Intriging, mysterious! I great Newbery winner read!

This one really knocked off my socks!
I love the writing of E.L. Konigsburg, and it was mostly this wonderfully perceptive story that first incited my love of her books.
The author's love of learning and academia for the sake of increasing one's mind are evident in the text, but E.L. Konigsburg takes that affection for intellectualism and masterfully forms it into a magical story, filled with astonishingly special characters and their one-of-a-kind situations. The way that E.L. Konigsburg manages to fashion the stories of all these splendid people together is one of the greatest accomplishments that I have seen in the realm of literature.
The author's mind-blowing wisdom is at its very pinnacle here, and it was a greater show than I ever expected to witness, to have the opportunity to sit back and drink in the seemingly enchanted story thread as it wove its way along. This group of sixth-grade academic bowl champions is a very special conglomeration, and the reader could sense throughout the pages of the book that something important was at work. All of these elements blended together to create suspense even as the deep feelings of those associated with the academic bowl team came forth in memorably wise ways.
It's difficult to give a good synopsis of such a story, but I will sum it up in this way: I give "The View from Saturday" five stars, a rating that I reserve only for books that are so good that they change my life. I think that, of all E.L. Konigsburg's masterful tomes, this one is her very best.

I think the book was a little confusing at the beginning. It took a while to understand how the characters connected, and why certain things were important. Once I got into it, though, I had a lot of enjoyment. It is a very inspiring story.

This is another of my all-time favorite books, up there with The Sibyl and Atlantis, this one because it is well-written (of course) and because reading it is not unlike giving your soul a bath. I reread it about once a year, and this time I read it aloud to my younger sister, which made the experience even better.
The View from Saturday is the story of four children, their sixth-grade teacher and an academic bowl competition, in about that order. Structurally, it is a bit of a doozy the first time around. It begins in the final round of the championship Academic Bowl and slowly uncovers what is essentially the entire year leading up to the close of that round, out of order. The bulk of the first four chapters is devoted to four brilliant short stories that explain how the characters met and discovered their identity both as individuals and as a group. These stories become "journeys" that allow them to find "kindness" and compassion. The rest of the novel bounces between the actual year-long preparation from the Academic Bowl championships and a continuation of the final round.
This is a book about people and compassion, rather explicitly stated at the end of the novel, but brilliantly realized nonetheless. When The Souls (the protagonists) finally assemble as a group they find "Sillington House [the bed and breakfast owned by the father of one of the boys] is its own place" and that taking the time to really interact with others on a meaningful and compassionate level is vitally important. The Souls' Saturday gatherings for tea serve as the backdrop to and impetus for this discovery of connections.
The descriptions in the book are vivid and typically gentle, as befits the novel's tone. The commissioner of education wears a "precision fit pin-striped suit" and has hair "tinted the color of peach pits," raised thumbs are "a forest of small apostrophes at the ends of their closed fists," and in the Sillington House dining room is "an assortment of chairs, none of which matched, but seemed to." These passages are held together by effectively paced narration and enjoyable dialogue. The characters are a bit precocious (particularly Nadia and Noah), but that is not purely in their idiosyncratic ways of speaking; their neuroses and oddities becomes a fundamental part of their personalities, from Noah's need for precision to Nadia's fascination with her dog. All the characters are fully realized (with the possible exception of Mr. Singh, who at times seems reduced to a sort of "wise sage" character), which strengthens the message of personal caring.
Highly recommended with a reminder that "tea is always at four".

This is a wonderful story of underdogs, diversity, a journey of loners who come together as an academic team and fight their way to success and confidence. It is a cheer out loud kind of story! The audiobook version has many fun accents and voices to keep the story interesting and alive.

Find The View from Saturday at the Westminster Public Library today!

And if you are in search of new books to read, try our services, What Do I Read Next. Our library staff are standing by to create a personalized recommendation list for you!

Interesting and unusual delivery, and this made this story special and unique. It’s really too bad that expletives and sexual jokes/innuendo interrupted the otherwise beautiful rhythm of this book. Great life lessons were revealed in each person’s POV. It was neat to see an academic competition and paraplegia featured.

Content: expletives, sexual jokes, sexual innuendo, bullying, mentions of reincarnation and a mythological entity

Note: Misuse of the word “fact” might confuse younger readers who are still learning the difference between fact and opinion.

I first read this book as a young adult and reread it with high expectations. It did not disappoint. As only the best young adult books, it not only held up to my previous experience of the book but rereading it as an adult only deepened my understanding and appreciation of this wonderful story.

Last summer ('07) I read Newberry Award winnner after Newberry Award winner. It was an enjoyable summer but a lot of the stories seemed to be very similar and started to blur. This book was probably one of my favorites from that summer. I found it refreshing and enjoyed reading everyone's different life story and how they became "The Souls". It makes my Top 20 favorite books. I plan to read more from E.L. Konigsburg in the future since I love "The Mixed Up Files" too.

A Newberry Winner (I'm always a sucker for Newberry Winners) and with good cause. I really enjoyed it. A quick airplane read.

Review originally posted to my blog, Writing by Numbers, here: http://ararebit.wordpress.com/2012/12...

This book for young folks tells a simple story that’s charmingly full of quirks. Each protagonist is introduced to us in just one chapter, and fades into the background during other portions, but Konigsburg packs so much detail into each backstory that the children feel like distinct, complete people. It’s also a tale of underdog triumph, which never hurts, and because it’s about Quiz Bowl, I learned a few actual facts along the way.

One interesting thing about this book is that it’s written with five third-person point of view characters: four middle schoolers and one adult. It’s obvious to the reader that the four children are all outcasts who find solace in each others’ friendship, but Konigsburg provides nuance by writing Mrs. Olinski as another outsider seeking acceptance. I appreciate that the book treats Mrs. Olinski as a point of view character, because I think it’s hard for kids to learn that their teachers are human beings. I’m not sure I ever did learn that as a child.

Aside from the faintest shade of “Magical Asian” in the treatment of Julian’s father – which I registered but decided to move on from, unflapped – this was a lovely story, a discrete victory. Quiet and strong, like a perfect cup of tea.

A richly written story about kindness and companionship. The chapter about the turtles really moved me.

I continue my foray into the Newberry Award winners. This story talks about a sixth grade Academic bowl team who has surpassed all expectations and are now in their district championships. As each question is asked and a teammate answers correctly, we flash back to learn about that particular person.

We learn about Ethan and Delia who become semi-related when their grandparents re-marry each other. There is Noah who, by accident, became the best man at that wedding. And then there's Julian who is new to the area and is the "strangest kid in school". However, he is the one who brings the four together, starting with teas on Saturday.

It was a great book. The characters were excellent and different from each other. The language is a little formal which got kind of distracting, but it was still really good. I liked all the interesting scenarios and how they became a true team. I wish that Konigsburg had written a sequel as there were some loose threads, but you can't have everything you want!