Anastasia Krupnik

Although aspects of Anastasia Krupnik are dated (Anastasia gets a record player for Christmas, she takes a sip from her dad’s beer which couldn’t be casually included in a book these days), I found it absolutely charming overall. I could identify both with Anastasia and with her parents—many of the conversations they had are variations […]

Only You Can Save Mankind

I was excited when my son brought home a Terry Pratchett book on his own, and he really did give it a good shot (a rarity for my son who tends to make a decision about a book before he’s done with the first page), but it turns out Only You Can Save Mankind is both […]

The Birthday Ball

The Birthday Ball is a cute farce of a fairy tale, with sketches by Jules Feiffer (you may recognize his distinctive style from The Phantom Tollbooth) throughout. It’s patently ridiculous, with exaggerated characters—there’s no attempt at realism. Although in most ways it’s a fairly standard princess-story setting, there are throw away lines about spandex and […]