The View from Saturday
Book Summary
By Kruti Patel
Novel Title: “The View from Saturday”
Author: E. L. Konigsburg
Settings
- The Sillington House– The Sillington House is the place that Julian, a new student at the school, bought with his dad. It is going to be transformed into a bed and breakfast.
- Century Village, Florida– This place is where the story in general takes place. Most of the locations in the book are in here, except for when the Souls travel to other states and regions for the Academic Bowl championship.
Characters
- Noah Gershom– Noah is a member of the Souls, a team competing in the Academic Bowl championship. He was best man at Margaret Draper’s and Izzy Diamondstein’s wedding, and Nadia’s mother works for his father as a dentist.
- Nadia Diamondstein– Nadia is another member of the Souls. She has a dog named Ginger, who is a genius and has puppies. Nadia also loves baby turtles, and her grandpa is Izzy Diamondstein.
- Ethan Potter– Ethan is Mr. and Mrs. Potters’ son. He has an older brother, Luke. Luke is an amazing person who everyone looks up to. However, Ethan feels like he’s a disappointment to everyone compared to his brother. But instead of talking about it to people, he just stays silent in tribulation. His grandma, Margaret Draper, marries Izzy Diamondstein.
- Julian Singh– Julian is the one who forms the team: The Souls. He invites the others to a tea party, and that’s how it starts. He’s the weirdest kid in the school and is part East Indian and part American, as well as having a British accent.
Summary
The book starts off with the character view from Noah Gershom. He describes his experience first. He has to prepare for a wedding that’s happening with Izzy Diamondstein and Margaret Draper. The son of Izzy, who was going to be best man at the wedding, gets injured. So now Noah has to be the best man. Noah is a bit annoying and seems ordinary. He always states “facts”, or what he thinks is true.
The next point of view comes from Nadia Diamondstein. You might notice that she has the same last name as Izzy Diamondstein. That is because Izzy is Nadia’s grandpa. Nadia’s parents are divorced, and so they work out how they spend time separately. Her mother works for Mr. Gershom, who is the father of Noah Gershom. Nadia also likes baby turtles, and she rescues some with a sort-of-relative, Ethan Potter, her grandpa, new grandmother, and her dad.
Ethan Potter is the third point of view. His last name isn’t the same as Margaret Draper, but that’s still his grandmother. She gets married to Izzy Diamondstein, so Nadia and Ethan are technically related as well as in the same class at school. Ethan describes how his brother, Luke, is so unique and brilliant in many ways. But Ethan always feels like he is in his brother’s shadow, or a disappointment to everyone.
Since he doesn’t speak up about it, he just sits in silence and suffers from sadness. He is a great listener and observer, however. So he is more like defense than offense. Ethan’s sitting on the bus all by himself when the new kid comes onto the bus.
The new kid, Julian, is wearing knee socks and short pants, which no one wears on the first day of school. Ever. He has a British accent and manner. He sits next to Ethan after asking. They don’t talk on the bus at all. Soon, after a few weeks of waiting for Ethan, Julian finally gets the hint that he’s weird and that Ethan isn’t going to come with Julian and walk to school.
Later on, a few days later, Ethan finds a note, which tells him to find an atlas. When he opens the specific page, it says that tea is always at 4:00 p.m. at the Sillington House, so Ethan knows then that he has to go there. It turns out that Ethan isn’t the only one there. Nadia, Noah, and Julian are also there. Julian wrote the note and joined everyone together, apparently. Julian, Nadia, Noah, and Ethan drink tea, eat food, talk, and start the group called the Souls. They are the Souls, altogether.
Lastly, Julian starts narrating. He talks about how there is this play that’s coming up, and they need a role for the dog. So Ginger, Nadia’s dog, gets auditioned. While Hamilton’s dog doesn’t get in exactly as the star, his dog still is the backup dog and does the afternoon part. Hamilton even talks about trying to poison Ginger! But apparently, Ginger needs a break, so Hamilton’s dog is going to perform instead. So Julian decides to put all of the poisoned cookies in his pocket instead of letting Hamilton’s dog eat them. However, Julian does get a bit of revenge on Hamilton for bullying him by putting the cookies on his lap when his mother is present. Then Julian leaves.
The Academic Bowl is coming up, and Mrs. Olinski, the teacher of all of the four children and more, has to pick people to be on her team from the class. She decides to pick Nadia, Noah, and Ethan because of how smart and intelligent they are as well as their characteristics. Mrs. Olinski has to decide for the last team member, but doesn’t know whether to choose Julian or Hamilton.
The reason why she is considering choosing Hamilton Knapp, the bully who has been mean to Julian, is because he’s not only charming, but also smart. In addition, Hamilton has many friends, while Julian has not many but a good heart as well as being very astute and knowledgeable about Native tribes. But good wins over bad and smarter wins over smart. But does Mrs. Olinski recognize that?
A little background knowledge on Mrs. Olinski: she returned to teaching ten years after a car accident and being paralyzed. She is friends with Margaret Diamondstein, Nadia’s grandmother and Ethan’s step-grandmother. That’s why she comes to tea at the Sillington House. Plus, Noah comes since he was best man at the wedding of Margaret and Izzy Diamondstein. Julian comes because, well, he lives there. This day, Mrs. Olinski decides Julian should definitely be it.
At the Academic Bowl, the Souls gather together and beat the seventh graders easily. But no one from their school has ever beaten the seventh grader team! And since no one has gone to the eighth graders part, no one knows what it’s like. It’s kind of nerve-wracking, but with studying and flash cards, the Souls win that round too. One of the questions involved asking about acronyms that are also words and what they stand for. Julian answers with two, but one seems inaccurate. However, it’s a mistake, so full credit is given.
The Souls move on to the next rounds of the Academic Bowl and still have their tea times at 4 on Saturdays. Mrs. Olinski joins in one of them on a Saturday, and she has fun.
All of this is amazing how everyone is brought together as a team called the Souls, and it all started with a tea party. It’s very fascinating, which is what Mrs. Olinski also thinks. Everyone has been on their own journeys, though, Nadia’s being the shortest and Julian’s being the longest. As well as their journeys, meeting on Saturdays and competing has changed them and helped find the good in themselves.
Point of View:
First Point and Third Point
Reader’s Response:
- The character I most admire is Julian because even though his fashion sense is a bit odd, his personality is quite unique, and he doesn’t care about what others think of him. Plus, he’s very nimble.
- Nadia reminds me of my old friend Gabirella because of how they both love turtles and both have a dog/puppy.