The last time I went to the Scholastic Archives for this series, I not only found some adorable kitten posters, but also these ancient (just kidding!) media artifacts: cassette tapes!
As a member on the tail-end of the generation that made mixtapes on cassettes, I got a thrill out of spotting these in the Archive. I also found it so interesting to see which artists were featured, and which are still relevant today, 15 years later! (Weird Al just had his first-ever number one album last year, Britney Spears has a Vegas residency and is releasing a new album, the Backsteet Boys are reuniting for a new album...)
While researching these cassettes, we tracked down someone in Scholastic Reading Club who remembers them! Here's what she told us: "They were used in the summer (then all year long) continuity program called Funtastic. Students could order the initial package though the student news in the Book Clubs. Then we would ship the kids the packages directly to their home."
So neat! With vinyl becoming more and more popular among collectors once again, maybe it's only a matter of time for cassettes! We'll be sure to catalog and archive these in the meantime.
Special thanks to librarians Karen VanRossem and Deimosa Webber-Bey for their ongoing help with series!
Gina Asprocolas
