[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anastasia.png]]

''Anastasia Krupnik'' is the first book of a popular series of [[MiddleGradeLiterature middle-grade]] novels by Creator/LoisLowry, depicting the title character's life as a girl "just trying to grow up". Anastasia deals with everyday problems such as popularity and the wart on her thumb. The book is written in episodic fashion, each chapter self-contained with minimal narrative link to the others. At the end of each chapter is a list written by Anastasia, listing her likes and dislikes, showing the character's growth and development through the story. Other books, with the exception of two, also had a link with each of the other chapters, such as Anastasia's science project, her "Chosen Career" essay, etc.

The ''Anastasia Krupnik'' series was 29th on the American Library Association's "The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000" for reasons such as references to beer, ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' magazine, and a casual reference to a character wanting to kill herself. The series was also criticized because one novel of the series featured Anastasia replying to a personal ad and lying about her age and her life to an older man; however, the two never have any romantic experiences and when they meet, the man has no idea that Anastasia is the woman to whom he had been writing.
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!!Books in this series:
* Books about Anastasia:
** ''Anastasia Krupnik'' (1979)
** ''Anastasia Again!'' (1981)
** ''Anastasia at Your Service'' (1982)
** ''Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst'' (1984)
** ''Anastasia on Her Own'' (1985)
** ''Anastasia Has the Answers'' (1986)
** ''Anastasia's Chosen Career'' (1987)
** ''Anastasia at This Address'' (1991)
** ''Anastasia Absolutely'' (1995)
* Books focussing on her brother Sam:
** ''All about Sam'' (1988)
** ''Attaboy Sam!'' (1992)
** ''See You Around, Sam!'' (1996)
** ''Zooman Sam'' (1999)

!! Tropes in these books include:
* AbhorrentAdmirer: Robert Giannini, except when he's not, except when he is. Anastasia's very conflicted about the whole thing.
* AdorablyPrecociousChild: Sam. He's very articulate for a toddler, loves to learn and even learns to read a few words at age two. In hospital, the staff state that he's the brightest child they've ever had on the pediatric ward.
* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: At the end of the first book, Anastasia's baby brother Sam is born the day after their grandmother dies.
* CelebrityLie: At art school, Anastasia's mother was mistaken for the daughter of a famous artist by a boy she liked, and she went to great lengths to maintain the illusion in order to keep his interest, up to and including taking several days off school (and missing an important exam) when the artist died.
* ChildNamingRequest: In the first book, Anastasia's parents say that they'll let her name her baby brother and promise to stick with whatever name she chooses. She writes down the chosen name in her diary, "the worst name she could think of". [[spoiler: She doesn't actually use "the worst name," which is "One-Ball Reilly"; she names him Sam after their deceased grandfather.]]
* ColdCash: Variation: In one of the books, it's revealed that Anastasia's father keeps his manuscripts-in-progress in the crisper, in case the house burns down.
* ComicBookTime: Though the books were published over the course of 16 years, Anastasia, Sam, and Anastasia's circle of friends (not to mention the immortal Frank the Goldfish) only age about three years. Only the pop cultural references are updated from book to book. Similarly, Sam's series of books were published over 11 years, but Sam never gets older than four.
* DeadGuyJunior: [[spoiler: Anastasia names her new baby brother after her late grandfather.]]
* DidAnastasiaSurvive: At one point, Anastasia learns that she was named after the historical Anastasia from her parents and promptly declares that she must be the missing Romanov. Her dreams are quickly dashed when her parents point out that as a 10-year-old in 1979, she is far too young to be ''that'' Anastasia.
* FatBestFriend: While not necessarily a best friend, Anastasia's friend Sonya fills this trope, mentioning dieting, hating it when a saleswoman calls her "chubby" and other things that indicate she has a weight problem and is self-conscious about it.
* GymClassHell: Played with in the B-plot of ''Anastasia Has the Answers.'' Anastasia actually ''loves'' gym (in large part because she has a crush on her gym teacher) and is usually pretty good at it. The one thing she can't do is climb the rope. She becomes so upset over her failure that every gym class turns into this trope, with the joke being that she is the only person making things difficult. Even after her gym teacher takes pity and assigns Anastasia a role where she doesn't have to climb, Anastasia continues to put herself through the wringer.
* HoldingInLaughter: Mr. Rafferty's entire class has to stifle their laughter during a poetry recitation by Jacob Berman, an unattractive, nerdy kid, when he gets to a certain line.
-->"'Ah, love, let us be true to one another!'" Jacob intoned. The class snickered. Jacob Berman saying "Ah, love, let us be true to one another!" was the most ridiculous thing ''ever'', and if all those European guests hadn't been in the back of the room, the students would have fallen out of their desks, laughing.
* HormoneAddledTeenager: In ''Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst,'' Anastasia goes through the first stage of teenage hormones, which makes her think her parents are impossibly embarrassing and infuriating. Her friends are going through the second stage, which causes them to chase boys.
* InnocentInaccurate: Anastasia, many times, especially when answering a personal ad and sends him a picture, thinking thirteen is old enough to write to a man in his late twenties. Her last letter says "Someday...when I'm fourteen?"
* InterruptedSuicide: What Daphne ''thinks'' she's done when she catches Anastasia in the garage with a rope. In actuality, Anastasia's trying to practice climbing the rope for her gym class.
* KidsPlayMatchmaker: Anastasia [[spoiler:does this for Gertrude.]]
* NarrativeProfanityFilter: In ''Anastasia on Her Own,'' the text replaces all [[spoiler:Annie's]] frequent swear words with the word "bleeping." It's a little unclear if it's this trope or if she's actually saying the word "bleeping" as an exercise in self-censorship.
** When Anastasia later complains to her mother about the bleeping, she uses the word "bleeping," so it still isn't clear if she's literally saying "bleeping," or if the narration is censoring an actual swear and Anastasia's parents are just really cool about their kids repeating that kind of language.
* OldMaid: Anastasia's elderly neighbor Gertrude has resigned herself to this fate since her husband left her early in their marriage forty-seven years ago.
** Anastasia also considers this fate for herself when it looks like her only romantic prospect is Robert Giannini. She's ten at the time.
* ParentsAsPeople: We get a pretty fair idea about Anastasia's parents--her mother, a temperamental artist, and her father, a thoughtful poet--and they frequently have lives, personalities, and plotlines outside their children. This usually doesn't impact their childrearing abilities, but in ''Anastasia on Her Own,'' both parents' careers combine to leave 13-year-old [[TitleDrop Anastasia on her own]] for a week to tend her sick brother.
* PoorCommunicationKills: When Anastasia tries to explain that her highly precocious baby brother Sam is a lot more advanced mentally than he is physically, she does such a bad job that Robert is under the impression that Sam is handicapped. Anastasia is too embarrassed to correct him, resulting in shenanigans when Robert scolds her for being ashamed of her poor disabled brother [[spoiler:and even more shenanigans when Robert finally meets Sam.]]
* PrecociousCrush: Anastasia has a large one for her gorgeous gym teacher Ms. Willoughby and tries to show off in gym class to win her teacher's praise, with predictably hilarious results.
* RichBitch: Mrs. Bellingham in ''Anastasia at Your Service'' has shades of this. While she turns out to be a pleasant, playful older woman, it's still pretty heavy-handed to hire a twelve-year-old child looking for work as a companion and turn her into a maid.
* SurpriseLitterOfPuppies: Anastasia's pet gerbils turn out to be a pair of pregnant females that deliver litters of babies five days after she acquires them.
* SweetieGraffiti: A non-romantic version: when Anastasia's family moves. Battling her sadness over this, Anastasia writes, ''This is my room forever. Anastasia Krupnik'' in small letters on her bedroom wall, then goes downstairs to her father's study to have a conversation with him, during which she acts like nothing is wrong. As she's leaving, she notices his name on the wall.
** Later in the book, Anastasia finds a real one hidden under the wallpaper in her new bedroom: [[spoiler:a declaration of love to her neighbor Gertrude.]]
* TitleDrop: As a running joke in ''Anastasia Again!'' Anastasia's neighbor Gertrude nicknames her "Anastasia Again," since this is the way Anastasia always announces her arrival.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehaviour: Some of Daphne Bellingham's behaviour in the third book falls under this, although even she acknowledges some of her ideas go too far. She admits most of this behaviour is just because she wants to wind up her parents. She stops behaving this way in subsequent books
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Anastasia's mom is terrified of rodents, which Anastasia only discovers when she brings home a cage of gerbils.
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