Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, Russia 1914 (Royal Diaries)

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Anastasia is a carefree young duchess, daughter of Nicholas Alexandrovitch Romanov, tsar of all the Russias in 1914. While her father attends to the turbulent affairs of a vast and complex country, Anastasia's major concerns are how to get out of her detested schoolwork to play in the snow, go ice skating, or have picnics. She wears diamonds and rubies, and every morning her mother tells her which matching outfit she and her three sisters shall wear that day. Slowly a hint of future trouble enters her happy, pampered life. Anastasia's younger brother, the future tsar, is a hemophiliac--a "bleeder" who cannot stop bleeding if he is cut or bruised. Anastasia begins to learn that all is not well in the outside world, either. Not everyone in Russia worships her father as she does, and the Germans are about to declare war on Russia. Anastasia's world gradually deteriorates, as reported in her youthful, often playful journal.

FROM OUR EDITORS

In this fictionalized journal, Anastasia Romanov lives again. Through her eyes, we witness the day-to-day splendor the czar's family experienced before the onslaught of the Russian Revolution. However, one senses also that crowding the outskirts of Anastasia's ornate diary are hundreds of thousands of teeming serfs, just beginning to percolate.

ANNOTATION

A novel in diary form in which the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II describes the privileged life her family led up until the time of World War I and the tragic events that befell them.

SYNOPSIS

Award-winning author Carolyn Meyer introduces readers to the unforgettable Anastasia Romanov, whose idyllic life is forever changed with the coming of World War I.

FROM THE CRITICS

VOYA

The Royal Diaries, like its companion series, Dear America, introduces young people to historical figures in an approachable, readable format. In Anastasia, readers learn about the Bolshevik Revolution through the eyes of the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II. Anastasia and her sisters and brother were born into a life of luxury. Everything they needed or wanted was available within the walls of their family's estate. When Russia became involved in World War I and their father lost his power to revolutionaries, their entire world changed. The Romanov family members were taken from their home and held captive for over a year until their lives tragically ended. What makes this story so powerful is the family's enduring hope through such drastic change. Meyer brings Anastasia to life with a strong teenage voice. When readers meet Anastasia, she is thirteen years old and prefers ice skating and horseback riding to attending formal dances and studying. In the face of great turmoil, she complains only to her diary, appearing confident to her sisters and parents. In an author's note, Meyer talks about how films have romanticized the life of Anastasia Romanov, disregarding her tragic end. Perhaps this is why she is such a compelling figure. Interesting historical and genealogical notes and photographs add much to this captivating story that might serve as an excellent introduction to studies of Russian history and culture and World War I. VOYA CODES: 4Q 3P M J (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2000, Scholastic, 214p. PLB . Ages 12 to 15. Reviewer: ElizabethWetherson SOURCE: VOYA, April 2001 (Vol. 24, No.1)

KLIATT

Do you think a twelve-year-old reader will start to read this diary not knowing the fate of Anastasia and her family? For those who are aware of the tragic ending, Anastasia's entries seem more interesting, because the stuff of her life is so trivial and innocent in contrast to that doom. The other royal diaries in this series are stories of the adolescence of women who became rulers: Elizabeth I; Isabel of Spain; Cleopatra, and others. This is the first diary in the series about a young woman who never had a chance to grow up; instead, she was assassinated while she was still in her teens. The diary tells of warm family life in large palaces, the main sorrow being the hemophiliac younger brother. Rasputin is frequently mentioned by Anastasia, but she doesn't like him much. She does report that his visits make her brother better. The diary starts when Anastasia is 12, a young girl with few cares. As the war starts, the family is caught up in the drama of it, but the suffering of the people and the military losses grow and grow as Anastasia herself grows older. Her mother is hated, because she is a German and because she listens to Rasputin. Readers of the diary will get an introduction to the chaos that came to Russia during the war and the revolution that followed. The historical notes and the photographs at the end describe life in Russia and for the Tzar's family on the eve of the revolution. Much of Anastasia's diary relates celebration of holidays like Easter (Fabergé eggs!) and Christmas. It all seems quite exotic. For example, Anastasia gets two jewels each year, one on her birthday and one on her name day, so that by the age of 16 she will have a beautifully completenecklace of diamonds—that is the promise; of course, it never happens because by the time she is 16 she is a prisoner. An interesting addition to this series. (The Royal Diaries) KLIATT Codes: J—Recommended for junior high school students. 2000, Scholastic, 224p, illus, $10.95. Ages 13 to 15. Reviewer: Claire Rosser; July 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 4)

School Library Journal

Gr 4-8-Given to Anastasia by her grandmother as a keepsake, this diary begins on the day after the Winter Ball, January 3, 1914. The 12-year-old is the youngest daughter of the last tsar of imperial Russia, yet beneath the surface of her royal life full of wealth, prominence, and opulence, readers find a typical preadolescent who misses her father when absent. Youngsters will worry over younger brother Alexei's hemophilia, experience concern as Russia comes under German attack, and feel fear and uncertainty during the family's captivity. Anastasia writes of plans for the future, but her diary abruptly concludes on May 18, 1918. Through careful research, the author successfully provides interesting glimpses into daily events, family relationships, and growing up royal. Russian terminology, unobtrusively explained, is carefully blended into the narrative. Entries are simply written, brief, and sometimes unexciting. Lulls occur in some of the everyday events; yet little expressions, mini-tantrums, and exasperation reveal Anastasia's personality, her temperament, and feelings. The epilogue details events leading to the family's assassination. Black-and-white pictures, a bit grainy in quality, pique readers' interest in the Romanovs. Additional information on life in Russia in 1914, historical notes, a family tree, information about the Russian language and calendar, and a list of characters all provide wonderful background information.-Susan Shaver, Hemingford Public Schools, NE Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Immensely readable and interesting, this fictive diary of Anastasia, daughter of Czar Nicholas and Czarina Alexandra, imparts a good deal of history in an entertaining way. As the diary begins in 1914, 12-year-old Anastasia, the youngest of four sisters and the older sister of Alexei, has the normal complaints and comments of a girl with three older sisters, along with many observations unique to her circumstances and lifestyle. Political events are beginning to impinge even on Anastasia's very protected life. "There are people who say the peasants are suffering, and blame it on Papa. There are even some people who believe that others should share in the rule of our country!" But life is not just unimaginable luxury for Anastasia and her sisters, although they live in beautiful palaces, travel on private trains, and have a wealth of servants. Aspects of their lives are spartan—the Czar insists they have "a good Russian breakfast" consisting of rye bread and herring every day, the four girls sleep on camp cots that they are required to make themselves each morning, and until recently cold baths were part of the morning routine. Anastasia is aware of the conflict between the notorious Rasputin, whom the Czarina credits with keeping her hemophiliac son Alexei alive, and the Czar, who distrusts and dislikes Rasputin. As WWI begins, Anastasia becomes more and more aware that life for her family is changing. Her diary covers the last five years of her life, taking us from her pampered life as a royal child, through the family's house arrest in 1917, to their exile in Siberia, and finally, to their murders in Ekaterinburg on July 16, 1918. This is a storythatwill fascinate children for whom it will open a window into a foreign and bygone world that is not often covered in children's historical fiction. This will be useful when the curriculum covers 20th-century Russia. Both biography lovers and fiction readers alike will gobble it up. (historical note, family tree, and other endnotes, photos, cast of characters) (Fiction. 9-14)