Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
I liked this book a lot, but I don't think it has a great amount of appeal for kids. I think it could be an interesting read-aloud for fifth or sixth graders--or a class reading project. I think it could lead to a lot of interesting discussions about the Holocaust, about art and society, about preteens and adults, and mothers and fathers. Konigsburg has a very interesting story here, and it's told from many points of view, like The View from Saturday. The characters are strong, but as usual with her books, the kids are not kid-like.
I always somehow manage to forget how incredible E.L Konigsburg's writing is until I'm reaching to shelve one of her books and flip through it "just to see which one this is" and then end up reading a chapter and a half before I've realised. She has an unmatched way with words and I adore it.
Should I have remembered more from The Outcasts of Schuyler Place than I do from one read? E.L. Konigsburg is sometimes great, and when she is great she is wonderful, and sometimes not (but I can recall only one shockingly mediocre book). This had most of her great usual motifs -- responsibility, art, history, Judaism, friendship, Otherism -- that she treated so well in Frankweiler, Jennifer, Proud Taste, Jericho, Saturday, but they failed to cohere. I didn't find the friendship between the boys realistic, and the two storylines lay side-by-side without quite aligning. Overlapping is not alignment.
Deo (Amedeo) moves to a new town with his divorced mother, and soon he's making awkward acquaintance William Wilcox, a kid everyone knows but no one is friends with. William's mother is working on a house sale for Deo's neighbour, the dramatic eccentric Mrs Zender, and while trawling through the treasures and trash of Mrs Zender's exciting life they discover a long-forgotten story of war, art, and brotherly love.
I really liked this - there's something so human and touching about this, and it delves into some really deep, serious topics through two unusual but relatable boys. And the character of Mrs Zender is fascinating, and I wanted so much to be able to go through her house as well like Deo and William.
I really liked this - there's something so human and touching about this, and it delves into some really deep, serious topics through two unusual but relatable boys. And the character of Mrs Zender is fascinating, and I wanted so much to be able to go through her house as well like Deo and William.