Anastasia Krupnik

Ten years old, fiercely outspoken, and armed with a secret notebook, Anastasia Krupnik is not ready for her family to expand.

Anastasia's tenth year has some good things, like falling in love and really getting to know her grandmother, and some bad things, like finding out about an impending baby brother.

Her private green notebook records several proud discoveries, like finding a pleasing pink wart on her thumb, and quite a few grievances, like an F on a tidepool poem from her fourth-grade teacher.

Life with her poet father and painter mother brings unexpected pleasures, such as verses read by candlelight, and sudden crises, such as a plan to move out with a stale Hostess Twinkie. Having the sole right to name the newcomer might just convince her to stay.

• Sibling Dynamics: From banishing the expected arrival to a converted pantry to secretly reserving the terrible name One-Ball Reilly, Anastasia prepares for sisterhood on her own terms.
• School Drama: Facing strict expectations from Mrs. Westvessel is tough enough, but feeling left out of a trendy fourth-grade club for girls with names ending in i makes school even trickier.
• Multigenerational Bonds: Visits to her ninety-two-year-old grandmother in the nursing home feel daunting, until shared memories of grandfather Sam show Anastasia how love endures through the inward eye.
• Coming of Age: Whether scheming to become Catholic just to adopt the middle name Perpetua or braiding fourteen soggy pigtails to catch the eye of cool sixth-grader Washburn Cummings, she tackles every dilemma head-on.
• Also by This Author: Number the Stars, The Willoughbys and Gooney Bird Greene.