Bel Kaufman's Up The Down Staircase
This is one of the books I picked up for my Kindle on Cyber Monday and I am just ridiculously pleased to own it (even though I am pretty sure my mom's old copy is still on one of my bookshelves upstairs--don't worry, she bought it on Cyber Monday too! Side note: the charming illustrations and hand-written notes are all preserved in the Kindle edition). I just love what a time capsule it is for the early 60s--somehow I'd totally forgotten the death-by-illegal-abortion and all the discussion of integration. Even though it almost reads like a progenitor of those books where a white lady teacher inspires and saves a class of surly multicultural students, it's based on Kaufman's own years teaching and you can tell how heartfelt it is. PLUS Kaufman is Sholom Aleichem's granddaughter and totally inherited his abilities with characterization.
Look, I can't grade this, it's a classic that my mom gave me to read during those formative years.
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