WE INTERRUPT THIS SEMESTER FOR AN IMPORTANT BULLETIN

by Ellen Conford ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 1980

Carrie Wasserman, who got into hot water her first year on the Lincoln (High) Log [Dear Lovey Hart, I Am Desperate, 1975), is so nearly wiped out as a sophomore news-hound that it's hard to imagine what debacles Conford has in store for her junior and senior years. There's a nice little warm-up exercise in which Carrie has trouble writing interviews to suit boyfriend and editor-in-chief Chip. But the real trouble begins with the appearance of sweet-talking, sensational-looking, oh-so-Southern Prudie Tuckerman. Chip flips; and Carrie decides to give her all to reporting-also hoping, of course, to get Chip back. He's gunning for a big exposè of the school lunch program, and already has a low-level informant (""Cottage Cheese,"" lest you miss the story's point); but Carrie plants a tape recorder in the office of the supervisor-and gets what sounds to the over-eager kids like evidence of a rake-off (""Hogs, beef, what's the difference? As long as we make out--""). Meanwhile, Chip's infatuation with Prudie drives Carrie to drink too much at a posh, unsupervised party at Prudie's house. The paper comes out headlining the ""scandal""; supervisor Mr. Fell understandably explodes--the suspect conversation was about commodities futures, not school-lunch provisions; and, to the kids' total discredit, Chip's ""Cottage Cheese"" turns out to be a discharged employee making false allegations. In the fallout, Prudie proves faithless and, more remarkably, Carrie and Chip aren't sacked from the paper. But the exaggeration-of Southern man-eating and investigative reporting--makes this a frivolous item all around, even as a latter-day teenage romance.

Pub Date: Oct. 25, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION