Excellent for home or in the classroom!

The Take Back of Lincoln Junior High by Roseanne Cheng is a fun, yet thought-provoking novel for the middle school years. The author builds her story around the timely topic of the growing practice of commercial sponsorships (and financial support) of public spaces, in this case, a junior high school. As the story unfolds, it reveals both the positive and negative aspects of the impact that such sponsorship and product placement has on the school in a manner that is easy to read, understand, and enjoy.

The pre-teen protagonists, Andrew, Hannah, and Jackson, are highly likeable characters and act true to age. The setting, situations, and the interactions between the characters felt genuine and actually took me back to my own junior high experiences. It felt that real.

The Take Back of Lincoln Junior High not only delves into the issue of commercial sponsorship but addresses the everyday problems of being a kid and growing up. There is suspense and mystery. Who is the mysterious new student, Liam, and what’s he up to? Will Andrew get the girl? Will Andrew and Jackson resolve their problems and become true friends?

I think that this book would be enjoyed by young readers, the middle school crowd, and parents reading along with their children. The author's writing is clear and simple for the younger folks and interesting enough to hold the attention of adults. Additionally, it would be a great classroom tool, and to that end, the author has included a study guide at the end of the book with specific activities designated for each chapter as the story unfolds.

Reduce, reuse, recycle ...

So ... in straightening out the cupboard over my computer desk I found a forgotten cache of books on tape. Seriously, on cassette. I've probably got a hundred of them all in one place now and catalogued.  Some were never even opened. Although I recognized the titles of many, I also recognized that I'd never listened to any of them - many were Jim's discards. 

This was actually kind of exciting.  My city van has an operating cassette player in it and since I've been spending so much more time in the van and out of the office I'm now catching up and going through them at a pretty good clip.  When one is done I'm listing them for trade on both Paperbackswap.com and BookMooch.com.  And there have been some takers!

However, considering that the van is a 2000 model, I don't know how long I'll have this rolling cassette player.  Even with under 37,000 miles on the odometer, it is just a matter of time before it is selected for replacement. Of course, the new one will not have a cassette player and probably will be lacking a CD player as well.  Back in 2000, I was extremely lucky to get the city with the cassette player in it (low bid van just happened to have one.)  Hard to believe that back then, CD players weren't standard equipment.

My last listen was Nocturne by Ed McBain.  I remember reading the 87th precinct series back in the day but not being as entertained as I was by this abridged edition of Nocturne.  Amazon.com shows Ed McBain himself as the narrator and that may have made all the difference in the world.  It was great! 

So with all the cassettes waiting in the storage room for me, I've gone off to the library and checked out another 87th precinct on tape to listen to.  If this keeps up every time I pop in a change in author I may never clear out the collection.

However, while waiting for the "new" Ed McBain to get to my shelf at Central Library I'm listening to Assumed Identity by David Morrell (bringing my "Currently Reading" count up to 11).