A review by onceuponacarm
The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg

4.0

Like Slumdog Millionaire (of which I saw the movie a couple of years before reading this book, though The View from Saturday predates it by more than a decade), we have a quiz contest and the backstories of the contestants that show how they came to know the answers to a variety of obscure questions. Noah, Ethan, Nadia, and Julian's paths cross several times along their path to becoming quiz team The Souls. These bright, conscientious kids find in each other kindred spirits, but the story is less about them as characters as it is about the events during their sixth-grade year and the summer before. Through a mix of serendipity and blatant kindness, the kids are brought together along with their remarkable teacher Mrs. Olinski, a few grandparents, and Julian's father. Though the book is built around a competition, it is truly a story about cooperation, friendship, and connections.