Amelia Plumhoff #17 203

1-27-11 reading
The book I read is called "The View From Saturday". This amazing book wa
s written by
E.L. Koningsburg. I chose this book because I have been told by several people,
including my friends
and family, how great it was,and, I most definately agree. After finishing, I re
alized the theme of this
book was that you can become friends with anyone, no matter how unlikely it may
seem. I can relate
to this theme because I am friends with people younger, older, smarter, and main
ly just different from
me.
There was a vast variety of scenary in this book because in each chapete
r, the narrator
would change, as well as the scenary and perspective. One of the main places whe
re the stories takes
place is the school, a public middle school with rambunctious students. The Acad
emic Bowl was
held there, and the regular classes. Also, the Sillington house was a main part
of scenary. This house
was an old, elegant, mansion in which a new family moved into and turned it into
a bed and breakfast
inn. It is very important in the story because that is where the four main chara
cters, "The Souls", have
afternoon tea at four every Saturday. In some of the chapters, one of the four m
ain characters is the
narrator, and also narrates a story or adventure that happened in their recent,
but past, lives, making
the scenary change in each chapter. This story tells the reader a little about t
hat character.
All of the characters are very different, which makes it unlikely for th
em to be friends. The
five main characters are the four "Souls", and their teacher, Mrs. Olinski.One o
f the four souls is
Julian Singh, who is British, lives in the Sillington House, wears shorts with k
neesocks, carries a
leather satchel, and enjoyes magic. He also made friends with the others by invi
ting them to a tea
party. Another "soul" is Ethan, the quiet second son of one of the eldest famili
es in Epiphany who
likes halos. The second-to-last soul is Nadia, a young girl with a halo of red h
air, a soft-spot for
baby turtles, and a genious dog. The last, but not least, soul is Noah.He was, b
y complete accident,
the best man at Nadia's grandfather, Izzy, and Ethan's grandmother, Margaret's,
wedding. Mrs.
Olinski is an elderly woman who was paralyzed in an automobile accident.
All of these characters are alike because they don't care what others th
ink, obviously,
because they have tea every weekend together, and they are all very polite. I ca
n relate to them
because I, too, am indifferent, and although I don't drink tea, I am mindful of
my manners. These
characters, and myself, are different, as well. They are different because Nadia
is a tad conceited
because of her constant yammering about her an her genious dog. Julian, on the o
ther hand, is very
polite and almost never speaks highly of himself. Ethan is different because he
is so extremely quiet,
while Noah interrupts and speaks constantly.
The events in "The View from Saturday" are at times dramatic. the aftern
oon tea wasn't,
because it was relaxing and enjoyable for each of the four souls, and even Mrs.
Olinski. Whe she had
choose her team for the Academic Bowl, she chose, of course, the four souls. She
didn't know why
she chose them until after their preformance in the Academic Bowl, though. They
dominated in the
championship against KnightsBridge, and it was a dramatic back-and-forth game.
I very much enjoyed this book. It was confusing at times, but it was def
inately a page-
turner. I liked it because it was very different from any other book I've read.
It was a book full of
humor, elegance, magic, and intelligence. I would most definately reccomend this
book.