The View from Saturday

I am an intense bibliophile who happens to be a freshman in highschool. I am extremely busy, but I am always to pause to take time to read a good book. I had read all of the books in our house, and was eye-ing the dictionary with considerable intrest (hey, I was desperate),when I decided to re-examine the family bookshelve for a good read. I came across "The View From Saturday". When I read the back, I knew I just had to read this book. I was already intrigued on how the academic team was chosen, why they worked together so well, and what it meant by "the view from saturday". I began to read this book, and was hooked. The characters were real, the plotline fresh, the ending (slightly ambiguous) thought provoking.
I cannot give this story a worthy synopsis; it is to noble and intricate for that. The other 288 reviews have good summaries as well. I can only give my opinion and heart after reading this memorable book.
This book was,like I stated before, a memorable book. It was touching in a way that many books aren't to highschool students. Yes, I said highschool. This is because I believe that "A View From Saturday" is a book meant to be read from grades 8 and up. This is because of the underlying themes, ideas, humorous statements, ideals, and challenges. I am not implying that this book was explicit, or not clean enough for younger readers. It is just that if the messages and heartwarming friendships in this novel are to be realized, they would be recognized by a higher age group. As I said before, this book is a challenge. It's a challenge to examine friendships to see if they are really deep, or just superficial. It is a book that plays across the mind when it is being read, and leaves an imprint on the heart to be felt after. This book has been honored the Newberry Award. It deserves something far greater for its originality. I would say that children and teens everywhere should read this. However, this book can't be forced upon by a summer reading list or a teacher. This book is meant to be discovered.

I will end with this,if you are looking for a good read that is worth while and stays with you, then please, read this book.

Please don't write reviews about how confusing it is when I can understand all of it, even though im eleven and not a super genius.

This is a great book for people who can understand it and it definitely deserves the newberry medal despite what althe 1 stars think.

From the superficial point of view, Nadia, Noah, Ethan, and Julian are the quintessential portraits of typical middle school students. However, E.L. Konigsburg, author of The View From Saturday, develops these characters to be anything but typical. In The View From Saturday, Konigsburg delivers the individual story of each of these students and how their personal pasts eventually binds them together as The Souls. The Souls were each carefully selected by their teacher, Mrs. Olinski, to be the elite members of the academic quiz team. Yet, Mrs. Olinski is puzzled by the fact that she can not specifically explain why she was drawn to each of these students. The Souls know why they were chosen for the quiz team, and it is not until the end that Mrs. Olinski realizes how she chose each member and why they were so successful. Through the questions asked at the academic quiz bowl, Konigsburg allows the reader to discover each character individually, and shows how their personal experiences made them well prepared for the team. Though "book knowledge" is essential for a mature intellect, Konigsburg show that the journey in the sea of life experiences can lead to the greatest teachings of all. Konigsburg first shows how the past experiences of her students aided them in the academic quiz bowl. Each chapter begins with a scene from the academic quiz bowl in which the prestigious superintendent of education asks one question. One by one, through each chapter, Nadia, Noah, Ethan, and Julian buzz in with the correct answer. Their answers are derived from personal experiences, which allow Konigsburg to develop each character individually in accordance with the question. The Souls' responses did not originate in some text they read, but rather from first hand adventures in which they unconsciously gained greater knowledge. Noah is the first of The Souls team members to buzz in. He correctly identifies the meaning and origin of the work "calligraphy". Noah did not spend hours studying the dictionary, but was taught how to use a calligraphy pen by his grandparent's friend Tillie. Noah used calligraphy to write invitations to the wedding of Ethan's grandmother and Nadia's grandfather. Nadia, who had long since been an active member in helping sea turtles, was able to answer a question about the North Atlantic Ocean. Ethan's experiences also aided in their victory at the Academic Bowl. Because of Ethan's experiences with his heritage and his permanent residency in New York, he knew who New York's four most famous women were. Finally, Julian's many years of living on a cruise ship enabled him to correctly identify the navigational acronym POSH. Each of these four students came from different backgrounds, but it was their backgrounds that made them so successful in the academic quiz bowl. Konigsburg shows, quite clearly, that their success was mainly due to knowledge that they learned out in the real world, not a textbook. Konigsburg characters exemplify the importance of being aware that interactions with other people, nature, and society can foster intelligence. Korigsburg also uses the knowledge The Souls derived from experience to improve their social relationships. The knowledge they gained from hands-on learning was not only important in the academic sense but also in their interactions with other people. Nadia, while working with the sea turtles, learned that sometimes the baby sea turtles needed to be manually transported out into the ocean. She applied this idea to her relationship with her father. She realized there would be hard times between her and her father and they would "need a lift" to get back with each other. While learning the art of calligraphy, Noah was taught by Tillie that, in calligraphy, "less is more". Noah used this saying in his relationship with Nadia; sometimes they would disagree, but fewer words meant more. Julian also applied his unique experiences to the betterment of relationships. Because Julian was the victim of unpopularity at school, he tried to erase the word "cripple" from the blackboard before Mrs. Olinski, who was paraplegic, got her feelings hurt. The Souls did not learn their mannerisms from information given in a classroom or literary work, but, again, from personal experiences created by Konigsburg. These personal experiences became apart of who each character was and their knowledge of how to interact with their surrounding environment. In the end, Konigsburg ties together all her characters by showing the common knowledge gained by their involvement in a real world setting. Each of The Souls found insight in the world around them and they each had something unique to add to the group. This is why Mrs. Olinski chose the members as she did; for their worldly wisdom, not "book smarts". As Publishers weekly puts it, "Konigsburg orchestrates a stunning quartet of harmoniously blended voices. She expresses the individual struggles of each of her characters while showing how they unite to reach a common goal. Wrought with deep compassion and a keen sense of balance, her imaginative novel affirms the existence of small miracles in everyday life."

The View From Saturday is a story about the incredible sixth-grade academic bowl team of Epiphany Middle School, in Florida. A determined paraplegic teacher named Mrs. Olinski chose four incredible students: Noah, Nadia, Ethan, and Julian. At first, she didn't know why she chose them, she just knew that they had to be the team. The story alternates between the final quiz bowl match and each person's respective story. All were connected in some way.

The four knew each other, but they didn't become The Souls until the Indian student who had lived on a cruise ship invited everyone for tea on Saturday morning. This became a ritual, as did learning calligraphy. Noah, Nadia, Ethan, and Julian became The Souls, and together the incredibly twelve-year-olds did the impossible.

This story is incredibly well-written. A far cry from the typical devastating, soul-devouring pain that I have grown used to in Newbery winners and honor books, The View From Saturday mixes a great deal of humor with the great deal of emotion in the book, so it remains fairly balanced. It also has a happy ending. I get emotional just thinking about the story. I feel almost like part of their group when I read it; perhaps that is why The View From Saturday is one of my all-time favorite books. Each student is troubled somehow, and each one overcomes to be part of a championship team. They do this both on their own and with the help of the other Souls.

The View From Saturday is most suitable for upper elementary students, grades 4-6, because of the reading difficulty and because the older students will be able to better identify with the characters.

The View From Saturday is a wonderful book.I think it was very well written.Though as much as I liked it I must admit it is a confusing book. So most people who didn't like it don't get it. It is definatley a book for readers of a high level. The story shows many different points of veiw of seventh graders. It shows their different personalities and interests. Like Nadia's fascination with turtles or Julians knowledge of Languge and culture all around. Plus it is fun how the charcters relate to each other. I would very much so recomend this book to readers at a higher level.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked how the author chose to switch back and forth from present to past to explain how the children answered the quiz questions. I love how I was slowly drawn into the lives of each character. I wanted to know how each one related to each other. The ending is sweet and touching, how the children were trying to lift the spirits of their teacher. I recommend this book for upper elementary or middle school level reading.

Ever think what must be going through the minds of trivia contestants? Behind every answer they provide there is a story behind it.

Konigsburg's logical structure for this story is woven like a fine handmade carpet with beautiful patterns and plot knots that make this book as a whole greater than the sum of its characters.

In the end, it's all about the tea party on Saturdays--always at four o'clock in the afternoon.

I am an ardent reader. I read The View from Saturday and was very delighted. It was an exciting and very interesting adventure into four children's lives that were barely related and at the end were the main subject in the community's everyday lives. How did the "not so popular" students--Nadia, Ethan, Noah, and Julian do something historical that was never accomplished at Epiphany High? Is one of the many questions that are asked and will be answered by the many action-packed events that these students had to go through.
This book is so phenomenal because you can relate to the characters so well, that it is just amazing. You just wish that you were there to help or support the character when something terribly bad has occurred to him or her. I had tears in my eyes because I knew how a specific character felt when something had happened to him because I have been in the same situation.
E.L. Konigsburg uses such strong and vivid language that she makes us feel what the main character(s) is feeling. She doesn't tell us that a penny is a penny, but she shows and describes it to us in such a way that you have never thought of before. Mrs. Konigsburg makes us see things in a whole new and different way, she makes us see the unseen and experience the inexperienced by just relating a couple of things.
I would recommend this book to teenagers and children, ages eight through thirteen who enjoy fiction books that are completely "action-packed". Once you start reading the first chapter you will want to keep on reading and not put the book down because the story is very catchy. At the end of each chapter she leaves you hanging and you want to know what happens next, so you keep on reading until you find yourself done with the book.

E.L. Konigsburg starts out kind of slow like she doesn't have very many ideas. But then she gets more ideas and it becomes so good that I can't put it down. The end is sort of like the beginning because she runs out of ideas. I write like that too. I like all of the characters but Nadia is my favorite. I'm a tiny bit like her because my parents are divorced and I don't get to see my Dad as much as I get to see my Mom. I know it must be hard for her because her Dad is so nervous and spends all of his child custody time on turtle walks with Margaret. That makes Nadia really mad and I can see why. It also is hard for her to move to New York because she is moving away from all her friends and when she is trying to be friends again she finds out that they weren't as good friends as she thought. I also felt sorry for Julian at the beginning because he was new and sort of weird and he didn't make any friends except for Ethan, but in the end I got to know him better and it seemed like he was a stronger person. I really like his English accent and the part where Mrs. Olinski is trying to find out who to pick for her team and she was thinking of Julian and she said "He was smart (or else his English accent made him seem so). And he was sophisticated (or else his English accent made him seem so)." I think that is funny.

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!

The View From Saturday is calm, peaceful, and welcoming. Author, Konigsburg portrays the lives one excellent teacher, and her four student members of the academic bowl team. Mrs. Olinski, a brave sixth grade teacher, who has become wheelchair bound from a car accident, feels a little insecure about life in general until she finds the perfect fit for the four empty positions of the sixth grade academic team. "The Souls," as they call themselves come together to form one outstanding team that takes Mrs. Olinksi all the way to the finals. Through the building camaraderie of the team, and the everlasting friendships being made, the story unravels to a beautifully written tale of friendship at its truest form. The "Souls," Noah, Nadia, Ethan, and Julian, are all individual characters that are brought full circle through the excellent structure and illumination of the right word choice made by Konigsburg. The structure taken to explore this fascinating story keeps readers interested and helps to easily connect readers on a personal basis with the characters. Konigsburg separates herself from her peers and individualizes this title by alternating the point of view from third to first through out the pages of the book. She starts this story off with a third person view account of Mrs. Olinksi and the "Souls" at the academic bowl finals. As each chapter unfolds, Konigsburg explores each character through a first person narrative of events unfolding that lead up to the final academic bowl. Each chapter alternates back and forth from the third person take of the academic bowl to each characters personal narrative, allowing for readers to get to know the characters through all points of view. This Newbery Award winner explores some serious real life issues such a death, disability, and divorce, but does so in a light manner. As each character struggles with self-discovery, they all come together academically and personally creating loyal friendships that will last a lifetime. The characters of this story have the time to take out of their busy lives to sit and have some tea to reflect what is important in life reminding readers to reflect on the importance of relationships in their own lives. Konigsburg ties her realistic theme of friendship with an interesting structure to create an excellent story that will warm readers heartstrings and leave a lasting impression.

This is without a doubt, one of my all-time favorites! I am a 40-something with no children, but when I heard the NPR on-air book club discussion of THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY, I had to rush to buy it. It is a joy to read! E. L. Konigsburg gets my vote for one of the best all-around YA authors. I still adore the first book I read by her - FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKENWEILER.
Kudos to this great talent!

... View From Saturday, was an enrapturing and classy leaf to ponder. I admit, Nadia's part of the story was not as exciting or fast-paced, but one cannot demand everything from a busy author. Julian, the East Indian, is a charismatic and fantastic character, showing us what true character really is. His inviting the others for "tea" really stabilizes the book and reinforces the idea that Earth really does still have innocence and courtesy.
Remember...tea is always at four!

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful book! This is a great example of using more than one view in a plot. The characters in this book are very knowable and sympathetic. By combining so many different personalities in these characters, Konigsburg has created a story that will become as much as a classic as "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler". By using a teacher to place four kids in a competitive situation, the reader gets a chance to understand how these kids think and feel. The reader also gets to see how their feelings changes towards each other and towards others. Very much a coming of age type book. An excellent read!

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.

The View from Saturday is like a mysterious puzzle with lost pieces that are found and fit together with every turn of the page! Because of the style in which this book is written, I think this book is an excellent tool to illustrate perspective and point of view. I am an elementary teacher and I am considering using this book in my classroom. This is a book that both the young, and young-at-heart will enjoy!

"The View from Saturday" is written as a reminiscence, with a nostalgic tone so artificially sweet, it is at times nearly too sugary to bear. The last sentence of every page break or chapter vies for immense significance but instead gives the book's over-all impression too much sentimentality.

The novel itself is structured to bridge several different stories together, so it is appropriate that the main characters find their lives woven together. However, intertwining of their lives is in many places so extreme, and appears so often, it becomes a little trite. "Less is more" is repeated throughout the story, so it's surprising the author did not use the "less is more" approach when writing the coincidences that bring the characters together.

It's really not a bad book at all, and the message is very positive, but it's hard for me to fathom that this was really the best children's book published that year. A better read is E. L. Konigsburg's other Newbery Medal award winner, "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler."

I read this book 15 years ago as a selection of a mother (me) daughter book club. it's as vivid in my mind as if I read it yesterday ( and I've probably read many hundreds of books since). the stories are as riveting as they are well-written. great book.

Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian started out as sixth grade classmates, but evolved into The Souls. Each Year,Mrs. Olinsky, the sixth grade teacher chooses as four person academic bowl team. This team competes in the grade and if they win they go on to compete in other competitions. Together this team accomplished wonderful things, such as winning the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade competitions. Nobody knew why they were chosen, and Mrs. Olinsky, the teacher, doesnt exactly know why she chose them either. So, fate brought them together to create a wonderful friendship that will last a lifetime and this shows through an extraordinary story of sucess of a team, calss, school and friends. In my opinion Noah is the most interesting character in this story. He likes to write in calligraphy, and enjoys spending time with relatives. At times he also complains about his family. Noah tells the long story of how he was the best man at the wedding of his grandparents' friends. I enjoyed reading about each of the diverse characters. The View from Saturday can appeal to a wide spread of people because of the interesting plot and way it is written. Many people have loved reading this book as you can see because it has won many awards, and I think E.L. Knonigsburg is a fantastidc author.

I loved this book... both times I read it. The View From Saturday is one of those books you can enjoy at any age. When I first read this book about three years ago I really liked it but I never really understood the connection between the four "Souls"(Julian,Noah,Nadia,and Ethan)When I re-read the book about two weeks ago for a school book club. I finally caught on to that and why the book is titled what it is. I would recommend this book to anyone of any age who wants to see a different view of the world ... The View From Saturday.

I loved this book... both times I read it. The View From Saturday is one of those books you can enjoy at any age. When I first read this book about three years ago I really liked it but I never really understood the connection between the four "Souls"(Julian,Noah,Nadia,and Ethan)When I re-read the book about two weeks ago for a school book club. I finally caught on to that and why the book is titled what it is. I would recommend this book to anyone of any age who wants to see a different view of the world ... The View From Saturday.

Nadia Diamondstein, Julian Singh, Ethan Potter, and Noah Gershom were "just kids" without one another. The first character is Nadia, the owner of an exceptionally smart dog and whose grandfather gets married over the summer. Julian, a stranger from England who knows magic and has a father who starts a Bed and Breakfast. Next in line is Ethan, the quiet child whose grandmother weds Nadia's grandfather. And Noah is the unlikely best man at the wedding, who always has a plan.
Together, however, the sixth graders formed The Souls, a tea partying, academic-quiz bowl playing, calligraphy-writing foursome who overcomes all odds to evolve into their true selves.
I loved this book. The View from Saturday was an amazing combination of well-written humor and an intricately woven plot line. This book was made for all people to read, it is a heartwarming tale that makes you want to go out and do something good for this crazy world.

I am a fifth grade teacher and I teach a cluster group of aboutfive gifted students in my classroom each year. I read A View FromSaturday at home this year and fell in love. The Mixed Up Files is one of our fifth grade novels, so I was interested in this new book. It is marvelous! The characters are so realistic. I can see my gifted students identifying with the kids in this book. If you are a student in a gifted education program, or a parent of a gifted student, read this book! At the end of the year I went out and bought a copy of it for each of my five students. Inside I wrote what I believe is the moral of the story, "People will not recognize or remember you for your intelligence. They will remember you for your kindness and the impressions you make on them personally." Enjoy. The author did a wonderful thing in writing this book.

The View From Saturday was unbelievably bad. From all the gloating reviews I thought this book might have been somewhat good. But the reviews and wonderful comments were misplaced. The comments the book was given like "Great Humor" wasn't even close. The book was greatly confusing and really stupid. You know who wins the final Academic bowl on the first page! So what is even the point of writing on about it even though you know what's going to happen?
It was confusing because it seems as though everyone's last name is Diamondstine and everyone is either related to sone or the other that someone konws. I often got Nadia and Noah confused becuse their names both began with the letter N. They exaggerated the most unimportant parts. like, "I dont care what you dont know about me, I want to know what you do know about me that I dont know you know!" There is someone else narriating different chapters. It is either Nathan and his life or Nadia and her life or even a third person once in a while. The author has to put the person's name of who is narrating, like "Julian Narrates." Any author that has to do that has poor writing skills and problems.
Though thw author did put different perspectives of different kids was good but she put the book in an incomplete order and in a disorderly fassion.
She writes in a mature way that kids our age dont use or let alone even know the meaning of the words. I dont think taht adults even use the words the words that are put in the book.
The fact that she said before starting something true was completely retarted and it ruined the flow of the parragraph, that is if there even was a flow.
Obviously this book was the winner of the Newberry Medal but was judged by adults who like the maturity of the book. I am not saying she didn't deserve the award I am saying if this is a kid's book kids should be the ones judging because we are the ones who are going ot be reading it not adults.
sorry to say but this book was awful and I definitely don't recommend it and I want my time I read this book back!

I would like to respond to the snotty reviewer who demands Konigsburg made up the TIP acronym and got it wrong. While in today's standard English "ensure" would be grammatically correct, at the time of the origination of the "tip" jar in 18th century England creative or non-standard spelling was quite common. The acronym is correct and if you don't believe me, look it up in Webster's dictionary, they concur with Julian and the corrected Academic Bowl judges.

The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg is about a group of children who are part of a county-wide tournament. The book tells the story of how these kids first met, and became "The Souls". The story starts out at one section of the tournament, and goes back in time 6 months to the time when the kids first met each other.
This is book is very interesting, and entertaining. It influenced me in a way I would've never have thought it could've, since it shows that there are people in the world that include others even if they are of differant nationalities. If you ever have a free afternoon pick up a copy of the book, and enjoy!

I love this book! I see that all the characters are very similar to me, especially Ethan, Nadia, and Julian. I would definately reccomend this book to people who like reading and are more sophisticated and quiet people rather than sporty and loud and all that comes with that. Wonderful book.

This is a very good book about a sixth grade academic quiz bowl team. They are all good characters with unique stories that sometimes overlap. I don't think this book is very realistic, but it is very interesting. It is nice to see eleven-year-olds who are mature and get along, but it doesn't happen like that much in real life, does it? The story is very sweet, and there are quiz bowl questions put in between chapters for fun. The questions magically tie into the story, though.

I really loved this book. By the description of it i wasnt intrested. It sounds really boring, i mean really who cares about smart kids? Boy was I wrong! I was pulled in by Noah, the boy who knows a quite a bit about everything imaginably and master storyteller, was slighty annoyed yet intrested by Nadia, the hybrid and owner of the genius dog Ginger. Also i learned that slience was not always a bad thing when i met Ethan, discoverer of halos and knee socks and who can forget Julian the half Indian who started it all by asking them over for tea. Meet a brunette, a blonde, and a kid with hair as black as print on paper. These are the souls.

As a teacher to be, I was impressed with how this book captures your attention from page one and maintains it through out the book. What interested me into reading it, was that the teacher was a paraplegic, however what kept me interested is how each student shared their story around the answer to the question being asked at the Academic Bowl.
I fell in love with the characters and what they stood for. This book is full of little lessons from questions at the Acedemic Bowl, to the importance of team work, to even how everything we do in life is a lesson we will need for the future.
What an inspiring book. This would be a great book to read to the class...especially a sixth grade class.

When is the last time a book made you laugh out loud? This humorous, fiction book The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsberg will make you laugh and think. I think this book is an excellent choice if you love humorous books!! Though there are so many different conflicts and plots going on in each chapter it is hard to keep track of who is going where and what is happening to what. If you like this book you might try reading The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Eli Basil also by E.L. Konigsberg. I think this is the perfect book for kids in fifth through eighth grade. So I encourage you to read this fabulous and exciting book.

This book is full of suprises, starting from the very begining of the book all the way to the end. It is like a puzzle, filled with pieces that you have to put together. Four kids, who seemed they had nothing in common, were selected by there teacher, Mrs. Olinski, to be in a academic bowl. Everyone wanted to know, why did she choose these four people, but she didn't even know why. I recemend this book to people who like realistic fiction with a little bit of mystery mixed in. Find out how Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian are all connected, why Mrs. Olinski chose them and much more in this interesting book.

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.

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.

Overall, The View from Saturday is pretty good. It has some interesting plots and unique characters. But it's very confusing and extremly...uh... different. To enjoy this book you must have an open mind. If you want to lay back and read to relax your mind, this book is not for you. It will give you a headache trying to figure out what's going on. This book is for people who think beyond the obvious on a daily basis, love to expand their mind, and like to see things in all different perspectives.

I do think that E.L. Konigsburg is a fabulous writer, but I felt this book was a bit of a letdown. I enjoyed the first part of it, but later felt little bored. Reading the book is definitely like putting a puzzle together. The pieces started falling in place for me, but by the end, the big picture wasn't as brilliant as I had expected.

I have taught this in my classroom every year since 2000! I absolutely love it. I've used it in 6th grade and currently in 5th grade. The book easily lends itself to teaching about point of view and a host of other reading skills. Point of view is the skill I think the kids enjoy the most when using this book because each chapter is told from the perspective of a different character. The theme is friendship and genre is realistic fiction in a modern setting. I cannot recommend this book enough! It will always be one of my favorite teaching novels!

The View From Saturday is about a teacher whose sixth grade class just won the Academic Bowl, and are now challenged to beat the seventh grade. This book caught my interest at the beginning, but it changes back and forth through many different plots. This book can become very confusing, but the many plots all tie together at the end of the book. I would recommend this book to sixth or seventh graders because it is about kids in these grades. It would be harder to understand The View From Saturday if you aren't at least in fifth grade.

I truly enjoyed this book. Konigsburg took the individual stories of four sixth graders and connected them all together to create a novel of friendships, hope and understanding. This is a book to be shared with others. Great for literature circles.

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!

It started out as seprate journey, until Nadia Diamondstein, Noah Gershod, Ethan Potter, and Julian Singh cross paths at a tea party at the Sillington House. After wonderful discovery and confusing mishaps they set out to help their teacther "get back on her feet....when she doesn't have a leg to stand on". Being an avid reader who reads anyhting from Shakespeare to Dr.Seuss, I don't usually "enter the book, or relate to the characters". But this book welcomed me in and now has a place on my shelf with my other Shakespearean,Charles Dickens and Dr. Seuss classics.
Jasmine-age 13

This book faild for me on SO many levels. I hated having to discern whay charachter goes where… it seemed like a jumbled mes! Even at tje end of the book I was trying to figure out what Noah was doing at the wedding in the beggining of tje book.

Furthermore, the whole thing with Mrs. Olinski just knowing that the four she choose were goin to pull through was frustrating and mad NO sence! I mean, she knew full well that the hellicopter parents of the honor role srudents would be upset, and honestly, rightly so as Mrs Olinski gave the students no chance to prove themselves. Some o the parents couldve complined to the principal and then where would she be?

SPOILERS BELOW:

Another perplexing point of this story was the fact Julian was allowed to push his POSH and TIP acroynyms, even though it could have cost them the game.

Another thing that annoyed me was the fact the youngest kids of unextrordinary capabilities were winning agaisnt older kids who had been training for this, and hd quite possibly done before.

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.

I think that Konigsburg writes in an intelligent way, considering the age groups that will be reading the book and how they're going to interpret the material.
Telling the story of a sixth grade academic team, and how they can pull together to become friends, 'The View From Saturday' is a feel good novel that everyone who loves friendship and a learning experience should read.

The View From Saturday is about four sixth graders and their teacher/Academic coach in the town of Epiphany. The book is told in 4 perspectives of Noah Gershom, Nadia Diamondstein, Ethan Potter, and Julian Singh. Mrs. Eva Marie Olinski is their coach and teacher and for several, but good reasons, she decides to pick these 4 students who call themselves "The Souls" for the Academic Bowl. Throughout the competition, each character flashes back to their journeys. Noah, by accident, is best man at Ethan's grandmother and Nadia's grandfather's wedding when he explains a B & B letter. Nadia is a little on the spastic side and enjoys walking on the beach and saving baby turtles with her genius dog, Ginger, when Nadia tells of turtle love. Ethan is in one of Epiphany's oldest families; he enjoys musicals and performances and is the quietest of the bunch when he explains a B & B inn. And finally Julian, the strangest of the kids, starts it all when he invites the others to a simple tea party.
After being paralyzed waist down in a car crash, Mrs. Olinski comes back to teaching. How and why did she choose "The Souls"? How did this sixth grade quartet win against seventh and eighth graders? In the end, you will find out the answers to these remarkable questions and find out what "The Souls" learned from their "journeys". Read this book to find out and you will always remember that tea is always served at 4:00 PM!!!

The View from Saturday is the only book I have enjoyed reading. I had to read it for a summer reading project and something kept me reading it for hours at a time. It is about four kids who are chose to compete in the middle school level acedemic bowl by thier teacher who returned to teaching ten years after a paralyzing car accident. The four kids become very good friends. I reccomend this book for people who like sucess stories or who like stories that are not true but that can happen.

I absolutely loved this book, reading it for the first time as an adult. I was touched by the convincing characters, by their multi-generational relationships, and how their lives intertwined slowly throughout the book until they form a team bonded by something much deeper than the desire to win.

This book was great. I personaly would not recomend this book to anyone who can not read 6th grade level. The was just a bit confuesing to me and I can propbably read some 9th-10th grade stuff. I am an 8th greader. I read this book over summer vaycay not because I had to but because I wanted to. I thought with the size of it being what is was would take me 5-6 days to read. Guess what, that didn't happen. I read the book in a day. This book will be one I will remember forever!

I was very pleased with this book. It help speed up time with other projects that I had going on at the same time. I would recommend this to any one that might be reading this book. The change in view points with different readers really helped to visualize how each character might have sounded. I would not recommend this book to young readers with out some kind of knowledge about author's points of views and some kind of lessons about each persons summers vacations.

This book makes me want to go to sleep. If I wasn't forced to read it I would of never picked up a book like this. So boring, i can sum it up in one sentence : nerds go to nerd competition and win the end. I asked my teacher why she picked this book and she said because of the amazing vocabulary. We had to write an essay about the life lessons and themes of this book. We had to write like 6 essays ,and she described our essay like a dirty table. My favorite part of the book was the last page because it meant that the book was over.

A View from Saturday has been in my class library for years. However, I just finished reading it. It is a slow read to start, but the flashbacks pull you in to a wonderfully written story. Hmmm I wonder if the writer of Slum Dog Millionaire was inspired by this book in 1996. I could not help noticing a similar format.

When I saw this book I thought it was going to be boring If it wasn't for the teachers I would have never have read it Although it was hilarious! It was pretty good.I don't know if I will read another E.L. Koningsburg book for it was written kinda .......to not exact on the timing of special events!

One of the best books I've read in the area of young adult literature. The plot is terrific as it is anachronistic, and non-linear. It reminded me of a Vonnegut novel in it's irreverance. The author writes from multiple points of view (the "view" from Saturday?), and finally pulls the story together at the end. Super clever, well written, upbeat, and strong characters. Now, will kids like it as much as I did!?

I recommend "The View from Saturday" for kids ages 10 and up. It's a great book! The book is about four sixth graders who are beating the seventh and eighth graders in a sort of word contest. I enjoyed the book because in the book it's interesting that the four sixth graders form a team called "The Souls" and actually beat the seventh and eighth graders. You should read it!

A very well-written book, which explores the intricacies of human relationships without over-simplifying. It is very refreshing to find a children's book which does not talk down to children, and which presents academic excellence as "cool". This book is a wonderful read for children and adults alike.

I was going to write a review, but Sara Hathaway has spared me the time it would take in her "Cloudy View" July 16, 2007 review. I am a grandmother in the process of reading through Newbery winners (a retired elementary teacher, mother of 5, + have 13 grands) and so far am finding it rather tedious and disappointing (See my review for Criss Cross). "View" seemed to promise more, but it just never delivered and so I was disappointed when I got to the end.

It is a wonderful book about four friends and a paraplegic teacher. All of them a related in some different way. This is a captivating book in which you will root for some and jeer the others. The author gets you caught up in each of their different stories. Inspiring you on every page. A must read for sure!

I loved the way there were four short stories, along with the major event(State Academic Bowl Championship). The characters were unforgettable. The plot was great. Definately, the best yet by E.L. Konigsburg. Well worth the time it will take you to read it. Which won't be long because it is impossible to put it down.

I think the book The View from Saturday was a waste of time for the writer. The theme was not so interesting and the characters had no personality. It is not a book I recommend to people.

This book was confusing and did not explain the story so well. On every other page there was a new scene. In the book the author did not explain when the characters went to the academic bowls. Some of the characters did not have a personality although Juilan was my favorite because of his differences. He is different because on the first day of school he wore knee socks and shorts and to the other characters and school that was weird. Another part I thought was a little strange was the theme. If you drink tea with your friends your personality will change.

The book is not worth reading.

This was an okay book. It had its moments when it was really cool but it also had its boring parts. I liked how they tie all the characters in together at the end. But, I thought that they could have gone a little further into actually describing the Academic Bowl. I liked how they were the first sixth grade team to ever compete against an eighth grade team. I also liked how they all bonded together. There were some pretty cool facts in the book that you would not hear everyday. I liked how you learned facts that you would never have known before.

A View from Saturday is a story about four talented sixth graders who win the Acadimic Bowl for their school. I liked the story because the anwsers to the questions are always in the characters auto-biography which followed the questions. Each of the students are different, but are conected in some way. This is what makes it a good story to read.

I had to read this book for school. I found it very confusing and hard to follow. There were too many flashbacks. I felt the plot was boring and there was no climax in the story. This is not how 6th graders act, very unrealistic. The characters in this book actually didn't interrupt each other. Don't bother reading The View from Saturday, unless you like plain boring books.

This book was written quite well, and I very much enjoyed it. To be able to bring the reader to relate to all five main characters [Mrs. Olinski, Noah, Nadia, Ethan, Julian] is a hard task, but this extrodinary writer accomplished it. If you find that it was a boring book, try and write your own newberry winner, it a HARD task.
*~Mila Van Cotta

I haven't even read this book, but when I saw that someone was complaining about the use of "insure" in the novel instead of "ensure", it completely outraged me. Publishers, authors, printers, (and so on) do there best to make a book others will enjoy, and sometimes there are mistakes. Just because there was a bit of a typing error doesn't mean that a reviewer needs to get all up in their face about it! Things happen, my goodness! Someone just needs to throw a temper tantrum somewhere else, and not all over the public internet! A spelling error is so minor ... it shouldn't make you give the book a 2 star rating just because of it!

i had to do read this book in my class. it was the most boring book i hve ever read. why? bcus nothing is very interesting in it. when u read the first page u just want to throw the book away.
the book is like the most confusing book in the world the chapters sections r all setted up so confusing.it gos bck and forth about this and that.
this shouldnt be a newberry award book bcuz theres nothing special to it.also the book doesnt keep ur attention.
the chapters r really long.since its borring u just feel like u wanna die.
DONT READ THIS BOOK DONT SAY I DIDNT WARN U!!!
NOT FOR PEEPS WHO LIKE ADVENTURE AND ACTION.

Definitely the best-ever by E.L. Konigsburg. It made me wish I could be a kid again and be in that group. This is the perfect book for those great elementary or middle school students who are not quite accepted by their peers because they march to a different drum.

I have been on a rampage to try to read Newberry Award and Newberry Honor Books. I will soon assign students to read some of these great pieces of literature. I could not get myself to read this book. I tried at two diffent times, but I found it to be confusing, boring, and utterly disappointing. I asked a few other students for their opinions and 2 out of the 3 strong students could not get into it. Very disappointed. Why was this an honor book?

I found this book very touching and absorbing. Once I read it, I simply could not stop reading it. This story is about 4 young six graders who's lives are told each in his or her own chapter. I enjoyed reading the chapter about Ethan and his quiet mysterious life. Each story was connected somehow by a relation or a family friend!

When I first read this book, it was the year it won the Newberry Medal. I thought it was wonderful then and have now read it numerous times. This is one of the best books I have ever read. I love E.L. Konigsburg's style. This book has many lessons of friendship for readers of all ages.

This book is most enjoyable. This story has comedy, drama and suspense all in one. I like how it starts out most chapters with the state academic bowl then lead into a story about one of the souls who were the members of the academic bowl. Read this book and get hooked.

The View From Saturday was my reading class' final book last year, and their second favorite of the eight we completed. My school uses SFA and this is at the bottom of our sixth grade book list. My readers were third and fourth graders that read well above level.

I love children's lit, and the lure of the Newbery award drew me to this book. I simply cannnot understand how it won any prize. There is not a single sixth grader on this planet who writes or speaks like that. These poor kids ended up looking like a bunch of dorks.

If you have an open mind, and you are quite bright this book is for you. If you're not, you might find it a bit difficult. I loved this book, and if you love Newbury Award winners you'll love this book.

I didn't like it much it was confusing at first. I still haven't figered out why it is called The view from saterday. I think it would have madde more sence if it wasn't so confusing. It turns out when it tells you there's a flash back it's really flashing foward.

I had to read this book for 6th grade humanities. It was horrible, and I hated it.In most places it did not really make sense, and its hard to understand what is going on. First of all, 6th graders dont really talk like english people in the esrly 1900s, and they do. I dont know why this bothers me :0 My favorite part part of the book was the last page. What really doesnt make sense is that on the last page, Mrs. Olinski says to "the souls" did i choose you or did you choose me? and they answered: YES! ?_? No one cares about some nerds and their quiz bowl, so if you have a choice whether or not to, DONT SPEND A CENT ON THIS BOOK. :)

First-year teacher makes a bad choice.

My 7th grade students actively hated Konigsburg's, The View From Saturday (TVFS). From the cover, showing teacups and a Victorian architectural feature ("looks boring"), to the substance (the first major chapter focuses at length on the wedding of grandparents at a Florida retirement community), to the pedantic qualities (laboriously-constructed symbolism involving a heart-shaped jigsaw puzzle, for instance, and copious lessons on vocabulary and history and natural science and trivia and morality jammed into the plot), extra characters with little role to play (principals and other school administrators, officials at the academic bowl, grandparents' neighbors, etc.) to confusing use of repetition (some incidents are related from the point of view of more than one character).

In the manner of the recent Newbery controversy around the word "scrotum," some of my students could not get over what seemed like a gratuitous reference to bra straps and (to them) titillating use of the word "puberty" on the second page.

After my class finished the book, I found comments inside the back cover in which Konigsburg described using four separate short stories to construct TVFS around a common theme. Although she wrote that readers have told her that, "fitting all the stories together is part of the adventure," it was the disjointed origins of the stories that came across to me as I read the book.

One more thing. The main characters of TVFS form a team to compete in the middle school Academic Bowl. The principal of a competing school tells their teacher, "I told our coach that she could expect to be hung if she lets your sixth grade grunges beat us out." The teacher replies, "I recommend that you start buying rope." Apparently because of this conversation, the noose becomes the symbol for the team - their fans wear small nooses pinned to their shirts, they hang a noose from a car antenna, and grandparents have custom-made t-shirts with nooses sold as a fundraiser. I did a double-take when the noose began to reappear as a symbol, and combed through the book to figure out its origin and meaning. In what universe would thoughtful adults encourage the use of a noose as an inspiration for a school team of any kind?

The book's theme of building diverse communities through kindness to others is lovely, of course, and the information about sea turtles held student interest for a little while. For the most part, though, the book read like an out-of-touch adult's idea of what a contemporary adolescent should care about, not what a young reader would actually want to read.

Newbery Committee makes a bad choice?

I believe that this book was well written, but it was crap. I wanted to put it down after I read the back cover. But, we were obligated to read it. But, that wasn't the worse part; we also had to take interactive reading notes on it. Not a good read, unless you're desprate.