ENGLISH: Third time I've read this book. This is a book about kindness: kindness to people; kindness to animals; kindness to one another; kindness to enemies; kindness to a disabled teacher; kindness to everybody.

This is a book about journeys: a journey to an atypical condominium; a journey to the Sargasso Sea; a journey in the school bus; a journey around the world learning magic and many other things; a journey to the top of the world, made to help another person to handle her psychological problems.

ESPAÑOL: He leído tres veces este libro. Este libro trata sobre la bondad: bondad hacia las personas; bondad para con los animales; bondad de unos para con otros; bondad con los enemigos; bondad para con una maestra discapacitada; bondad para con todo el mundo.

Este es un libro sobre viajes: un viaje a un condominio atípico; un viaje al mar de los Sargazos; un viaje en el autobús escolar; un viaje alrededor del mundo, aprendiendo magia y muchas cosas más; un viaje a la cima del mundo, para ayudar a otra persona a resolver sus problemas psicológicos.

Great Book. A very creative story. It was very entertaining, with a great message. It even made me laugh out loud a few times. My favorite line, "No normal person would continue to be cheerful and wear short pants." Just funny...

Continuing strong on my goal to not read things right now that are going to make me sad/frustrate me - I've decided to work on reading a bunch of the Newbery award books. And this one did not disappoint. This is my first of E.L. Konigsburg books and I loved it. It was just so sweet. I'm such a sucker for a world/town that conspires to work together to help a child (see "Okay for Now") and this book had those elements in it. Also - the author's voice and the way she told some of the stories just made me laugh.

Her books are well written and teach such great lessons. Young and old can enjoy!

Too many books now feature quirky, misfits with good hearts who find each other and fight injustice while the "popular" kids are characterized as shallow, ignorant and mean. While it would be nice if misfits could find a place of acceptance in the real world, most of the time, they don't. I think books like these might aggravate the situation by encouraging a mindset that it's "us" against "them." There are mean misfits and nice, popular people too and everything is not so black and white. As a misfit myself, I would like to see young adults books that, while still giving hope, paint a more realistic picture of the world.

Meet the Souls
- "Noah," who quite by accident was best man at the wedding of Ethan's grandmother and Nadia's grandfather

- "Nadia," a hybrid with a halo of red hair, a dog that's a genius, and a fondness for baby turtles

- "Ethan," the silent second son of one of Epiphany's oldest families, who discovers he likes halos

- "Julian," the strangest person on the school b

...more
Meet the Souls - "Noah," who quite by accident was best man at the wedding of Ethan's grandmother and Nadia's grandfather
- "Nadia," a hybrid with a halo of red hair, a dog that's a genius, and a fondness for baby turtles
- "Ethan," the silent second son of one of Epiphany's oldest families, who discovers he likes halos
- "Julian," the strangest person on the school bus, who starts everything by inviting the others to a tea party
How did Mrs. Olinski, returning to teaching ten years after being paralyzed in an automobile accident, choose these four to be her sixth-grade Academic Bowl team? And how did this unlikely foursome become even unlikelier champions, in far more than just the state middle school competition? "The View From Saturday" is a rich and rewarding journey that answers these questions and raises many more.

As a teacher, I enjoy books about teachers and students. It's a nice, but somewhat predictable, story about four students who help their teacher to regain confidence in herself when she returns to teaching after an accident that leaves her in a wheelchair. Of course, their teacher didn't realize she needed their help, she thought she had just chosen them to be her quiz bowl team...a little contrived. The character development of the four students who make up "The Souls" (as the team calls itself) is explained in four back-stories that are interspersed with quiz bowl action. Because of that structure, the story is not chronological, making for a unique narrative that was sometimes distracting.

The characters have unusual connections with each other, familial-ly and geographically speaking. However, that is not as interesting as the power (or lack of power) each student has in the community. The author calls attention to the social standing of each student and his or her family and how that impacts the students' relationships. The description and development of the students' power relationships were particularly well done, and these are the reason I gave the book 4 stars instead of 3. Konigsburg really understood the characters and what it is like to be a kid in 6th grade, trying to fit in and play by society's rules. Really, they were archetypal 6th grade characters. The know-it-all, well-to-do kid is obnoxious. The kid from a different background is out of the cultural loop, but is painfully aware of how he is perceived. The girl with the newly-divorced parents deals with the insecurity of feeling like she will never know the whole story. The boy with the perfect older brother struggles to define his own identity. However, the way the author brought them together helped them transcend the social pecking order--and their 12-year-old selves to become more insightful, round characters.

I didn't always enjoy the structure, nor did I enjoy all of the characters, but it was thought-provoking enough to make it a good read. This is a book I would read with one of my classes if I wanted them to think about how they perceive and are perceived by others. It also made me want to institute an afternoon tea time...

I read this book aloud to my older son (currently age 10) and we both LOVE LOVE LOVED it. Of course I have fond memories of Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler which won the Newbery Medal in 1968 - it was a classic by the time I caught up to it. But this book wasn't published until 1997, when I was long past the target demographic. I picked up a free teacher's edition at an ALA exhibit table some years ago and it has sat on the shelf ever since.

The voices in this book are stupendous. I laughed out loud so many times. I only wish I was good at accents, because the Singhs would really have benefited from a better narrator than myself. The four children and their teacher, Mrs. Olinski, are all very much alive in my head and will be for a long time. Such personalities and heart!

Do yourself a favor and read this book. It's a very quick read for an adult and delightful at any age. Plus, you learn a lot. Did you know that the word "posh" was originally an acronym? Also, I learned quite a bit about turtle migration.

5 stars.

Having not read, but hearing only amazing raves about the Mixed-Up Files by EL Konigsburg, I thought for sure another book by her would receive the same applause. However, I was slightly disappointed. Understanding The View from Saturday was written from the viewpoints of 6th graders and their teacher, and is geared toward young teens, possibly tweens, I would have to say it still was a little left to be desired due to the fact there was a lot of 'rambling' written into the dialog. Yes, part of it was character personality, but at the same time, there was more than needed in my opinion. However, the saving grace of this book is that it had some realistic fiction (ie: information about sea turtles), literature references, and a bullying underlying theme. It would also provide a great opportunity to incorporate family trees and graphic organizers into a curriculum. In fact, I would strongly recommend a graphic organizer for characters as students wade through this book.

This author doesn't disappoint, but it's a great book for kids because it values being good, finding yourself, and respecting your family relationships. It's well written and for the intelligent child.

This is another book that I’ve reread because I can’t booktalk it to save my life, and I wanted to make sure it was as good as I remember. It is. It’s a quick, satisfying book with little stories that all come together in the end. Don’t let the 6th grade main characters dissuade you. This is a smart book with so much heart.

3.5 stars based on what I rememeber of reading this 20+ years ago. It was the 1997 Newbery winner; I read it shortly after it won and liked it. And yet, I have not read it since nor do I regularly recommend it.
It would be interesting to reread this one to see if it has stood the test of time and/or to see if my rating of it would change.