Monday, December 5, 2016

Book cover: Scholastic Book Service's "Senior Year"


  • Title: Senior Year
  • Author: Anne Emery
  • Cover artist: Unknown
  • Publisher: Scholastic Book Services (T70)
  • Cover price: 50 cents
  • Original date of publication: 1949
  • This edition's date of publication: December 1968 (7th printing)
  • Pages: 188
  • Format: Paperback
  • First paragraph: Sally Burnaby raced up the stairs and dropped two suitcases inside her room. She drew a deep breath and exhilaration bubbled up inside of her like soda water. This was the most wonderful part of the whole vacation — getting home again! And she couldn't wait another minute to talk to Kate Kennicott and find out all the news.
  • Last sentence: "Last dance!" he said with a note of triumph. "I want Kate and Ted to see that pin!"
  • Random sentence from middle: It was a difficult problem, but she finally chose her black crepe with gold belt and beads.
  • Back-cover blurb: "Sally Burnaby feels awful! Here she is, ready for a fabulous senior year, when everything goes to pieces! Kate, her best friend, goes away to school. Scotty begins to date another girl. Trying to forget, Sally almost ties in with the wrong crowd, and descends into a world of cocaine, gun-running, fast cars and the illegal importation of exotic salamanders."
  • For real? Not exactly, but exotic salamanders are cool.
  • Actual blurb: "Sally Burnaby feels awful! Here she is, ready for a fabulous senior year, when everything goes to pieces! Kate, her best friend, goes away to school. Scotty begins to date another girl. Trying to forget, Sally almost ties in with the wrong crowd. Now she must proved she can make adult decisions ... and gain another chance with Scotty!"
  • About the author: Biographical information from Page 2 of the book: "Born Anne Eleanor McGuigan in Fargo, North Dakota, she moved at the age of nine with her family to Evanston, Illinois. After graduation from Evanston Township High School, she studied and received a B.A. degree in her home town university, Northwestern. Her father then took the entire family including all the children to Europe for a year. While abroad, Anne studied at the University of Grenoble in France. When the McGuigans returned to the United States, Anne became a teacher in Evanston schools. Following her marriage to John Emery, she resigned to keep house, raise her children, and continue to write books."
    According to a biography at Yesterday's Young Adult Novels (outofprintbookreviews.blogspot.com), Emery lived from 1907 to 1987, so her year in Europe would have been in the late 1920s, well before World War II. She wrote several different book series, including the "Jane Ellison 4-H" series.
  • Reviews of Senior Year: The book is rated 4.0 (out of 5.0) stars on Goodreads. A reviewer named Kathryn writes: "What a delightful read! Full of charming period details and the sort of "life lessons" that never go out of style. ... Sally's senior year provides a delightful glimpse into high school life in the late 1940s and a sweet, innocent romance that I thoroughly enjoyed. The Burnaby family is fun and interesting and I look forward to reading more about them as this is, happily, a series."

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