The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg
Winner, 1997 Newbery Award
Quick Summary
When four members of a sixth-grade interscholastic quiz bowl team are coached by a paraplegic teacher, they learn not only the answers to knowledge-based questions, but also about themselves, family, and friendship.
Favorite Quote
The ballpoint pen has been the biggest single factor in the decline of Western Civilization. It makes the written word cheap, fast, and totally without character.
About the Author
E. L. Konigsburg was the author of 20 books for children, including another Newbery Award winner, From the Mixed-Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler, a favorite book of mine from childhood. (She's the only author to ever have a winning and runner-up book in the same year.) She illustrated about half of her own books. The New York Times wrote a nice obituary after her death in 2013.
My Project
A couple of weeks ago I'd checked out the book Wabi Sabi Art Workshop which mentioned using old tea bags to add texture to your mixed media work. So this project background does include a tea bag (Lady Earl Grey, if you're curious) that I let dry and then cleaned of tea leaves, leaving only the stained paper. This technique does add a rustic, wrinkled texture.
I layered a teal square embossed with a checkerboard pattern and a plain ivory square on top. Those represent the four main children in the book and the four-sided table at the B&B where they drink tea on Saturdays. I added a few touches of blue and green paint to the brass teapot. The "1997" uses a calligraphy font (one of the kids learns calligraphy in the book) on a white rectangle that echoes the index cards the kids use to practice for the quiz.
Final Thoughts
The framework of this book was quite unusual. Many of the chapters begin with the children being asked a quiz question about sea turtles or suffragettes and then flash back to the extended history of how they came to know the answer through their personal experiences. The teacher also had some point-of-view scenes in the book. I don't know if I've ever read a children's book where an adult character plays such a central role. I thought Julian, the boy who had sailed on a cruise ship with his father, was the most interesting of the four children. I did not enjoy this book as much I remember enjoying the author's earlier Newbery award-winning book. However, I haven't re-read that one as an adult. You'll have to come back December 6, 2016 to see what I thought of it the second time around. By the way, young adult author Jenny Han named The View from Saturday as a book that changed her life.
Your Turn
Readers: If you read this book, I'd love to hear what you think in the comments.
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