal. I'm not sure why that is, but I've always been fascinated by the thought of what memory is and what it does and how it works and what we learn from it. And so I think probably that interest of my own and that particular subject was the origin, one of many, of The Giver.
Q. How did you decide what Jonas should take on his journey?
A. Why does Jonas take what he does on his journey? He doesn't have much time when he sets out. He originally plans to make the trip farther along in time, and he plans to prepare for it better. But then, because of circumstances, he has to set out in a very hasty fashion. So what he chooses is out of necessity. He takes food because he needs to survive. He takes the bicycle because he needs to hurry and the bike is faster than legs. And he takes the baby because he is going out to create a future. And babies always represent the future in the same way children represent the future to adults. And so Jonas takes the baby so the baby's life will be saved, but he takes the baby also in order to begin again with a new life.
Q. When you wrote the ending, were you afraid some readers would want more details or did you want to leave the ending open to individual interpretation?
A. Many kids want a more specific ending to The Giver. Some write, or ask me when they see me, to spell it out exactly. And I don't do that. And the reason is because The Giver is many things to many different people. People bring to it their own complicated beliefs and hopes and dreams and fears and all of that. So I don't want to put my own feelings into it, my own beliefs, and ruin that for people who create their own endings in their minds.
Q. Is it an optimistic ending? Does Jonas survive?
A. I will say that I find it an optimistic ending. How could it not be an optimistic ending, a happy ending, when that house is there with its lights on and music is playing? So I'm always kind of surprised and disappointed when some people tell me that they think the boy and the baby just die. I don't think they die. What form their new life takes is something I like people to figure out for themselves. And each person will give it a different ending. I think they're out there somewhere and I think that their life has changed and their life is happy, and I would like to think that's true for the people they left behind as well.
Q. In what way is your book Gathering Blue a companion to The Giver?
A. Gathering Blue postulates a world of the future, as The Giver does. I simply created a different kind of world, one that had regressed instead of leaping forward technologically as the world of The Giver has. It was fascinating to explore the savagery of such a world. I began to feel that maybe it coexisted with Jonas's world . . . and that therefore Jonas could be a part of it in a tangential way. So there is a reference to a boy with light eyes at the end of Gathering Blue. He can be Jonas or not, as you wish.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Have you read Lois Lowry's books before? You haven't?!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Anastasia, Ask your Analyst (Paperback)
Okay. This book is a part of a serie of books about a teenager, Anastasia Krupnik. In this book, Anastasia has a problem. She thinks her mother's abnormal, her brother's too smart and that her father never takes her seriously. Anastasia just can't understand it. Why does her family suddenly make her angry all the time? So, she decides she is "unstable" and needs to see a shrink. Unfortunately, her parents think the idea is just stupid and refuse to even discuss about it. NOW Anastasia really has a problem...Personally I thought this book was great. I higly recommend the serie to everybody (especially girls)from 11 to 15 years. READING IS FUN; KEEP IT UP :)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not the best Anastasia book, but still a fun read...,
By
This review is from: Anastasia, Ask your Analyst (Paperback)
Now 13, Anastasia Krupnik feels that her life has suddenly gotten weird. Nothing's really changed -- her parents and three-year-old brother Sam are just as they used to be -- but somehow, Anastasia's filled with embarrassment just thinking about them.Determined to get to the bottom of things, Anastasia insists on getting a therapist ASAP. When her parents refuse, Anastasia takes matters into her own hands -- quite literally, when she's at a garage sale and a plaster bust of Sigmund Freud falls on her. Anastasia takes him home, thrilled to have not only a therapist, but the world's most famous. To top things off, Anastasia' friend has given her two gerbils, which she decides to use for her science project. Before long, Anastasia's got ELEVEN gerbils -- which she's got to hide from her mother, who was squeamish enough about the idea of two... While this book is funny and smart, like all the Anastasia books, it's not the best in the series. Lowry always writes the character and her family well, but the plots in the book seem largely recycled from countless other books for readers in the same age bracket.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Anastasia...funny girl that one,
By Linda "Linda" (Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst (School & Library Binding)
Anastasia is sure she is going insane so she buys a big statue of Freuds head and talks to it every day.This is a fantastic series,highly recommende buy moi!!(Now,what they decided to do with the gerbils at the end...was that really revenge on Nicky,or was it cruel to the gerbils!!)
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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eleven gerbils, gerbil babies, gerbil book, little gerbils, gerbil cage, serious emotional difficulties Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Science Project, Nicky Coletti, Sonya Isaacson, Snow White, Shirley Coletti, Queen Elizabeth, Day Three, Katherine Krupnik, Sherman's Class On October, Quaker Oats, Frank Goldfish, Meredith Halberg, American Book Award, Wuthering Heights, Day Five, Joanne Woodward, Day Twenty-five Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
eleven gerbils, gerbil babies, gerbil book, little gerbils, gerbil cage, serious emotional difficulties Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Science Project, Nicky Coletti, Sonya Isaacson, Snow White, Shirley Coletti, Queen Elizabeth, Day Three, Katherine Krupnik, Sherman's Class On October, Quaker Oats, Frank Goldfish, Meredith Halberg, American Book Award, Wuthering Heights, Day Five, Joanne Woodward, Day Twenty-five Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
29
books
cite this book:
See all 29 books citing this book
- All About Sam (Sam Krupnik) by Lois Lowry in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Anastasia Has the Answers by Lois Lowry in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
- Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye (Laurel-leaf books) by Lois Lowry in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Taking Care of Terrific by Lois Lowry in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Directing the Writing Workshop: An Elementary Teacher's Handbook by Lynn Beverly in Back Matter
See all 29 books citing this book
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