Gr 5-8 Humiliated by her inability to climb a rope in gym class, 13-year-old Anastasia schemes to overcome the obstacle and impress her beautiful lady gym teacher, on whom she has a crush. Counterpoints to the plot are Anastasia's matchmaking efforts on behalf of a newly widowed uncle and a friend's mother, her struggle to make a smarmy recitation come alive and her attempt to view life as a journalist. In fact, each chapter begins humorously with Anastasia's efforts to make the day's events fit into WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY,'' somehow , nonetheless , reading in the style of the National Enquirer . The language in Lowry's stories about Anastasia is always natural, but . . . Answers also benefits from this stylistic variation. The surrounding characters, from baby brother Sam playing funeral on the floor to bereavedClark Gablish'' Uncle George are colorful and quirky and distinct. Anastasia manages, with some help from her mother, to resolve the rope conflict. The story's other elements fall, quite literally, into their own likely and lively places. Not only does Anastasia have the answers, but she's also at the top of her form. Carolyn Noah, Worcester Public Library, Mass.