Anastasia's Chosen Career

1987, 1988 Yearling edition
Lois Lowry
Anastasia's Chosen Career
Original price $2.95, purchase price 99 cents
Very worn paperback
B-

I forgot that I own this, which is odd since I enjoyed it more than 1984's Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst.  It felt like there were fewer loose ends.  The main action takes place in one week-- I think it's Spring Break-- where Anastasia takes a modeling course and meets a bookstore owner.  She makes friends with the other students, particularly with Henry (short for Henrietta), a Sassy Black Girl®.  I found both girls' use of the insult "turkey" wincingly dated for the late '80s.  (Even in the late '70s, it was an overly ubiquitous term on kids' TV programs.)  Still, I liked their friendship, and the scenes with the bookstore and modeling school, as well as Anastasia's family, were nicely done.  This is Book #7 of the series (following 1985's Anastasia on her Own and 1986's Anastasia Has the Answers), and yes, she's still a 13-year-old 7th-grader.  Her parents watch Hill Street Blues, which would leave the air that Spring, but maybe it's not actually set in '87.  Cosby Show is another show that's mentioned, so it must be at least '84.  There's less "mature content" than in Analyst, although there is a boy who likes to talk about chest hair and other embarrassing matters.

As far as I know, I don't have any other Anastasia Krupnik books, but I obviously wouldn't swear to it.  I do know I've got Number the Stars coming up in 1989.  And with this entry, the 1980s have passed the 1970s to be the most prolific decade I've reread.