At the start of Anastasia Has the Answers, we learn that Anastasia (who is 13 now) has decided she wants to be a journalist, which helps to give a pleasing structure to the book. She’s learned that journalists should think about the “Who, what, when, where, and why” of the situation behind the piece they’re writing, and should answer those questions near the beginning: each chapter ends with an excerpt from Anastasia’s notebook in which she puts a journalistic spin on whatever’s been going on, and we get to see her crossed-out initial drafts as well as her final result.
As with some of the other books in this series, some of the plot/conflict centers around some ill-fated plan that Anastasia comes up with—though I was pleased that the plans in this book were less stressful than in some of the others. First: Anastasia’s Uncle George, whose wife has just died suddenly, comes to visit from LA, and Anastasia decides she should try to set him up with someone, maybe her friend Daphne’s mom (Daphne’s parents are getting divorced). Meanwhile, Anastasia has been struggling to learn to climb a rope in gym class, and decides she wants to teach herself how and unveil her newfound skill at a demonstration her class will give to a team of visiting foreign educators. The first plan is not such a great idea, but Anastasia doesn’t push it too hard: she’s busier with the second plan, especially because she totally has a crush on her (female) gym teacher and wants to impress her.
This was a fun and quick Sunday read for me, and I look forward to picking up the next one in the series at some point.
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