The View from Saturday :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

Four unlikely Academic Bowl team candidates unite in victory, gaining confidence and the respect and admiration of their peers

2008-09-07
Although I'm a fan of the underdog, this story of four such students (all underdogs in their own way) is more insipid than pleasant. It covers the subjects sixth-graders worry about, especially that of how and where they fit in with their classmates and the world. Through a series of coincidences or fate, the four eventually team up and crush the scholastic competition. And there are four sub-stories, one covering events leading up to each student being chosen for the team. But the idea that because individually, for reasons that I won't share so as not to spoil the plot, is able to answer a particularly difficult question custom-tailored by the author to fit their background, qualifies them to be chosen for the team is a bit silly. The obviously contrived plot overshadows the feel good aspect of The View from Saturday. Better: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, Frindle by Andrew Clements and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Interesting

2008-07-30
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.

A Waste of Time

2008-05-14
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.

Cloudy view indeed!

2008-04-11
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.

Great Classroom Teaching Novel!

2008-03-22
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!

Newbery Medal Haloes Over This Book

2007-12-11
HOW HAD MRS. OLINSKI CHOSEN her sixth-grade Academic Bowl team? She had a number of answers. But were any of them true? How had she really chosen Noah and Nadia and Ethan and Julian? And why did they make such a good team?

It was a surprise to a lot of people when Mrs. Olinski's team won the sixth-grade Academic Bowl contest at Epiphany Middle School. It was an even bigger surprise when they beat the seventh grade and the eighth grade, too. And when they went on to even greater victories, everyone began to ask: How did it happen?

It happened at least partly because Noah had been the best man (quite by accident) at the wedding of Ethan's grandmother and Nadia's grandfather. It happened because Nadia discovered that she could not let a lot of baby turtles die. It happened when Ethan could not let Julian face disaster alone. And it happened because Julian valued something important in himself and saw in the other three something he also valued.

Mrs. Olinski, returning to teaching after having been injured in an automobile accident, found that her Academic Bowl team became her answer to finding confidence and success. What she did not know, at least at first, was that her team knew more than she did the answer to why they had been chosen.

This is a tale about a team, a class, a school, a series of contests and, set in the midst of this, four jewel-like short stories -- one for each of the team members -- that ask questions and demonstrate surprising answers.

Cloudy View 2007-07-16
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?

Helping Grandparents 2007-06-04
We are grandparents who are getting married. We bought this book for our adult families as "required" reading.

Souls for the Soul 2007-05-23
This book is about an unlikely foursome of children who bring together their talents and become united as an academic bowl team; The Souls. With help from Mrs. Olinski, who has returned to teaching after being paralyzed, Noah, Nadia, Ethan, and Julian begin the rewarding journey of all becoming one! The Souls take on challenges, learn one another's strengths and weaknesses, and turn the world upside down. Their powerful combination of knowledge accomplishes the feat of making there 6th graders champions, and better yet, teaching them what it takes to be a true winner.

The View From Saturday is about four individuals who bring together their life experiences and create real magic. The author, E.L. Koingsburg sends a powerful message that when children look deep inside each other's hearts, not their outside image, they can all become lifelong winners. The academic bowl is only a metaphor for Koinsburg's real message, one our world could greatly benefit from. The characters, Noah, Nadia, Ethan, and Julian all experience this message as a team. Everyone starts out as quirky and gifted individuals. each with their own ambitions, but once one really looks into the other's heart, they see what their teammates have to offer. While at the academic bowl, everyone realizes the win is theirs, but not because of the time put into memorizing answers, but the time spent with one another, uniting their past!

I honestly enjoyed The View From Saturday because of the way Koingsburg combines humor with magic to tell the tale of four unique individuals who become champions in much more then a 6th grade competition. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a heartfelt story with challenging ideas, intriguing people, and a message to powerful for words! The View From Saturday is a true jewel of outstanding writing!

The View from Saturday 2007-04-27
This is a GREAT Book! I read this book because I had a book report on it and I enjoyed it to. But the only part I dont like was in the begining because it started out long and ends short but I love the book. I would recomend it but only to a 5th-6th grader.