All About Sam

Product Description At last Sam, Anastasia Krupnik's irrepressible little brother, gets a chance to tell his own story. From his first days at the hospital, through his Terrible Twos, to his first days at nursery school, we see what Sam is really like. But things are never quite like they seem. In the delivery room, Sam's first words, "Don't drop me," are heard only as "Waaaaahhhh!" And even though he has a perfectly logical explanation for flushing his sister's goldfish down the toilet, no one understands. From training pants to moving day to nursery school, Sam continually tries to unravel the mysteries of the world at large, facing each crisis and adventure head on and responding with his own brand of humor, candor, and naive insight. Review "Childhood's problems and confusions have seldom been shown to better, funnier, and more sympathetic advantage." Horn Book, Starred About the Author Lois Lowry is the author of more than forty books for children and young adults, including the New York Times bestselling Giver Quartet and popular Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader’s Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, Number the Stars and The Giver. Her first novel, A Summer to Die, was awarded the International Reading Association’s Children’s Book Award. Ms. Lowry lives in Maine. www.  Twitter @LoisLowryWriter Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 1   It had certainly been an exciting morning for him, but a confusing one, too. There were bright lights, which he didn’t like, and he was cold, and someone was messing around with his belly button, which hurt.   And he didn’t know who he was yet.    “A fine healthy boy,” he heard someone say. But that told him only what he was, not who.   He squinted and wiggled and stuck his tongue out, and they all laughed. He liked the sound of the laughter, so he did it again, and they all laughed some more.   Then they put some clothes on him, which made him nice and warm, though the clothes felt odd because he had never worn clothes before.    They passed him around from one person to another, which was a little scary because he was afraid they might drop him.    “Don’t drop me,” he wanted to say. But it came out sounding like “Waaaahhhh.” Someone said “Shhhh” in a soft voice and patted his back gently.    “Who am I?” he wanted to ask, but that sounded like “Waaaahhhh” again, and she simply patted his back once more.    Finally they put him down in a little bed and dimmed the lights.    He opened his eyes wide now that the lights weren’t so bright, but he couldn’t see much: just the sides of the little bed, and high above him the blurred faces of people.    It was all too confusing and exhausting. He sighed, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.   ***   When he woke again, he was in a different place. He was still in the little bed, but the bed had been moved; he knew because the walls were green instead of white. Now there were fewer people—fewer faces looking down at him. He could see these people a little better because his eyes weren’t quite so new, so he blinked to focus more clearly and stared up at them.    There was a woman, and he could tell that he liked her a lot. She had happy eyes and a nice smile, and when she bent closer and touched his cheek with her finger, it was a gentle touch filled with love. He wiggled with happiness.    Then the woman’s face went away, and a man leaned down. The man seemed to have his head on upside down; there was hair on the chin, but none on the head. Maybe that was the way men were supposed to look. The man had a nice smile too.    Finally, a girl leaned over the bed. She had hair the same color as the man’s chin hair, and she wore glass over her eyes, which were interesting to look at. But she wasn’t smiling.