everyday life Quotes

Mom is always gribbling about pants on the floor and shoes on the sofa. She says, “This house doesn’t clean itself, you know. “Who do you think does everything around here? “Mr. Nobody? “I don’t get paid to pick up your smelly socks! If I did, I’d be a rich woman.” etc. etc. non stop.

Anastasia deals with everyday problems such as popularity, the wart on her thumb or the new arrival of her little brother, Sam. 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.

“In the bookcases of their apartment were four volumes of poetry which had written by Myron Krupnik. But the fourth book was her favorite. Her father’s photograph showed him bald and bearded, the way she had always know him. The poems were soft sounding and quiet, when he read them to her. The book was called Bittersweet; and it said, inside, ‘To someone special: Anastasia’.”

It’s a tale firmly rooted in aboriginal myth and culture, but one that will appeal to any child who’s been afraid of the dark.

“The way Mama could peel apples! A few turns of the knife and there the apple was, all skinned! Jane could not take her eyes from her mother’s hands. They had a way of doing things, peeling apples, sprinkling salt, counting pennies, that fascinated her.”

This account of life on the streets of Cape Town. His seven older brothers have all left home, and now there’s just Johnny, Ma and her bullying second husband.

Annie lives with her elderly parents in a remote cottage. She is used to being alone. Every day she walks by the lonely marsh to school. Only in winter, when the wind howls in the trees, is Annie ever afraid.