The View from Saturday

Rating:
Summary: Characters without Flaws
Review: This books starts out okay, and you belive that it will be another "Mixed up files" caliber book. But it is not. The main problem I see is the main characters, The Souls, don't have any real flaws. Oh yeah, sure Noah is a little know-it-all, but thats as worse as it gets. They all just do everything right and win win win. The teacher being in a wheelchair starts out promising, but it is underdeveloped and you just feel like the author was making another ploy to tell you how great it was that these four kids and their teacher made it this far. The reader is left feelling cheated that their intelligence is not accounted for. Everything is black and white in this book. I had to force myself to finish it.

Rating:
Summary: One Of the Finest Novels Yet!
Review: The View From Saturday is one of the best novels that's ever been written. It has exceedingly interesting characters, a wonderful plot, and meaningful moral. Every chapter keeps you interested and not one is underacheived. It is about four brillaint sixth graders, who unlikely become friends and call themselves The Souls. Their teacher, Mrs. Olinksi, chooses these four students for her Academic Bowl and they win against 6th, 7th, and 8th graders! This story is about friendship and teamwork, and when you finish, you will never look at life with the same perspective. I can say, if you buy this book, you will never want to put it down!

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: When four sixth grade students and an amazing teacher come together to form The Souls, an academic quiz bowl team, everyone is amazed at how far the students go in competition. Throughout the book when these four students take a journey to form a special friendship, the reader gets so involved in everything that is happening with the characters. Each child comes from a different background and is special in their own way but they combine their abilities to form an amazing foursome of intelligent children. Not only do their differences bring them together but their differences also help The Souls to compete with some of the best teams around. I enjoyed following the characters throughout the book and seeing how each of them grow as a person. The book also addresses a teacher with a physical disability and how students react to her and the acceptance that The Souls have for her. It's a book that really shows a form of bond between four exceptional children and a teacher. A View From Saturday was a terrific book! It really captured the importance of how special every child is and the abilities that each of them has. The friendship that is built throughout the book is so meaningful and so full of life! A View From Saturday is a must read by all!

Rating:
Summary: Beat me to death with metaphors and we'll all sing Kumbyya
Review: Ms. Konigsburg has been gazing too hard into her crystals. The book is quite confusing. All of the characters are interconnected, except for Julian Singh. There is one heavy handed metaphor after another. The town is named Epiphany--"a relatory manifestation of a divine being or a spiritual event in which the essence of a given object of manifestation appears to the subject, as in a sudden flash of recognition." (American Heritage Dictionary) There are definite overtones of New Ageism. The children (?) call themselves The Souls, very
mystical. The implication is that these are "old" souls who have come together to create harmony, joy, and acceptance. An amazing epiphany in the school, town, their lives.

These children are all one dimensional, and competent in the extreme. I have never seen real 12 year olds who are quite this cool, calm, collected, and well organized. The only character who has any faults is Nadia, but her impatience and resentment melt away like the fog on a sunny day after she becomes part of the group. All of these children seem to be socially marginalized, but in their synergy they create peace, acceptance and harmony throughout their lives, school and the town.

No one learns calligraphy in just a few hours of practise. Cream is never, never used in tea. The fat content overpowers the delicate flavor of the tea. Only milk, lemon and/or sugar are used. The Sargasso Sea is not "just off" the coast of Florida. It is most commonly in an area of the Atlantic between longitude 35 and 70 degrees west and latitude 25 and 32 degrees north. Loggerhead turtles primarily feed off of jellyfish. Hecate helped search Hades for Persophone, a good deed, and bestowed wealth and blessings on daily life. (Encyclopaedia Brittanica) Sorcerers and witches, in Greek life, perfomed both good and evil. So, "ink as black as Hecate's soul" is erroneous. Perhaps Konigsburg could have more accurately written "ink as black as Hecate's dogs," which would have been more accurate.

This book is quite confusing to read. The children are just too good to be true. The metaphors are indigestible. "The Mixed-up Files..." is a far superior book. Read that one instead.

Rating:
Summary: Not her best...
Review: There were a lot of things in this book I didn't like, but the rest of the book makes up for it. The stories are great, and everything fits together. I just didn't get the ending. I also like the list of questions asked in the back of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: One of the best books of all time, The View from Saturday starts at a tea party---sort of.

The sixth-graders from Epiphany Middle School were not expected to do well in the Academic Bowl by anyone except themselves. The whole story is about the connections between the team members, all summed up in a single tea party.

Nadia tells of her experiences with turtles
Noah goes to a wedding in a retirement complex
Ethan rides home from school
Julian hosts a tea party

Each of these experiences makes the team more special- each makes them closer to winning.

READ IT!

Rating:
Summary: The View From Saturday
Review: The View From Saturday is about five main characters that have totlly different views about everything in the beginning. Then, after Julian Singh moved to Epiphany, everybody starts to come together. Eventually they become the "souls". And to make it better, Ms. Olinski, the first paraplegic 6th grade teacher in the county becomes the soul's teacher and that brings them even closer together.
When Ms. Olinski has to pick their 6th grade tem for the Brain Bowl Tournament, guess who she picks? That's right! Ethan, Noah, Nadia, and Julian, The Souls. And this was even after being told that she had chosen the wrong members for the team. They, the Souls, went farther than any of the other 6th, 7th, or 8th grade teams. To find out exactly how far they sent, you are going to have to read The View From Saturday.

Rating:
Summary: The Worlds Greatest Souls
Review: This is a definite five star book! The mood draws you in, and it made me feel like I knew these kids, and I was apart of them. Why did Mrs. Eva Marie Olinski put Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian on her team for the Academic Bowl? And what were the odds of them beating, no, not beating, trouncing, both sixth grade teams? And then might they beat the seventh grade? And the eight grade?? They called themselves the Souls, because that's what they were, the souls of each other. It's hard not to give the whole book away, but if you like soulful reading that is made for the person who likes to wonder, this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: A View From Saturday, needs review readers (really)
Review: "This is the best book I ever read" says an anonymous reader. The book "A View from Saturday" is a story in which it teaches you that you have to work hard to succeed in things. The author is E.L. Koenigsburg and the main characters are Noah, Nadia, Ethan, and Julian and there group name is "The Souls". It all takes place at there clubhouse and the problem is that "The Souls" have been entered into a Middle School Competition when they are only in 6th grade! Read the book to find out if they can do it or not.
You should read the book because it has to do with real problems in the real world. " The Souls" believe that they are a little to young to be entering contests. They think that 6th graders should be having fun before Middle School instead of working. " The View from Saturday" is an excellent book that almost all critics love because it has won the Newberry Award. This book is challenging because it has a lot of big words and it has a lot of pages.

Rating:
Summary: It's the Greatest!
Review: ... E.L. Koningsburg has a very accurate description of how much effort, teamwork, and friendship it takes to be really good at one thing, when your teamates know the rest. I totally recommend this book!