"Anya Here and There" by Maria Danilova, summary

This book is a heartfelt story about a child’s adaptation to a new country and a foreign culture. Written in 2021, it depicts, through the eyes of a young girl, the process of a family’s move from Moscow to New York, their search for true friends, and their gradual acceptance of their new home. In 2020, the manuscript was a finalist for the V. P. Krapivin International Children’s Literary Prize.

Living in Russia and moving to New York

The story begins with a description of little Anya’s summer vacation. The girl is vacationing in the village of Laskovoye with her grandparents, whom she loves very much. Together, they pick blueberries in the forest, rescue a yellow ladybug, swim in the warm village lake, and lie in a striped hammock. Anya describes her caring relatives in detail. Her grandparents adore the vegetable garden, silence, and home-cooked meals. Her mother’s parents, Olya and Lyosha, lead active lives in Moscow, work in a scientific lab, and regularly take their granddaughter to the Tretyakov Gallery. Their faithful dog, Lyalya, runs around their dacha, and a pine tree named Anyuta grows outside their window.

The girl’s familiar routine is shattered by the neighbor’s noisy rooster, which wakes the entire family. Her parents announce they have been accepted to Columbia University. The family packs up and moves to New York, leaving all their relatives behind in Russia. Anya spends a nine-hour flight and sees for the first time the vast metropolis, divided into straight streets. Their new Manhattan apartment turns out to be completely empty — the only thing in it is an air mattress. They go to visit old family friends, Uncle Borya and Aunt Lena, and take their old furniture. On the subway, Anya is startled by a street performer dressed as an alien, but the locals simply ignore him.

School days and new friends

Anya begins attending an American school. She speaks no English and understands nothing in class. The school amazes her with its loose rules, brightly colored classrooms, rainbow-colored carpets, and lack of strict uniforms. The young teacher, Miss Johnson, wears a nose ring, and a tortoise named George Washington lives on her desk. The school day begins with the children sitting on the floor and sharing news. After school, Anya studies English with Mr. Edwards in a group for foreigners. At night, she cries, missing her homeland, and begs her parents to return to Moscow.

The school declares pajama day. Her mother finds the idea odd, but she buys Anya a modest pair of red plaid pajamas. The other children come in ridiculous and cheerful outfits, including the principal, Mr. Levandovsky, in a hamburger-covered robe. During friendship class, the students hold hands while standing on one leg with hoops. Anya laughs along with everyone else and, for the first time, asks her classmates to call her Anya instead of Enna. A neighbor at the farmers’ market advises her to preserve the Russian language, so her mother enrolls her daughter in the Russian Saturday school "Gramotey." There, the girl recites a long poem by Alexander Pushkin at the autumn matinee and saves the school concert.

It’s Halloween. Anya dons a beautiful blue velvet dress and becomes a queen. She collects candy from the shops on Broadway, where she meets a red-haired boy dressed as a hot dog. He gives Anya his chocolate bar when her mean classmate, Tommy, steals all the treats from the tray. Soon, the fire alarm goes off in the New York building. Running outside, Anya discovers that this red-haired boy, Jimmy, lives downstairs. Anya calls him Hot Dog, and they become best friends. For the weekend, Anya is entrusted with caring for the school’s tortoise, George Washington.

Anya and Hot Dog take a turtle out of its glass terrarium to introduce it to some toy hippos. The children accidentally lose their pet in the apartment. The friends try to find the animal among the neighbors, ask for help from the kind concierge Ismail, and even knock on the door of the ill-tempered Mrs. Hawkins, who threatens to call the police. Eventually, Mom discovers the runaway in a pile of Dad’s unwashed laundry. Ismail examines the animal and declares it to be a female. At school, the children hold a democratic election and come up with a new name for the turtle — Georgia. They win the election by a landslide.

Adventures and adaptation in the city

The class goes on a bus trip to the zoo. Ms. Johnson divides the students into pairs. Anya is assigned to the sullen Tommy, who constantly bullies her and pushes her away from the glass near the gorilla enclosure. During lunch, Tommy deliberately spills a water bottle on Anya’s sandwiches. The girl musters up all her courage and loudly shouts "No!" at Tom to defend herself. At the zoo, Anya sees a giraffe named Lulu, standing apart from her fellow giraffes, looking bored. Anya feels a spiritual kinship with the animal because she, too, feels lonely.

Due to heavy snowfall, schools are closed. Anya goes to Central Park with Hot Dog and his mother. They sled down a very steep hill without hats, and Anya shouts "Hurray!" for the first time in joy. Then they drive to the bronze statue of the Alma Mater at Columbia University, where students are having a snowball fight. Hot Dog’s mother tells an old legend about an owl hidden in the statue. Anya finds the metal bird in the folds of the monument’s robe. That evening, in the beautiful university library, the girl’s temperature suddenly rises.

Anya has been ill for a long time. The family celebrates the New Year modestly, without the usual bustle, decorated Christmas tree, or numerous guests from Moscow. After recovering, they go to the Museum of Modern Art. Anya is completely unimpressed by the strange installations, like a bicycle wheel on a white stool. Suddenly, a crowd of foreign tourists surrounds the girl, and one woman unceremoniously touches her pigtails. Anya becomes very frightened, runs away, and gets lost on a busy Manhattan street. Police officers Gomez and Parker take the crying girl to the station.

During interrogation, Anya decides to be cunning. She calls Moscow her home so the American police will send her back to her homeland to Olya, Lesha, and their dog, Lyalya. Then she realizes that her parents will remain in America and begins to sob loudly. The girl remembers the necessary English words and tells the officers about the Columbia University students. Her parents find their daughter and embrace her. On this snowy evening, New York no longer seems cold and alien to Anya; snowflakes dance in the air, and the streetlights seem cozy.

Meeting with family and realizing home

The school year is drawing to a close. Anya’s grandparents fly in to visit and climb the Statue of Liberty. At the school celebration, the principal presents Anya with a special "Golden Comet" statuette for her courage and perseverance in overcoming the language barrier. Her parents graduate from university and throw their blue caps into the sky. They inform Anya of their impending move to Boston. There, Anya gives birth to a chubby little sister, Sonya. At the Boston Zoo, Anya meets Lulu the giraffe again, who was brought there from New York. The animal has found new friends and is no longer lonely.

Another year passes. Anya is successfully studying at a Boston school, actively playing soccer, and helping new international students settle in. For summer break, the family flies to Moscow and then goes to the village of Laskovoye. Anya once again embraces her family: Olya, Lesha, her grandparents, and their dog, Lyalya. Anya swims with her father to the other side of a warm lake, gets very tired, and rests on a small island with white water lilies. In the evening, the family curls up in their favorite hammock. Anya smiles happily and realizes that her true home is where her closest ones live.