The View From Saturday

Konigsburg, E. L. (1996). The View From Saturday. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Plot: Sixth graders from Epiphany Middle School in New York have never beaten the seventh and eighth graders during the Academic Bowl, but Mrs. Olinsky's team did it. They took it all the way to the championships and won that too. But the question remains: How did she choose her team? This book takes you on each journey that Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian went through before they became The Souls and the closest of friends, and a tea party that changed everything.

Genre: Realistic fiction

Suggested Reading Level: Grades 5-8

Subjects/themes: Academic competition, prejudice, confidence, friendship, bullying, divorce, marriage, family.

Other books by E. L. Konigsburg:

• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
• Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and me, Elizabeth

Awards

• Newbery Medal

Dear Mr. Henshaw

Dear Mr. Henshaw. Beverly Cleary. Illustrations by Paul O. Zelinsky. William Morrow and Company, New York, 1983.

Reading Level: Grades 4-6

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Plot:
Leigh (a boy) Botts is author Boyd Henshaw's number 1 fan, and has written him letters from second grade through sixth grade, telling him about his lunchbag thief and his dream of becoming an author himself.

Other Books by Beverly Cleary:

• Beezus and Ramona
• Ralph S. Mouse
• Ramona Quimby, Age 8

Awards:

• Newbery Medal
• Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award
• Christopher Book Award

Subject/Themes:

• Family/ Divorce/ School

Personal Thoughts:
This was such a fun read and the fact that the book is told through letters and diary entries to Mr. Henshaw is different and unique to me. Even though the reader never meets Mr. Henshaw you get to know his personality a bit through Leigh's entries and letters. For instance, Leigh describes how Mr. Henshaw writes him back requesting answers to 10 questions after Leigh wrote him asking questions about himself for a school project. Very funny, but not for Leigh who answers them through a series of letters because his mom makes him. =)

Maniac Magee

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli.
Copyright year 1990
Published by Little, Brown and Company
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Reading level: Age 9 - 12

Plot:
This is a story about a boy without a home who becomes legendarily known as Maniac, by doing things like famously untying a huge knot no one else could untie, within the two sides of town, the East End and West End. He befriends kids from these two places, changing their lives and his in his search for a place to call home.

Similar books to check out:

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos

Awards:

Newbery Medal
Young Readers Choice Award
Mark Twain Award

Personal Thoughts:

I liked this book a lot, especially since it dealt with a child coping with the loss of his parents and racism between the East End and the West End, which represents the black side and white sides of town. It flows nicely and keeps the reader engaged throughout.