Attaboy Sam! is a young-adult

Young adult literature

Young-adult fiction or young adult literature , also juvenile fiction, is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21. The Young Adult Library Services of the American Library Association defines a young adult as "someone between the...

 novel by Lois Lowry

Lois Lowry

Lois Lowry is an American author of children's literature. She began her career as a photographer and a freelance journalist during the early 1970s...

. It is part of a series of books that Lowry wrote about Anastasia and her younger brother Sam.

Plot summary

Why won't Sam Krupnik allow his mother to enter his bedroom? Why has he started calling his toy box The Lab? And why does he carry a Ziplock bag in his pocket at all times? What's the big secret?

Well, his mother's birthday is approaching, and she has told her family that what she really wants are homemade gifts. Sam has decided to invent a special, surprise perfume just for her - a concoction that will combine all of her favorite smells. Now the question is: Exactly how does one go about bottling the quirky collection of scents on Mrs. Krupnik's list of favorites?

If anyone can find a way - or at least have loads of fun trying - it's Sam, Anastasia's precocious younger brother.

Lowry's reason for writing the novel

"Sam was born when Anastasia was ten, and for a long time he existed only in the books about her. But kids liked him. Maybe he reminded them of their own little brothers. So at the request of young readers, I gave Sam his own series."

• From her website

Review

"Warm, lively, true to children's real inner lives, and laugh-aloud funny all the way."

• Kirkus Reviews, pointer review School Library Journal Best Books of the Year

External links

• http://www.loislowry.com/attaboy.html Description of the book from Lowry's website.
• Lowry's website
• Complete list of books by Lowry