Best known for the classic From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler which won the Newbery Medal in 1968, E.L. Konigsburg offers readers another satisfying victory in The View from Saturday.  While not an epic adventure in the sense of living in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The View from Saturday is a quiet journey shared by four students and their teacher as they navigate the joy and pain of sixth grade.  All of the characters known as The Souls are somehow connected before they meet -- I even drew a chart to keep track of the ways their paths crossed.  From family problems to trouble with peers, Nadia, Ethan, Noah, and Julian all find their lives forever changed by their choices and by their friendship.  As Ethan pondered:

"Something in Sillington House gave me permission to do things I had never done before.  Never even thought of doing.  Something there had triggered the unfolding of those parts that had been incubating.  Things that had lain inside me, curled up like the turtle hatchlings newly emerged from their eggs, taking time in the dark of their nest to unfurl themselves." 

I will confess I put off reading both of Ms. Konigsburg's books for years, for reasons unknown.  At the recommendation of a friend, however, I've now read both and find myself thinking about the stories and characters long after I've turned the final page.  That, to me, is the mark of a good story, of fine writing, and the magic of books.  The View from Saturday, told in short stories from each person's point of view, is accessible both to younger readers of advanced reading ability and to older reluctant readers, who will all cheer for The Souls and their very human teacher.