ANASTASIA'S ALBUM
by Hugh Brewster
The execution of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family in 1918 has long been shrouded in mystery: ``For more than eighty years, the diaries, letters, and photo albums of the tsar's family were kept a secret.'' Now they are displayed in the State Archives in Moscow. Much of Brewster's book reproduces pictures from the photo album made by Anastasia, the youngest of the tsar's four daughters, and quotes many of her letters to her father and friends. It reveals not only Anastasia's daily life with her family but her wonderful sense of humor. The four daughters—Marie, Tatiana, Olga, and Anastasia—are shown posed (usually dressed identically) in lovely photographs; or riding bikes, swimming, sailing, walking in the snow, studying, painting, knitting. Many of the black-and-white photos were hand-colored by Anastasia. A particularly impish photo of the girls with their hats in their hands reveals their baldness after a bout of the measles. Although an epilogue discussing an impostor's claiming to be Anastasia detracts from the focus, this is a story of a close, happy family that does not foretell their violent end. (full-color and b&w photos, glossary, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 7+)