Maia Wojciechowska says that [The Rotten Years] is her only important book. It is certainly her best book since Shadow of a Bull. The editorial gimmicks the author has been intrigued by in recent books are skillfully handled in The Rotten Years contributing valuable effects: headlines scream actual news events; the succession of letters written by parents to Mrs. Elsie Jones come as a natural result of the activities in the story; varieties in type size call legitimate attention to important distinctions in speakers.

The Rotten Years recounts one month in the lives of Mrs. Elsie Jones and her seventh-grade class in American history…. During this month Mrs. Jones vows (with her principal's blessing) to put aside traditional texts and homework and try to instill some of her own great respect for human life in her students. Her students become their own texts, studying themselves and their relationships...