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Sam Krupnik #3
See You Around, Sam!
Sam Krupnik decides to run away to Alaska when his mother won't let him wear his new plastic fangs in the house. Sam stops at neighbors' houses to say goodbye and is given so much gear and information, he wonders if he's made the right choice.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
31 people are currently reading
244 people want to read
About the author
Lois Lowry
143 books22.8k followersTaken from Lowry's website:
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.
Because my father was a career military officer - an Army dentist - I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.
I married young. I had just turned nineteen - just finished my sophomore year in college - when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow. My children grew up in Maine. So did I. I returned to college at the University of Southern Maine, got my degree, went to graduate school, and finally began to write professionally, the thing I had dreamed of doing since those childhood years when I had endlessly scribbled stories and poems in notebooks.
After my marriage ended in 1977, when I was forty, I settled into the life I have lived ever since. Today I am back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living and writing in a house dominated by a very shaggy Tibetan Terrier named Bandit. For a change of scenery Martin and I spend time in Maine, where we have an old (it was built in 1768!) farmhouse on top of a hill. In Maine I garden, feed birds, entertain friends, and read...
My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.
The Giver - and Gathering Blue, and the newest in the trilogy: Messenger - take place against the background of very different cultures and times. Though all three are broader in scope than my earlier books, they nonetheless speak to the same concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.
My older son was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world. But it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find a way to end conflict on this very fragile earth.
I am a grandmother now. For my own grandchildren - and for all those of their generation - I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another."
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.
Because my father was a career military officer - an Army dentist - I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.
I married young. I had just turned nineteen - just finished my sophomore year in college - when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow. My children grew up in Maine. So did I. I returned to college at the University of Southern Maine, got my degree, went to graduate school, and finally began to write professionally, the thing I had dreamed of doing since those childhood years when I had endlessly scribbled stories and poems in notebooks.
After my marriage ended in 1977, when I was forty, I settled into the life I have lived ever since. Today I am back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living and writing in a house dominated by a very shaggy Tibetan Terrier named Bandit. For a change of scenery Martin and I spend time in Maine, where we have an old (it was built in 1768!) farmhouse on top of a hill. In Maine I garden, feed birds, entertain friends, and read...
My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.
The Giver - and Gathering Blue, and the newest in the trilogy: Messenger - take place against the background of very different cultures and times. Though all three are broader in scope than my earlier books, they nonetheless speak to the same concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.
My older son was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world. But it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find a way to end conflict on this very fragile earth.
I am a grandmother now. For my own grandchildren - and for all those of their generation - I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another."
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
July 2, 2019
rating: 3.5
I'd like to hear what the 5-7 year old readers have to say about this book. Will they appreciate Sam's adventure? How do they perceive the adults' "help"?
I'd like to hear what the 5-7 year old readers have to say about this book. Will they appreciate Sam's adventure? How do they perceive the adults' "help"?
June 16, 2017
This is a paperback edition originally published as a hardback in 1996. The story centers around Sam, little brother of Anastasia who has her own set of stories. After an unfortunate incident at nursery school, Sam's mother forbids him from wearing his fake fangs in the house so he does the only thing he can think of... run away.
Sam is never in danger as the kindly neighbors look out for him after his mother secretly calls them to watch out for him. The book maybe from a simpler time when everyone really knows their neighbors and Sam's mother lets him work it out himself instead of solving the problem for him. New chapter book readers will enjoy Sam's story. I would recommend this book for purchase by any school or public library looking to refresh their beginning chapter book collection. This book was provided by the publisher for professional review by SWON Libraries.
Sam is never in danger as the kindly neighbors look out for him after his mother secretly calls them to watch out for him. The book maybe from a simpler time when everyone really knows their neighbors and Sam's mother lets him work it out himself instead of solving the problem for him. New chapter book readers will enjoy Sam's story. I would recommend this book for purchase by any school or public library looking to refresh their beginning chapter book collection. This book was provided by the publisher for professional review by SWON Libraries.
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June 8, 2021This wasn’t as strong as the first two in the Sam series, which had my 9 year old laughing out loud regularly. A few times while reading this one together, he mentioned that this one is boring. I think it’s a cute concept and would have worked better as a short story instead of a whole book. It did drag for me, too.
April 28, 2008
I read this with my son for a book report and liked the concept behind the book and found the characters to be quite likeable (if seeming to good to be true).
September 26, 2017
The boy in this story, Sam, is four-years-old and begins to dislike his mother because she does not want him to wear fangs in the house. Sam decides that he is going to run away to Alaska so he can wear his fangs whenever and wherever. Before leaving Sam visits all of his neighbors, as he doesn't know how to get to Alaska. This sounds like something a typical four-year-old would do. Get mad at his mom, run away, and then end up back home. From this story, children can learn that wanting to run away isn't all that it is cracked up to be.
March 28, 2020
I was completely obsessed with the Anastasia Krupnik books as a kid, but out of the four books that featured her brother Sam, I only ever read books one and two. (However, book two, “Attaboy Sam”, is still one of my favorite books ever from my childhood.) It’s been a weird few weeks and I’m really craving comfort reads, so I decided to finally finish this series!
This was just so, so cute. I wish I had read it as a kid, but even as an adult I absolutely loved it. I wish neighborhoods like this still existed!
This was just so, so cute. I wish I had read it as a kid, but even as an adult I absolutely loved it. I wish neighborhoods like this still existed!
April 2, 2020
What I wouldn't give to live in this neighborhood. Everyone is a true friend to everyone else, from the baby to the frail old woman. Everybody loves Sam and is infinitely patient with him. Probably a 3.7 read, but I'm rounding down because I'm feeling pettishly envious and I can't say that I really 'enjoyed' the book all that much.
September 7, 2020
This one dragged a bit, although I appreciated Mrs. Krupnick's apology scene at the end. Isaac thought the adults' behavior toward Sam was kind of mean and patronizing.
July 11, 2021
A fun little read. I think many of my students would enjoy it.
December 27, 2016
This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.
When Sam comes home from nursery school wearing plastic fangs given to him by a classmate, his mother confesses her "fang-phobia" and insists that he not wear them in her sight. Astounded by this injustice, Sam decides to run away from home, but not before stopping in to see all his favorite neighbors.
Running away is a pretty common theme in children's books, and it is a threat most kids make at some point. What is so clever about this book, though, is the way it can be read on two levels. Readers who are Sam's age may fully believe he plans to run away, while those as old as Anastasia or older will recognize the ploys the adults use to keep him close to home while encouraging him to stay. (Lotta on Troublemaker Street does a similar thing, but See You Around, Sam really perfects it.) Sam's growing realization that fangs are actually not that comfortable and his slow change of heart about his desire to leave home are so true to life, and parent readers will undoubtedly recognize some of Sam's traits and behaviors as similar to those exhibited by their own kids.
This book is really the ideal chapter book to read as a family, especially when a child is four or five years old. Lowry really understands how the preschool mind works, but she makes sure to also provide a few knowing nods toward the parents as well, which makes the reading experience a true pleasure for all ages.
This is definitely the best of the Sam books. I hope this series will also be given new covers so these wonderful books will catch the eyes of a new audience.
When Sam comes home from nursery school wearing plastic fangs given to him by a classmate, his mother confesses her "fang-phobia" and insists that he not wear them in her sight. Astounded by this injustice, Sam decides to run away from home, but not before stopping in to see all his favorite neighbors.
Running away is a pretty common theme in children's books, and it is a threat most kids make at some point. What is so clever about this book, though, is the way it can be read on two levels. Readers who are Sam's age may fully believe he plans to run away, while those as old as Anastasia or older will recognize the ploys the adults use to keep him close to home while encouraging him to stay. (Lotta on Troublemaker Street does a similar thing, but See You Around, Sam really perfects it.) Sam's growing realization that fangs are actually not that comfortable and his slow change of heart about his desire to leave home are so true to life, and parent readers will undoubtedly recognize some of Sam's traits and behaviors as similar to those exhibited by their own kids.
This book is really the ideal chapter book to read as a family, especially when a child is four or five years old. Lowry really understands how the preschool mind works, but she makes sure to also provide a few knowing nods toward the parents as well, which makes the reading experience a true pleasure for all ages.
This is definitely the best of the Sam books. I hope this series will also be given new covers so these wonderful books will catch the eyes of a new audience.
September 14, 2015
This is a sweet, funny book about a little boy contemplating running away and the wise way his mother handles it with the help of all the adults in their neighborhood. I read it to my 8 and 7 year olds. one caveat to think about, tension. My 8 year old son is on the Autism Spectrum. He is extremely sensitive to stories and books with tension. In the case of this book, Sam thinks about the negatives of running away as he slowly comes to realize he doesn't really want to go. But a lot of the things Sam considers are sad, like missing holidays with his family, or scary, like the wild animals that live in Alaska (the place he want to run to.) My son felt very strong empathy for Sam and would often become frustrated as we read and would beg me to skip to the final chapter to find out if it was a happy ending, or he would become so stressed out he would leave the room and ask later for a recap of what happened in the parts he missed. As soon as we finished reading it, however, he was enthusiastic about the book and asked that I load it onto his kindle so he could re-read it. So once he knew the outcome wasn't a lonely 4 year old in Alaska watching for bears and missing Thanksgiving, he was eager to read it again for the funny and charming parts of the story he wasn't able to enjoy the first time around.
October 19, 2008
Sam is quite excited when he gets home from nursery school. You see, he traded his etch-a-sketch for a cool pair of fangs. But his mother hates fangs, has fangphobia even; so Sam is not allowed to wear fangs in the house. Fine, says Sam, he'll just run away. So he packs his necessities and heads for the door and his mother doesn't even try to stop him! He decides that his destination will be Alaska, but before he goes he decides to visit Gertrude Stein one last time for some cookies. But he doesn't get to hit the road as soon as he'd planned. There are all sorts of stops to make and somehow his bag gets weighed down more and more. And the more he thinks about it, the more Alaska doesn't really seem like the best idea...
Sam's adventures are almost as funny as Anastasia's. This one had me laughing out loud like many of the Anastasia books. Lowry certainly has a unique gift for getting the voice of children and this book is no exception. Funny stuff.
Sam's adventures are almost as funny as Anastasia's. This one had me laughing out loud like many of the Anastasia books. Lowry certainly has a unique gift for getting the voice of children and this book is no exception. Funny stuff.
December 6, 2015
In this relate able book we have a young boy named Sam. Sam loves fangs; but Sam's mother does not like fangs and thinks that they make Sam look disgusting. So Sam decides to run away to Alaska where "fanged" walruses lie around and he will be accepted. He packs some things in his Harvard gym bag and starts walking down the street. As he walks along he says goodbyes, and given somethings and his gym bag begins to get heavier. He rethinks if he wants to run away. I think it is a great book for kids. Because I know that when you are young you always say you want to run away. Even though you realize in the end that you don't actually want to run away. It is also and easy chapter book for younger kids to begin to read.
April 8, 2012
Having read The Giver, I expected a book that would draw me in and make me want to read more. I found this book to be the opposite. I kept looking for an excuse not to read it. There were a few good parts, but overall, I found the book boring and disappointing. I think it would have done well as a book for young children, in a 32-page format with a sentence or two per page. Nothing more was needed in order to tell the (not so interesting) story.
January 31, 2017
Actually finished this a while ago, but now able to update goodreads. Another cute story featuring Sam, this time attempting his first "running away from home" experience. Category: realistic juvie fiction. Sam's parents are pretty cool and laid back. I am nowhere close to being that way. I wonder if I would feel different if we live in a neighborhood where I also knew the neighbors? But now, my kids are so much older than Sam in this book.
June 9, 2021
I've always liked the Anastasia Krupnik books ... including the ones about her little brother, Sam.
In this book, Sam decides to run away.
But before he goes, he has to get prepared and say good-bye to his neighborhood friends.
And, oh, I wish I had a neighborhood where I knew everyone.
I should work on that.
In this book, Sam decides to run away.
But before he goes, he has to get prepared and say good-bye to his neighborhood friends.
And, oh, I wish I had a neighborhood where I knew everyone.
I should work on that.
April 1, 2011
Sam decides to run away to Alaska because his mother won't let him wear plastic fangs in the house. Everyone in the neighborhood conspires to change his mind. I don't know why, but this book wasn't as fun as the previous books about Sam. He seemed less like a precocious genius and more like an ordinary little boy. I suppose as Sam grows up, he'll continue to be even less remarkable.
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October 25, 2014I'm not giving this any stars because I haven't read the whole thing yet. So far, this series has been a huge hit with my 4 year old son named Sam. But two chapters in, he asked me to stop reading this book..... he was very VERY upset that the Sam in the book was running away from home. So, be warned if you have a sensitive little one, this may not be a good choice for family reading.
August 1, 2013
I rated every book that I read during childhood 5 stars.
Why? Well because that was a time in my life when I loved every single thing I read. And because they bring back fond memories. Ah, the joys of being young!
Why? Well because that was a time in my life when I loved every single thing I read. And because they bring back fond memories. Ah, the joys of being young!
July 17, 2016
this was as cute as I remember it being. Sam wants to run away from home, but he gets tricked by the neighborhood into realizing that he doesn't want to. they overload his bag and point out the logistical nightmares.
May 1, 2008
This was the least fav of the series--too much walking around. But the thought of peanut butter and blubbber sandwiches had us all gagging and laughing.
Currently reading
September 22, 2009sam wants to have things because he see other people with the things and so he can think he is as cool as the others
January 14, 2010
Who knew that a trip to Alaska to lay in a pile with a bunch of Walrus required so much planning. Cute and funny read.
Read
March 7, 2010this is a wonderful book with tons of excitement and adventure
Want to read
April 8, 2016Accelerated reading Book Level: 4.4 / AR Points: 3.0
October 18, 2014
A great series, the boys and I loved reading about Sam. Sorry this is the last one!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews