I, like thousands of readers all over the world, am a big fan of the wacky Krupnik family from the Anastasia series, whose books are among the American Library Association’s 100 Frequently Most Challenged Books, because (according to Wikipedia) of “references to beer, Playboy magazine, and a casual reference to a character who wanted to kill herself.” Apparently it was also criticized for one of the funniest books in the series, “Anastasia at this Address,” where Anastasia replies to a personal ad and lies about her age (and invents a fantasy life too) to an older man — it sounds bad but it’s actually quite innocent and funny as hell.
After 9 Anastasia books (I wish there were more), Lowry moves on to a series featuring Anastasia’s younger brother, Sam, starting with All About Sam. Zooman Sam is the most recent
addition to the series.
Aside from most of the Anastasia books, I have both Attaboy Sam, and See You Around, Sam!
on my shelves, and I was glad to get both All About Sam and Zooman Sam in one weekend
(Book Sale and then Chapters and Pages).
All About Sam is about Sam’s life story told from his point of view, mostly featuring events that happened throughout the Anastasia series. Meanwhile Zooman Sam is about Sam’s Future Career day and how he wants to be a zookeeper.
They’re short reads (not very short — they’re still chapter books but one-sitting short), and
although I miss Anastasia’s whacked out (and sassy!) point of view, Sam’s candidness and own whacked-out point of view are endearing too. It’s also delightful to see that Anastasia and Steve Harvey are getting on very well, and Myron and Katherine Krupnik are still the coolest parents ever!
***
My copies: both Dell paperbacks
My rating: All About Sam 3/5 stars, Zooman Sam 4/5 stars
Photos courtesy of Barnes & Noble