If you haven't read an Anastasia book you are truly missing out. This is pre-Judy Blume, pre-Alice McKinley. What great female characters are made of. She has spunk, a good heart, she loves to write, and she wants to make sure she fits in some explicit sex in the mystery novel she is writing. (Oh, and Nancy Drew bores her because it's not subtle enough.) Her dad is a professor/poet; her mom is a painter; her brother Sam is a pip. He acts like the oldest 2-year-old I have ever met. There is also the added pleasure of reading an early 80s novel where it was okay for kids to drink the foam off their dad's beer. It's sort of liberal, hippy and even more entertaining. Lois Lowry rules. I hope I have a kid just like Anastasia, and I raise her to be an intelligent, creative girl who speaks her mind. No matter how over-the-top it is. (I also hope I don't lose that in myself.)