In my trek through the fiction, I came across Zoa Sherburne's Why Have the Birds Stopped Singing(1974). While it circulated frequently for ten years, it hasn't been off the shelf in 20. What happened? In this case, it might well be due to the fact that the dust jacket fell off and it is sitting in its unappealing yellow underwear. It's a decent enough tale of an epileptic girl who has seizure and goes back in time to live an ancestor's life. I may keep it because I have fond memories of the author's Girl in the Mirror, but at some point, if no one will check it out, it must go.
Kate Morgenroth, who wrote the fabulous Jude, replied to the circulation card with a lovely letter and a copy of Echo, her latest. Very kind of her, but while Echo was very riveting, I think the language makes it more appropriate for grades 9 and up. Of course, as a student reminded me yesterday, Jude has some bad language and that was what was part of what made it GOOD. Of course, I have to then look very disapproving-- It's the Blume Principle. I would never have wanted to read Forever unless it was forbidden!
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