Feeling a little brain dead with a summer cold, I wanted some comfort reading, so I took this off the shelf. I have read this book 4 or 5 times previously, and it has maintained a spot on my bookshelf for many many years. In fact, my copy of it is a 1966 95c first paperback edition (with the cover above). All this by itself says good things about this book.
This is the story of a new teacher in the New York City public high schools in the early 1960s, but one of the things that is amazing about it is how timeless it is. Except for a little bit of slang, anything that happens in this book fifty years ago (OMG, 50????) could just as easily happen today, and probably does. Overwhelmed by overwhelming bureaucracy, poor school conditions, and students with a lot more going on in their lives than school - parents in prison or dead, no room to do homework or even sleep at home, demands on them to make money rather than pay attention to school, the teacher in this book tries to make a difference, but is often tempted out of these conditions into an easier teaching life at a tonier school. But this is the story of how she connects with the students and her impact on them as well as their impact on her. It remains, fifty years later, an uplifting story about teaching - and a good read!
Also...take a look at the NYTimes profile of the author, Bel Kaufman, at her 100th birthday, from this past May. Very entertaining as well.
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