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First Sentence
The building presented a not unpleasant architectural scheme, the banks of wide windows reflecting golden sunlight, the browned weathered brick facade, the ivy clinging to the brick and framing the windows. Read the first page

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Concordance

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews

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4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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3.0 out of 5 stars a classic that doesnt wear the turns of time, Oct 15 2002

By	William D. Tompkins (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Blackboard Jungle (Classic Ed): A Novel (Hardcover)

i had a tough time with this book and put it down halfway thru -- possibly as a result of having seen and read TO SIR WITH LOVE and i enjoyed that story more than this one. This story just seems too outdated and non-relevant to me today.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Read One, Read the Other, for an Educational Update!, Sep 17 2002

By	F.E. Mazur (Lexington, KY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blackboard Jungle (Classic Ed): A Novel (Hardcover)

Published in 1954, Evan Hunter's novel is set in an urban vocational school of all boys. Today, almost fifty years later, it remains not just an excellent read, but also a worthwhile one-especially when it is read in conjunction with SPINE, a more contemporary novel of teachers struggling with students and the school system of an isolated rural town. In the latter work-a creation of this reviewer-the power and authority of the teacher in the classroom has been virtually eliminated (though seldom admitted), and no administrator would ever utter the words that Hunter's principal stresses to his faculty: "The teacher is boss, remember that!" Nor would those same administrators of today play the hardball of the JUNGLE's head man and insist on payment by parents for the destruction of school property by their sons and daughters. And how many modern-day parents are there who don't view the entire school as something they cannot entirely trust? Who may even regard it less a friend to their progeny and more an enemy? These and other contrasts are often starkly apparent if one reads both novels. Just as are other items that are the same today as they were midway through the previous century. In fact, one of these may even help to determine when teachers began to lose the authority of their position. Again, consider Hunter's school principal. When a student levels a charge at his English teacher, the story's protagonist, principal Small accuses his employee Rick Dadier of being a racial bigot, and he does so without first listening to the other side of the incident. Read one, read the other. Gain a little more insight about the world of education.

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5.0 out of 5 stars the urban terrain of a man's first job, April 9 2002

By	Saima Huq "sh" (Astoria, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Blackboard Jungle (Classic Ed): A Novel (Hardcover)

This book centers of Richard Dadier, a man accepting his first teaching assignment --- an English class -- at a tough Brooklyn technical high school where the kids just want to get enough skills so when they turn 16 they can get a job. His wife is pregnant and they live in a little flat nearby.

Dadier and his fellow rookie teachers' enthusiasm rapidly fades as they face the hardened street youth who make up their classes. But Dadier sees something in the boy who gives him the most trouble, that makes him believe his time in the blackboard jungle is worthwhile no matter what.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Jungle in the City
As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release and a teacher with over twenty years of experience in an impoverished high school, I found Evan Hunter's THE... Read more

Published on Sep 6 2001 by Kent Braithwaite

5.0 out of 5 stars A Most Impactful Piece of Literature
The first time I read the book, I had checked it out at my university's library. There were several different editions on display. Read more

Published on Dec 4 1999 by zimbee