Chapter Book #4 - Newbery Medal

Title:  The View from Saturday

Author:  E.L. Konigsburg

Illustrator:   E.L. Konigsburg

Genre:  Youth Fiction

Subgenre:  Realistic Fiction

Themes: classmates, relationships with your teacher, friendship, academic groups, family, bullies, sixth grade classroom setting, learning and being challenged, making new friends

Primary and Secondary Characters: Mrs. Eva Marie Olinski, Noah Gershom, Noah's grandparents, Nadia Diamondstein, Ginger (Nadia's dog), Grandpa Izzy Diamondstein, Margaret Draper (Grandpa Izzy's new wife), Allen Diamonstein (Nadia's father), Ethan Potter (Margaret Draper is his grandmother), Julian Singh, Mr. Singh (Julian's dad)

Awards:  1997 Newbery Medal Winner

Date of Publication: 1996

Publishing Company:  Thorndike Press

Summary:

This is a fun book that can get children excited about joining academic groups within their schools.  All four students, Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian are all classmates within Mrs. Olinski's sixth grade class.  She is a paraplegic who they grow close to.  However, at the beginning of the school year, these students weren't good friends.  This book is told from each child's perspective and shows how they all eventually interrelate with each other.  Noah, who by funny chance, becomes Nadia's grandfather's best man in his wedding.  But then Nadia tells her story about spending the summer with her grandpa and his new wife, Margaret Draper.  Margaret is also Ethan's grandma.  Ethan later joins his grandma and comes to meet Nadia and her grandfather.  But, Nadia doesn't find out till later that Ethan will be in her classroom.  Then, the book finishes with Julian, who is a new student and is presumed as "weird" since he wears different clothing and has an English accent.  He moves into an antique house that has long been in Epiphany, NY, where they all live.  His father plans on restoring the house and making it into a bed and breakfast hotel.  They all soon learn they are all in the same class and all because of one brave move by Julian, they all become friends.  They later call themselves "The Souls," which would be their group name in their sixth grade competition.  They win the competition and go on to beat the eighth grade too!  They find themselves in the finals and everyone questions their abilities.  But, with a winning answer, they beat the returning champion team and win the Academic Bowl!  Not only do The Souls accredit their teacher Mrs. Olinski, they accredit their friendship that won them a championship!

How it will be used in the classroom:
This would be a great book to have in the classroom around state testing time.  The students would like to relate to these characters and how they overcome major obstacles.  This book would be mostly geared to fifth or sixth grade, given the material that is used within this book.  I really think students could get into this book and would hopefully encourage them to interact within academic groups.