web1_fishingbutton.jpg

Brown Trout pattern chosen for 2017 fishing license button

web1_Tyreek-Hill.jpg

DJ Eberle’s Flavor of the Week: A guide for the final week of the regular season

<p>In the interest of full disclosure, I know author Amy Poeppel. When I taught middle school history at an independent school in Manhattan, she worked for the admissions department. I also taught two of her three sons. I found the Poeppels to be a charming, creative and kind family. I worked with Amy as part of the faculty admissions committee. So I am familiar with the admissions process for independent schools, the premise of her novel.</p><p>I learned Amy&#8217;s debut novel, &#8220;Small Admissions,&#8221; was being published and asked for a copy to review. It&#8217;s a bit bizarre to review a book by someone you know. You don&#8217;t want to appear biased even if you really love it. If it isn&#8217;t good, you feel awkward because you know she&#8217;ll read the review.</p><p>Happily, I enjoyed &#8220;Small Admissions.&#8221; Any faults or flaws I found with the novel did not detract from how much I liked it. It&#8217;s also been several years since I worked with or saw her which helped me to be more objective.</p><p>The story follows Kate Pearson, an academic with great ambitions who pursues a job in New York City after graduating Wellesley. She was in a serious relationship with Robert, the French cousin of her best friend Chloe. Before the book opens, the relationship has come to an end and she is a complete wreck. For months she wallows, barely able to summon the energy to walk dogs for cash.</p><p>Her friends are worried. Her older sister, Angela, is panicked about how much of a slacker Kate has become. Desperate to make things right, Angela pushes Kate toward a job in the admission department at Hudson Day School, a fancy, rigorous private school. Kate has no experience and completely bungles the interview yet ends up landing the job. It changes her entire existence.</p><p>Kate gets completely sucked into her job. We see her become attached to a student the school won&#8217;t admit. We&#8217;re with Kate when she is put off by a brilliant student who she finds obnoxious. We feel for the parents of Dillon, who are incapable of seeing their child&#8217;s weaknesses and pity Gus&#8217; parents who are so involved in their own marital drama they know nothing about their quirky child.</p><p>Meanwhile, her friends have their own dramas. Chloe is wracked with guilt for her role in upending Kate&#8217;s life. She sends Kate extravagant gifts throughout the year and hides her own boyfriend. She goes on a few dates with men she met for Kate. Their friend, Vicki, finds herself reconnecting with Robert, who wants to make things right with Kate. Angela keeps putting her life on hold to take care of Kate. All of them want to see Kate back to the way she used to be, but they can&#8217;t decide among themselves how best to do that.</p><p>Kate has several encounters with her downstairs neighbor who complains about how noisy she is, but also cares enough about her crying cat to buy it a gift.</p><p>Kate&#8217;s academic training comes in handy as she navigates the dramas of the admissions process, yet the job puts her on a path she didn&#8217;t expect. She learns to be happy in ways she didn&#8217;t expect, doing something she never thought she would do.</p><p>&#8220;Small Admissions&#8221; is a great story of someone rebuilding their life. Just as &#8220;The Devil Wears Prada&#8221; shed light into the world of fashion magazine editors and &#8220;The Nanny Diaries&#8221; enlightened readers to the world of the wealthy Upper East Side, &#8220;Small Admissions&#8221; is a hilarious, witty and satirical look at the world of private school admissions in Manhattan.</p><p>A couple complaints: a dramatic moment that happens toward the end, when two parents go off the rails, seems over the top. A lot seems to happen behind the scenes and we are filled in through emails and letters and Chloe&#8217;s narrations. I wish we had actually seen some of the scenes alluded to, but that would have slowed the book, which was a page-turner.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_small-admission.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">&#8216;Small Admissions&#8217; gives an insider&#8217;s look into the world of private school admissions departments in a page-turning way. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_small-admission.jpg</photo0><caption0>&#8216;Small Admissions&#8217; gives an insider&#8217;s look into the world of private school admissions departments in a page-turning way. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dorothy Sasso</p><p>On the Books</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>&#8216;Small Admissions&#8217;</p><p>Author: Amy Poeppel</p><p>Page Number: 368</p><p>Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books</p><p>Rating: &#9830;&#9830;&#9830;&#9830;1/2 </p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Dorothy Sasso is a former Soap Opera Digest writer and a private school teacher. She is busy reading books and raising her two daughters.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

On the Books: A look into private school admissions departments