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<\/figure>\n<\/div>Review of The View from Saturday<\/em> by E.L. Konigsburg (New York: Atheneum Books, 1996).\u00a0 Originally published in Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children 19<\/em>(4): 1.<\/p><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n E.L. Konigsburg uses every word and detail in her book, The View from Saturday<\/em> to provoke the reader into thinking. She is a monstrous optimist: she just expects that the reader, like her characters, enjoys thinking, is always looking for a puzzle or a problem, a thing to think about, in every corner of the world. It\u2019s a surprisingly successful strategy; one \ufb01nds oneself trying to live up to the book\u2019s high expectations and outrageous demands, and to the intellectual rigor that shines through on every page.<\/p>\n The title is the name of the book\u2019s \ufb01rst and biggest puzzle. The story begins on a triumphant Saturday, and our job \u2013 we are immediately given a job, by this author \u2013 is to understand how this unexpected triumph \u2013 the victory of the sixth grade team in the regional quiz bowl \u2013 came about. Later, we understand that we have another job as well. It turns out that the quiz bowl victory is just one small dimension of the day\u2019s triumph, and we are expected to see the full range of goodness in this very good day, to appreciate the many ways in which it completes the work and satis\ufb01es the deepest yearnings of the children and adults involved in the story: four children, their teacher, and some of the children\u2019s family.<\/p>\n I suppose one might be suspicious of a book about a triumph. Lots of lives don\u2019t have triumphs; good work doesn\u2019t always lead to splendid results. Perhaps young adults should be prepared for that.<\/p>\n There are plenty of books that prepare people for sadness, for a good enough life, for getting by. It is very rare that a book\u2013 for any age person \u2013 pictures what smart people might really want, as their absolute best outcome. I can\u2019t see how it hurts to \ufb02esh out an ideal vision, a perfect day. How can people have adequate days if they don\u2019t know what moon to shoot for?<\/p>\n The moon in this book shines very brightly, indeed. This is, quite simply, a picture of gifted kids\u2019 heaven. The school honors, cultivates and challenges intelligence. Smart kids \ufb01nd friends who are diverse, playful, deeply affectionate, and helpfully engaged in the problems of each other\u2019s lives. Families pass on important concepts and skills for constructing a rich and civilized life. Gentle, persistent good humor underlies every important interaction. The central adults in the story are interesting and admirable enough to make the case to the children that growing up is worth the trouble. Every child should grow up in a world this good.<\/p>\n In its portrayal of an ideal of community and support, this book is both a challenge and a roadmap for teachers: here\u2019s what has to happen, if kids are going to be encouraged to persist in being smart and interested in their world, and in developing all the parts of their minds and hearts.<\/p>\n One strand of Konigsburg\u2019s narrative pre\ufb01gures, is perhaps the model for, the central idea in the movie Slumdog Millionaire<\/em>: in the context of a quiz bowl competition, for which generally students prepare by memorizing stray facts, the underdog sixth graders happen to get questions that call to mind rich experiences in their lives. In the strongest possible sense, they know the answers to the questions, and they know why the answers matter. As the questions are asked, Konigsburg tells the story of each contestant\u2019s encounter with the relevant fact, showing us how that particular, normally dead, fact is alive for this child. A question about the Sargasso Sea prompts Nadia to recall her efforts to rescue sea turtles. A question about calligraphy brings back a summer Noah spent helping with arrangements for the wedding of some elderly friends. A question about the word \u201cposh\u201d calls forth memories of Julian\u2019s travels with his father, a chef on a cruise ship.<\/p>\n This dimension of the book raises daily questions about education that will be equally alive for teachers and for alert students: what is it to know a fact? Or rather, what relationship to facts is worth having? What kind of involvement in the world makes the details and connections come alive? Noah, who answers the question about calligraphy, understands far more than the de\ufb01nition: he understands the mental and spiritual discipline required for \ufb01ne writing, the festive occasions that require special, personal touches rather than computerized ef\ufb01ciencies, the dialogue of giving and receiving courtesy that makes civilized life work.<\/p>\n As these multiple meanings surface during the contestants\u2019 responses to simple-minded quiz questions, any alert reader will wonder what comparable riches surround the other facts that are passed back and forth in classrooms, as the currency of education. With facts, as with any currency, it is plausible to ask what backs them. Can a currency of knowledge lose its backing, \ufb02oating free of any connection to lived experience or meaning? Konigsburg raises this question adroitly, not in a negative or even a critical spirit, but as a standing test for teachers and students concerned that their education be for real.<\/p>\n Emerson wrote in Nature<\/em>: \u201cGo out of the house to see the moon and it is mere tinsel. It will not please as when its light shines upon your necessary journeys.\u201d The View from Saturday<\/em> is a commentary on the necessary journeys of four children and their teacher. What they encounter on those journeys pleases them greatly and makes them strong in many ways. Konigsburg challenges students and teachers to \ufb01nd the projects that will bring their own learning to life in this way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Peter Shea E.L. Konigsburg uses every word and detail in her book, The View from Saturday to provoke the reader into thinking. She is a monstrous optimist: she just expects that the reader, like her characters, enjoys thinking, is always looking for a puzzle or a problem, a thing to think about, in every corner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":177,"parent":0,"menu_order":67,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-605","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":737,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/605\/revisions\/737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/iapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}