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SAVING MISS OLIVER'S

Name: SAVING MISS OLIVER'S
Author: Stephen Davenport
ISBN: 978-1-5132-6131-7

by Stephen Davenport ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2018

A book for anyone who's wondered about the inner workings and worries of a school administration.

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A year in the life of a New England boarding school on the brink of dissolution.

This book begins on graduation day for Miss Oliver's, an independent boarding school for girls, and it's also the last day for Marjorie Boyd, the headmistress for the last 35 years. When she is replaced by Fred Kindler, a chaotic year ensues. It was the board's decision to fire Marjorie and hire Fred, and the staff is divided on their feelings about the new headmaster's presence. The change is most traumatic for Francis and Peggy Plummer, a married couple who have devoted their lives to the school—he as a math and English teacher, she as librarian. Partly to avoid being confronted by this change and partly as a personal journey of discovery, Francis leaves for the summer on an archaeological dig—and this, coupled with Francis' disdain for the new headmaster, may mean the end of his marriage. It comes to light that Fred was brought aboard because the school is in danger of shutting down; enrollment has drastically declined, and the budget appears irreparable. The question of how to solve this problem and save the school is the thrust of the entire novel. At its center is a debate about whether boys should be allowed to attend—for some people, going coed is the obvious solution, while others would rather see the school shut down than witness such a horror. Most of the drama comes from unnecessary misunderstandings between people who fail to effectively express themselves and from unexplained—but convenient—disasters, such as the library burning down. There are moments here that indicate that Davenport, who, as his bio notes, "had a long career in education," was probably an excellent teacher, like a scene in which Francis explicates a Robert Frost poem with his class, and there are some wonderful students, like the head of the school newspaper who is conducting research about the sex lives of students. But those attributes are overshadowed by the book's focus on bureaucracy and the boardroom, and the narrative suffers for it.

A book for anyone who's wondered about the inner workings and worries of a school administration.

Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5132-6131-7

Page Count: 380

Publisher: WestWinds Press

Review Posted Online: July 16, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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CARRIE

by Stephen King ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 8, 1974

King handles his first novel with considerable accomplishment and very little hokum—it's only too easy to believe that these...

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Figuratively and literally shattering moments of hoRRRRRipilication in Chamberlain, Maine where stones fly from the sky rather than from the hands of the villagers (as they did in "The Lottery," although the latter are equal to other forms of persecution).

All beginning when Carrie White discovers a gift with telekinetic powers (later established as a genetic fact), after she menstruates in full ignorance of the process and thinks she is bleeding to death while the other monsters in the high school locker room bait and bully her mercilessly. Carrie is the only child of a fundamentalist freak mother who has brought her up with a concept of sin which no blood of the Lamb can wash clean. In addition to a sympathetic principal and gym teacher, there's one girl who wishes to atone and turns her date for the spring ball over to Carrie who for the first time is happy, beautiful and acknowledged as such. But there will be hell to pay for this success—not only her mother but two youngsters who douse her in buckets of fresh-killed pig blood so that Carrie once again uses her "wild talent," flexes her mind and a complete catastrophe (explosion and an uncontrolled fire) virtually destroys the town.

King handles his first novel with considerable accomplishment and very little hokum—it's only too easy to believe that these youngsters who once ate peanut butter now scrawl "Carrie White eats shit." But as they still say around here, "Sit a spell and collect yourself."

Pub Date: April 8, 1974

ISBN: 0385086954

Page Count: 216

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1974

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE
by Stephen King & Peter Straub

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NEVER FLINCH
by Stephen King

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YOU LIKE IT DARKER
by Stephen King

- PERSPECTIVES
Appreciations: Carrie Turns 40

- SEEN & HEARD
Stephen King Used ‘Carrie’ Advance To Support Mom

- BOOK TO SCREEN
New ‘Carrie’ Series in the Works at Amazon

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.