The View from Saturday

I think this is the hardest book to explain that I've ever read, and especially hard to explain why I love it.

I can't say it's a book about a sixth-grade quiz team lead by their teacher to win the regionals, because it's not- that's practically incidental.

I think what is... magical about this book for me is... the ordinary, true, and sublime. Konisburg lets you walk hand-in-hand with each of the protagonists on their individual journeys, seeing them as they see themselves and seeing them how others see them- and recognizing pieces of yourself in each portrait, in every angle. It's about little things- little petty jealousies and secret desires and tiny compassionate acts. She really captues the tiny defining moments of living, of show more making choices- the feelings of being alive and just struggling, just staying afloat, just trying.

Konisburg doesn't tell you what the novel is *about*- at least not until a vague statement at the end- for the benefit of Mrs. Olinski, the teacher that leads the quiz team. It is this framing story that loosely ties together the narratives of the individual team members that is the weakest storyline. Perhaps it's because Mrs. Olinski lacks this 'in-the-moment' living, this strange insight.

Each time I read this story, I bring a different mix of memories and experiences and preconceptions about myself into it, and each time it makes it a new read. show less

I was pleasantly surprised by this gem. Multiple connected stories intertwine as a quiz team with a determined teacher make their own paths to reach a victory that has a deeper meaning for all of them. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this vague title, but I really loved the way the characters developed and the stories of saving turtles and second weddings layered for a satisfying ending and sweet lasting message.

As is probably true of many everyday life books, The View from Saturday is all about the characters. I didn't really care that much about whether or not the four sixth graders won the knowledge bowl in the end; I just enjoyed reading about life from their perspectives.

Four chapters of the book are told first-person by each of the kids, and those were by far the best parts of the book. They're all really articulate, really thoughtful sixth graders who find each other and form a bond between them that involves this ritual of drinking tea on Saturdays, which is where the title comes from.

Yeah, drinking tea together on Saturdays is not the coolest thing in the world to your typical 11 or 12 year old, but it will appeal to readers who think show more of themselves as out of the mainstream, kids who can form their own ideas about what is cool. It's one of those books that's about appreciating how intelligent and complicated 11 or 12 year old people can be (at least from my adult perspective).

In the end, it's the idiosyncratic realness of the voices of the kids that makes this book so memorable and enjoyable. Some readers might argue that the kids are sort of unrealistically mature, kind, and intelligent, but I think extraordinary kids exist and are the kinds of characters that make for a really affecting read. show less

I don't care if you're a sixth-grader or a sixty-year-old, this is a witty book.

Sixth had once been the top grade in elementary school, and was now the bottom grade in middle school. But it was still the place where kids had mastered enough skills to be able to do something with them. It was still the place where kids could add, subtract, multiply and divide, and read. Mostly, they could read – really read. Sixth grade still meant that kids could begin to get inside the print and to the meaning.

The setting is a town in New York state – I did not know then that when I started sixth grade, I would be living in the state of divorce and New York. – and a retirement community in Florida – There are so many blond widows in the state show more of Florida, and they are all so much alike, they ought to have a kennel breed named and registered for them.

A sixth grade teacher must choose four students for her Academic Bowl team – or did they choose her? The students' background stories of what brought them together – their individual journeys – are interspersed with the story of their journey as a Team.

Good stuff here. Good settings, good characters, good story. And if you, too, have often thought, Sixth graders had stopped asking “Now what?” and had started asking “So what?”, you'll enjoy THIS bunch of sixth graders. (3.8 stars) show less

This book appeared on several "recommended" or "award winning" lists I reviewed, but since I knew nothing about it, it took quite awhile for me to finally bring a copy home. Hence, I was unprepared for what I discovered inside, which was nothing short of literary magic. The writing is simply beautiful - not complicated but in no way dumbed down like some children's books I've encountered. The characters are fully fleshed (even the peripheral ones) and sympathetically drawn. I loved the humor and humanity that pervades the entire story. What the author does is the literary equivalent of a five-star, five-course gourmet meal. How I wish there was a sequel - I miss these literary friends already!

What a lovely book. Not sentimental, overwrought, or oversimplified, like much of middle grade children's literature. E. L. Konigsburg's writing is sharp and the story is told with the care and cleverness it deserves. I appreciated her treatment of the unique group of pre-pubescent characters through deft perspective shifts and each with his or her own story of personal growth. What I liked most is that she doesn't assume her audience is incapable of rising to the complexity of the narrative and relationships. This isn't dumbed down for children, but instead perhaps, simplified for adults.

How had Mrs. Olinski chosen her sixth-grade Academic Bowl team? She had a number of answers. But were any of them true? How had she really chosen Noah and Nadia and Ethan and Julian? And why did they make such a good team?

It was a surprise to a lot of people when Mrs. Olinski’s team won the sixth-grade Academic Bowl contest at Epiphany Middle School. It was an even bigger surprise when they beat the seventh grade and the eighth grade, too. And when they went on to even greater victories, everyone began to ask: How did it happen?

It happened at least partly because Noah had been the best man (quite by accident) at the wedding of Ethan’s grandmother and Nadia’s grandfather. It happened because Nadia discovered that she could not let show more a lot of baby turtles die. It happened when Ethan could not let Julian face disaster alone. And it happened because Julian valued something important in himself and saw in the other three something he also valued.

Mrs. Olinski, returning to teaching after having been injured in an automobile accident, found that her Academic Bowl team became her answer to finding confidence and success. What she did not know, at least at first, was that her team knew more than she did the answer to why they had been chosen. show less