Rating: 
Summary: Multiple Shades of Passionate Rose
Review: E.L. Koningsburg has written another beautiful book. Margaret Rose Kane is truly, as her despicable yet pitiable camp directer states, "incorrigable". In one never-to-be forgotten summer, Margaret Rose grows up. She learns, among other things, something about the changing nature of art and life and people themselves. While this is told in Ms. Koningsburg's trademark lovely prose, full of flashbacks and dialogue, I was a little disappointed in both the unsatisfactory ending and the overall story- which, though a great read, was not as pungent as Koningsburg's Newbery books ("The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" and "The View from Saturday"). My verdict: good, but not Great.
Rating:
Summary: Multiple Shades of Passionate Rose
Review: E.L. Koningsburg has written another beautiful book. Margaret Rose Kane is truly, as her despicable yet pitiable camp directer states, "incorrigable". In one never-to-be forgotten summer, Margaret Rose grows up. She learns, among other things, something about the changing nature of art and life and people themselves. While this is told in Ms. Koningsburg's trademark lovely prose, full of flashbacks and dialogue, I was a little disappointed in both the unsatisfactory ending and the overall story- which, though a great read, was not as pungent as Koningsburg's Newbery books ("The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" and "The View from Saturday"). My verdict: good, but not Great.
Rating: 
Summary: Richie's Picks: THE OUTCASTS OF 19 SCHUYLER PLACE
Review: Having first read OUTCASTS last October (My review is online at RichiesPicks) I laughed and cried my way through it for the third time today. In the way that I knew immediately upon reading them that BUD NOT BUDDY and HOLES would be Newbery Medal winners, I am confident that this literary masterpiece will at least earn a Newbery Honor next January, will gain dozens of state awards over the next 3 or 4 years, and will be taught in classrooms all over the place. Yes, it's THAT good. Packed with enough humor, heart, and mischievousness for a dozen books, THE OUTCASTS OF 19 SCHUYLER PLACE becomes the yardstick by which I'll measure 2004. Richie Partington
Rating:
Summary: Konigsburg at her best!
Review: I absolutely loved this book! Margaret Rose's uncles were so unique and funny! And Jake was the quintessential older male crush that everyone (well any female) who reads this book will fall in love with. A must read for any Konigsburg aficionado.
Rating:
Summary: does konigsburg not know about the watts towers?
Review: I was finding this book so enjoyable until the last part, and wholly agree with the reader from Massachusetts. I think Konigsburg betrayed Margaret Rose in the end.
I was also dismayed that despite the similarities between the uncles and the real-life Simon Rodia who created the Watts Towers (in Los Angeles, before the Watts Riots), the author didn't use the wonderful, heroic victory that was achieved there. Outsider artists, tower builders, and immigrants grappling with foreign city regulations, could really appreciate the Watts Towers, and the famous "stress test" that proved to the city's engineers that his construction was as strong as it needed to be. It was a ringing confirmation that pursuing your own creative expression deserves its own place in our culture.
You can go on a tour of his towers now that they are restored, and learn about his life, and then you will wish that Konigsburg had used more details of his true story in hers.
Rating: 
Summary: In the shadow of three towers
Review: I was going to begin this review with some snarky remark somewhere along the lines of, "As E.L. Konigsburg gets older, the children in her novels become less recognizably childlike and more increasingly adult". Then I rethought that little statement. It's unfair to say that Konigsburg has only recently made her children miniature adults. After all, she's been doing it from the start. Pick up, "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler", and you'll note that even back in 1967 Konigsburg's characters were more inclined to sigh and utter striking notes of middle-class ennui than do something particularly childlike like read comic books or chew bubble gum. "The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place" is just the latest in a long line of adult-like kids in adult situations acting like adults (but short ones with fewer rights and no driving licenses). It's a fun book. An amusing adventure that draws on several different storylines and brings them all together effortlessly by the story's close. And it is undoubtedly the most grown-up of Konigsburg's books to date. Whether that hurts the story or not is up to you.
Margaret Rose has suffered a nasty shock. Her beloved Hungerian uncles have not, to her amazement, offered to take her in for the summer while her parents go on an archeological dig. That means she's stuck at summer camp in a cabin with some particularly malicious girls. In a normal children's book, this would mean that our heroine would spend the rest of the novel either outwitting her enemies or avoiding them. Instead, Margaret is saved after a mere two weeks of camp by her aforementioned uncles. Ensconced at their home on 19 Schuyler Place the girl usually takes a great deal of pleasure in viewing and painting her uncles' three magnificent ridiculous towers of glass and steel. Soon, however, it becomes clear why the uncles didn't offer to take in Margaret Rose from the start. It seems the local neighborhood association has insisted that the towers are unsafe, gaudy, and lower property values. Soon they will be coming down and unless Margaret Rose can come up with a plan, three beautiful things may soon be destroyed.
The book is set in the 1980s, making it perhaps one of the first works of historical 1980s children's fiction I've ever encountered. Characters in the story are smart and well-formed. Konigsburg's ear for dialogue stands her in good stead here with the amusing running arguments between the two uncles. Other characters include Mrs. Kaplan who rules the camp at which Margaret Rose briefly stays and is simultaneously pitiable and (not to put too fine a point on it) a spiritual twin of Nurse Ratchet in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Mrs. Kaplan's son, Jake, is a fellow who previously gave up on his dreams and is only now slowly coming around to living his own life, via the towers. And then there's Margaret Rose.
Alas poor Margaret Rose. This is a twelve-year-old girl prone to making statements along the lines of, "I prefer not to" ala Bartleby the Scrivener. When asked why she has rejected the camp's half-hearted attempts to befriend her, Margaret Rose replies, "Because you are destroying my self-image". Please... please anyone... please locate the twelve-year-old out there that bandies about the phrase, "self-image" when they're talking about their problems. I'm not saying that there isn't a rare child here and there who might take an odd pleasure in such terms, but in Konigsburg's books they're a dime a dozen. Which makes Margaret Rose a weak carbon copy of many of the characters Konigsburg has written about before.
None of this is to say that the book doesn't make for good reading. I'm just not certain how interested kids would be in Home Owner Associations and the recorded public records of city council meetings. The author is at her best when she talks about the uncles and their towers. Like the towers in fellow children's book, "The Wind Singer" by William Nicholson (a great and under-read book), these structures create an eerie beautiful music when the time is right. Like the towers in J.R.R. Tolkein's, "The Two Towers" they conjure up majesty and great power. They are the focal point of this book, and a wonderful one at that.
As you've undoubtedly caught on to, I'm not exactly running for the Greatest Konigsburg Fan nomination at this time. I like her work in general, but her specific books sometimes rub me the wrong way. "The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place" has a lot going for it. And if you get around the political elements (and some odd moments regarding Margeret Rose's mom's childhood friends) the book is a fairly fun read for your average 6th grader. It's not going to knock your socks off, but it's enjoyable. Mildly, vaguely, oh-so-slightly enjoyable
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Just WONDERFUL. This "rose rose" will be one of my life long friends. I want to carry it with me to the heaven. I highly recommend this book and hope that you too can enjoy it!
E.L. Konigsburg's genius for storytelling is, as far as I know, without equal. She must be a three-time Newberry Medal winner.
Rating:
Summary: Konigsberg At Her Best
Review: Margaret Rose Kane has been saved. After a disastrous stay at Camp Telequa, Margaret's beloved Uncles agree she can stay with them for the rest of the summer. Margaret's quirky Uncles Alex and Morris have been living at 19 Schuyler Place for 40 years and during this time they have built three magnificent towers. As Margaret recovers from a Camp Director who attempted to strangle Margaret's spirit, she soon discovers that perhaps her Uncles are just as much in need of saving. Written as a companion to Silent to the Bone this book will remind fans far more of A View from Saturday. Embodied with a delightfully offbeat sense of humor and wonderful artistic and literary references, readers will find much to like in this satisfying tale.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put It Down
Review: My 30 year old sister gave it to me (her significantly older sister) and our mother...we all loved it. I started reading and couldn't put it down. Love a book that doesn't dumb down because the target audience is younger than college age...E.L.K. uses great vocabulary and refers to interesting places and things in the world without pulling us out of the story.
The story is the thing...funny, touching, and suspenseful.
Colorful writing is nothing without a good story and characters you care about and I was in love with Margaret Rose Kane and her uncles right off the bat.
Went out and bought two other E.L.K. books - hoping for a similarly pleasant experience.
Rating:
Summary: Great Candidate for 2004 Newberry
Review: Respected author E. L. Konigsburg is in fine form and high spirits in this latest book. While the characters are witty and sure to appeal to readers who often find themselves on the fringes of society, the real strong point of the book is its message. The first matter handled here is the need to be an individual. Margaret, as well as much of the cast, prefers to march to her own beat and is capable of handling the pressure. This theme runs as an undercurrent, something that is taken for granted rather than presented as the leading difficulty. The second major theme is the purpose or 'apurpose' of art. Taking a page from Wilde, Konigsburg proudly stands up for all art- art in school, art at home, art in public- as being quite useless and beautiful for it. While once or twice almost getting weighed down in expansive speeches, this theme shines through. The third and most subtle theme is one of life. It took me a while to realize what about this book was so stunning and it is that unlike most books, 'Outcasts' recognizes that no event or set of events can ever make life perfect. Regardless of the Towers' fate (I wouldn't dare tell you), Margaret's life goes on. People hurt one another, people change, people die and nothing can alter that. But it is art and the experience of a life lived artfully that can make all things bearable. Many books tell children that by overcoming some obstacle, everything that goes wrong in life can be fixed. Konigsburg teaches here that while much can be fixed, life will never be without struggle. And that it is how you live your life that makes the difference. For that reason, I think the book makes a wonderful read and a stong candidate for 2004. 'Outcasts' is a thing of beauty- from its glorious cover art to the detailed craft of the writing and it has certainly set the standard for any books premiering this coming year.
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