The View From Saturday

Rating:
Summary: Heart and Souls
Review: They call themselves the Four Souls: Noah, Nadia, Ethan, and Julian. They are four extraordinary sixth graders, possessing both brilliant minds and precocious insights into human behavior. They are the kinds of students that teachers feel lucky to encounter a few times during a career -- and Mrs. Olinski teaches all four during the same year! She recognizes their talent without exactly knowing why.

The four students form an incredible friendship centered around the ritual of Saturday tea, and, later, on an academic bowl team coached by Mrs. Olinski.

The book, which won a Newbery medal, had received some criticism for portraying twelve year olds with adult characteristics. It's true that their vocabulary and especially their insights boggle the mind. But I'd like to think that people like the Four Souls really exist, and, more importantly, that all children have flashes of brilliance that align them with the characters of this book.

The author's ingenious use of structure results in a perfectly balanced book, in which each of the children is given equal voice. These four people emerge from the sometimes ugly world of middle school, and, partially helped by and partially helping their teacher, they create of world of their own, where loyalty, creativity, and unusual thinking are the keys to happiness and self-discovery.

Rating:
Summary: THe View From Saturday
Review: THis book absolutly sucks. i hate it. im not trying to be a rebel its just that i have had to read this book 3 times and do reports over it and it is very annoying with alot of flash backs and confusing connections. I DO NOT RECCOMMEND THIS BOOK because of all of the above if u have questions or u need an overview of the book i would be happy to give u any info u need just email me at [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites
Review: This is a marvellous book. Sure, it's not plot driven, and there's not much action. But it's a book about character, and about that time between childhood and adolescence. The four central characters grow up and discover the kind of person they want to be. Noah, Nadia, Ethan, and Julian are students in Mrs. Olinski's first homeroom in 10 years. All five of them are drawn together by the Academic Bowl. But the Souls were drawn together because they were meant to be.

The author is very creative with the tea parties on Saturday and the way each character's story relates to questions on the Bowl. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is mentioned frequently in many different contexts. Many contradicting questions are answered with a simple "Yes!" The title is also very well thought out, and extremely appropriate. It is a very cute book.

What makes this book unique is that it grabs hold of your attention and continues to do so until the very last word of the very last page. Each main character is developed fully, with fears and dreams, so the reader really gets to know them. You want to cheer them on, hoping that they can all reach their goals.

Characters that really stood out were Nadia and Ethan. Nadia has relationship problems with her hovering father (and probably others) after The Divorce. She is angry that the world is keeping little things from her. She feels left out. After the divorce, she lost her family and her friends. Then, her grandfather remarries, and she can't stop comparing Margaret Draper to her dear Bubbe. She has a dog named Ginger, who is a genius.

Ethan is a lonely boy who has be overshadowed by his elder brother, Lucas, all his life. Everyone is always talking about Luke, and how great he will be, and this has a great effect on Ethan. He has become a guy who would rather listen than talk, which means he mostly stays silent and not very social. Ethan also wants to design costumes and sets for theater, but knows that no one will support his dreams. Konigsburg hints at his possible feelings for Nadia, the girl with all those halos, aka his almost related friend.

The two other Souls, Noah and Julian, are less multi-faceted, except that Noah really likes calligraphy and Julian, magic tricks. Mrs. Olinski is their teacher who always has good answers. There are other characters, like the mysterious Mr. Singh, the mean Hamilton Knapp, and Micheal Froelich, a boy who changes from bad to good.

But the details of personal problems are not the not really discussed after each character has a go with their story. In fact, you can tell that the problems have yet to be solved (ex, Ethan, during a rehersal of the play). What happens to Mrs. Olinski and her feelings on being paraplegic? Why does Mr. Singh know so much? You are left wanting more and wishing for more conclusion. This would be the one downfall of the book. However, this hardly takes away from the charm of the book. After the four stories, there is not much "action" at all. The rest of the book is a fast-paced run through of the final round. The book is predictable, The Souls win, but again, the point of the book is not the plot, or outcome, but the journey four friends took together to get there.

This book is very much character driven, so if you are looking only for action, this will not be much. However, this book is simply splendid with the amount of thought given to it. There are many subtle themes that have a lot to do with how one should act towards others, and also that anything, no matter how improbable, can happen. A very feel-good book and very much recommended.