Tag Archives: Lowry

Podcast #30: Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry

An Interview with Mike Grosso

For my thirtieth Dream Gardens kid lit podcast, I interviewed author, educator and musician Mike Grosso about his favorite middle grade novel,  Anastsia Krupnik by Lois Lowry.

Published in 1979 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the novel is the first of a series of nine books is about unusual young girl named Anastasia Krupnik. Anastasia has a green notebook where she keeps track of the things she loves, like the new wart on her thumb, and the things she hates, like the baby brother who’s on his way much too soon.  But when life comes at her, like her crush on Washburn Cummings who doesn’t even know she’s alive, her 92 year old grandmother who can’t remember her name, and teachers who don’t understand when she pours her heart out in her poetry, it’s a whole lot for one ten year old girl to figure out.  But if anyone is up for meeting life head on, it’s Anastasia.

Mike Grosso is a fifth grade elementary teacher, musician, and author of the middle grade novel I am Drums. You can find Mike’s website at www.mikegrossoauthor.com.

All podcasts are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Please link, share, comment, or subscribe. The next podcast will be published on March 16th, 2018.

Podcast #6: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

An Interview with Priya Chhaya

For my sixth Dream Gardens podcast, I interviewed historian and author Priya Chhaya about Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. It is a historical children’s novel about a young girl living in German occupied Denmark in 1943. She finds herself unexpectedly thrown into the dangerous world of the underground resistance when her Jewish friend’s family must escape to Switzerland before they are rounded up by Nazi soldiers. Priya’s website is called Priya Chhaya, A Certain Point of View, which can be found at priyachhaya.com. Her blog, …this is what come next, can be found at thisiswhatcomesnext.com. The next podcast will be published on February 1st, 2017.