Book ID: Girl wants a house with a tower—and gets one

July 1, 2023 11:20 AM

Trying to remember a kids’ or YA book where a girl’s family tells her they’re going to move and so she puts something on her wishlist that she’s sure her parents will never be able to find: a tower. But they do find exactly such a house.

Despite the tower, there’s nothing magical about this book—it’s just about ordinary life. The only other details I remember are that (I think) the girl is writing her own mystery/detective story, and that she has a younger brother who interacts with an old lady across the street by flashing their flashlights at one another, which he calls being a “flasher.” The sister, I think, tells him what a “flasher” actually is, which results in amusing consequences. Grateful for your help!

posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell to Writing & Language (6 answers total)

Best answer: The Anastasia Krupnik series by Lois Lowry! I'm pretty sure these particular plot elements are from Anastasia, Again. Loved those books as a kid.
posted by teditrix at 11:34 AM on July 1, 2023 [24 favorites]

Response by poster: YES! Got it in one! Thank you!
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 11:42 AM on July 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

Loved those books!
posted by The otter lady at 12:08 PM on July 1, 2023

(I think of that book every time I see a residential house with a turret-type tower.)
posted by brainwane at 1:19 PM on July 1, 2023 [10 favorites]

I think about that book a lot. the tower, and how she couldn't live in the suburbs because people in the suburbs decorated with bowls of wax fruit
posted by homodachi at 1:01 PM on July 2, 2023

Such a lovely book! The little brother flashes everyone, while shouting "FLASH!" I loved the Anastasia series. Isn't this the one where she tries to write a murder mystery and she puts all her friends and family into it, except her mother becomes "the sinister woman with paint on her nose" etc...
posted by unicorn chaser at 5:10 AM on July 3, 2023