The View from Saturday
Author: E.L. Konigsburg
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Copyright: 1996
Pages: 160
Reading Level: 6
Genre: Fiction Chapter Book
Rating: ****

Summary:
Mrs. Olinski teaches the sixth grade, and is a paraplegic. Each year all the classes in the middle school compete in the Academic Bowl. This year though, was the first year that any sixth grade class had ever beaten a seventh grade class. Not only that, but also beat the eighth grade, gone to districts, and regionals and the finals. But this year, Mrs. Olinski’s sixth grade class had done all that, and on top of that, they won. As you are going through the novel it flips back and forth between the different character speaking. Everyone wants to know how Mrs. Olinski chose her team of Nadia, Julian, Noah, and Ethan. Their questions go unanswered though, because she doesn’t really know. She says lots of good thing, but never does she have an answer. The rest of the book follows each of the team members and a story about each of them. With Nadia, we hear of her going to visit her father one summer in Florida after her parents’ divorce and spending most days with her grandfather who has recently remarried to what just happens to be Ethan’s grandma. We follow Ethan on his many long bus trips. Noah we follow to Florida as well, to Centuryvillage where he happens to be the best man at Nadia and Ethan’s grandparents wedding. Finally there is Julian. He has traveled on a cruise ship for many years with his father and they have finally come to Epiphany to settle down and open a B&B. Julian in fact, is the one who brought the four of them, “The Souls” together. In the end, after winning at the finals they all come back to the B&B where Mrs. Olinski asks “The Souls” if she choose them or if they chose her and the reply is “Yes”. No one knows the answer, but the only conclusion that anyone could come to was that they had all been on a journey, and had come home. They had learned on their journey what Mrs. Olinski had learned at the B&B, kindness. They had all found it in others, and now knew how to find it inside themselves.

Who would benefit from reading this?
This is a good book for those in middle school or advanced readers in the elementary years. The story line is exciting, and you have to stay on your toes and the book transitions from one person’s story to the next. A fun read that keeps you on your toes as you follow with “The Souls” and Mrs. Olinski on their journey to discover kindness and win the trophy in the Academic Bowl.

Potential problems/conflicts:
A problem with this book might be that it can be hard to follow along and transition between the each person’s stories. There are also some bullying scenes that some might not want their kids to read.

My reaction:
At first I was hesitant where this book was going, but it turned out to be a great book. One with lots of life lessons and the power friendship can have. These four kids grow together despite their difference and all over four o’clock tea. I would recommend this book to all those in the hard teenage years to read and relate to. I enjoyed it, though I honestly wasn’t expecting to.