The View From Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg
Embedded Files
“Chapter 1” pages 1-4
As we begin chapter 1, our setting is an Academic Bowl. Here is a video of an academic bowl just like the one featured in this book.
Here is some more information on academic bowls. This one is for the entire United States:
The Academic Bowl in the story takes place in Albany, NY :
“Noah Writes a B and B Letter” Pages 5 - 20
Throughout Noah's part of the story, the "decline of Western Civilization" keeps coming up. On page 5, it says, "Mother then made a remark abut how western civilization was in decline because people knew how to nitpick, but not how to write a B&B letter." On page 6 Tillie Nachman said, "The ballpoint pen has been the biggest single factor in the decline of Western Civilization. It makes the written word cheap, fast, and totally without character." What's with all these references to the decline of Western Civilization? What is Western Civilization? Maybe this link will help:
https://kids.kiddle.co/Western_world
On Page 6, Noah's asks, "Can I use the computer?" His mother replies, "I know you can use the computer, Noah, but you may not." This is a grammar rule. There are specific times when you should use can and when you should use may. See if you can pass this quiz:
http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/language_arts/can_may_words/quiz2485.html
Nitpicking comes up twice on page 5 and page 6. First, Noah's mother suggests that knowing how to nitpick, but not write a B&B letter is causing Western Civilization to decline. Next, Noah accuses his mother of nitpicking his use of can instead of may. I thought it was worth sharing a definition and where the word came from.
Calligraphy plays an important role in Noah's chapter. Here is a video on how to do it:
Header image borrowed from: http://www.teacherwebquest.com/GA/MountainView/AViewfromSaturday/uh1.aspx
Chapter 2, pages 21 - 24
On page 22, Mrs. Olinksi describes the members of "the Souls" as multicultural. She says she chose a brunette, blond, red head and a boy with hair as black as...... Then she changes her definition saying she has a Jewish child, a WASP, a hyrid, and an Indian.
Here is the Urban Dictionary's definition of a WASP. (no, it's not the insect that stings!)
"Nadia Tells of Turtle Love" pages
On page 26, Nadia compares her dad hovering over her to the Good Year blimp over the Orange Bowl. The Orange Bowl is a college football game plated in Florida where Nadia is from. Here's more information on the orange bowl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Bowl
On page 36, Nadia describes herself as a hybrid. The definition of hybrid is a mixture, as in she is a mixture of her father's Jewish heritage and her mother's heritage. On page 39, she describes her mother's background as Protestant. Protestant is a type of Christianity, as described in the graphic below.
On Pages 32 -33 we find out that Grandpa and Margaret work to save baby Loggerhead Turtles on the beach.
In this chapter we meet Ginger, Nadia's dog and best friend. She describes ginger more than once as a "genius" and mentions that she is part border collie page 35. Here is how I imagine Ginger might look ^
On page 40, Nadia, her dad, Mr. Diamondstein, Margaret Draper, and Ethan go to see The Phantom of the Opera. It is a famous musical by Andrew Lloyd Weber.
On page 43, they have a Peanut Buster parfait from Dairy queen to celebrate that all of the turtles they helped emerged unharmed.
on page 57, Nadia mentions the Sargasso Sea. After the sea turtles hatch and go back to the ocean, they swim to the Sargasso Sea and spend 5- 10 years there. This image below is from the World Wildlife Fund.
Chapter 3 and "Ethan explains the B and B Inn" pages 58 -93
Ethan is proud that his ancestor is marching behind Susan B. Anthony leading a group to the polls in Rochester, NY. Here is a link to the Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester, NY. Susan B. Anthony was born in Adams, MA, but gained notoriety for her work in helping to get women the right to vote. http://susanbanthonyhouse.org/her-story/biography.php
He also mentions on page 62 that his ancestor was wearing bloomers. Bloomers or trousers were a big deal at the time because women never wore pants, only dresses at that time. Bloomers were not really invented by Amelia Jenks Bloomer of Homer, NY. She did write about the new style that women interested in women's rights were wearing as a sort of protest. So, the style was named after her. Here's a link to more information. https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/amelia-bloomer.htm
It's important to know this term to understand all about Bloomer, Anthony and the other women mentioned in this chapter.
Also on page 62 Ethan mentions that there was a letter from Seneca Falls dated 1848. Seneca Falls, NY is a very important place in the fight for women's rights. The first ever Women's Rights Convention was held there in 1948. Here's a great article from The Washington Post about Seneca Falls. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/suffragette-city-a-timely-visit-to-seneca-falls-ny-birthplace-of-the-19th-amendment/2016/10/20/1247c284-8fc4-11e6-9c52-0b10449e33c4_story.html?utm_term=.38bae3d499df
Seneca Falls is also known for being the model town for the famous movie "It's a Wonderful Life" that takes place in the fictional town of Bedford Falls.
On Page 63 Ethan talks about his overachieving older brother and says that someday his name might become a noun like Kleenex or Coke. Here's a list of other brand names that have become regular nouns. http://mentalfloss.com/article/56667/41-brand-names-people-use-generic-terms
He also mentions that his brother is like a myth like Paul Bunyan or Davy Crockett. How do you think it feels to be the brother or someone like Luke Potter?
As Ethan's bus winds its way to Epiphany middle school, they pass through one of the subdivisions called The Farm. His mother doesn't seem to like the subdivision. The second definition below seems to be the best fir for this situation.
As the bus heads to its unscheduled stop at the Sillington house, Ethan notices a kid and his father dressed rather differently than most kids at Epiphany Middle School dress.
On page 70, Ethan explains that Julian was seated at the far end of the table, all alone. It made me think of this video. I wonder if this group was at Epiphany Middle School, would things have been any different for Julian Singh.
Are you getting how everyone is connected yet? I want to create a sort of character tree like a family tree, so I can keep it all straight!
Ethan's grandmother is Margaret Draper, who is married to Izzy Diamondstein who is Nadia's grandfather. Margaret Draper was Mrs. Olinski's principal before her accident. Margaret Draper also got Nadia's mother a job with Mr. Gershom, the dentist, who is Noah's dad. Noah was the best man at Margaret and Izzy's wedding. Mrs. Gershom is a real estate agent who helped the Singh's with purchase and permits for the the Sillington house to become a B and B.
On page 70, Ethan shares that he really wants to design costumes or stage sets for the theater. No wonder he loved going to see The Phantom of the Opera with Nadia. Below are videos about costume and set designers.
On page 76, a note from Julian references Chapter 7 of Alice in Wonderland. I found a website of the entire book! Here's chapter 7, "A Mad Tea Party".
And of course the scene from the Disney version.
On page 80, Ethan is hurrying to buy a puzzle for the tea party. He decides on a puzzle because of the "puzzling" way he was invited to the party by Julian. He is hurrying because his mother was waiting for him in the car. "She knew there was no better way to get me to hurry." All the puzzles he wanted to get were sold out including "Water Lilies" a reproduction by a famous French impressionist artist. The artist in Claude Monet. He was called an impressionist because his paintings gave the impression of what he was painting, but up close they looked like just blobs of color. Here is a picture of Water Lilies. Monet painted around 250 water lily paintings of the water lilies on his home in Giverny, France.
On page 83, Ethan teases that Ginger "invented" E - mc2. Nadia shoots back that it wasn't invented an that Einstein discovered it.
Also, on page 83 it describes the staircase at Sillerton house as looking like a stretch of DNA.
Simple English Wikipedia says that DNA, short for deoxyribonucleic acid, is the molecule that contains the genetic code of organisms. This includes animals, plants, protists, archaea and bacteria. DNA is in each cell in the organism and tells cells what proteins to make.
on page 86, Ethan notes that Nadia, "licked her finger so clean that not even Miss Manners would call it bad." Here's a link to Miss Manners website. Miss Manners is an American journalist and ettiquette aurthority. http://www.missmanners.com/
On page 90 two more famous artists are referenced Michaelangelo and Leonardo (da Vinci) . Do you know what their most famous works were?
Michaelangelo was famous for his statue of David and Leonardo da Vinci for the "Mona Lisa"
Chapter 4 and "Julian Narrates when Ginger Played Annie's Sandy" pages 94-118
Julian's Quz Bowl question was about RADAR. Although the question isn't as much about RADAR as it is about acronyms, I thought I'd include a little bit of knowledge on RADAR as well as acronyms.
Ethan suggests that Nadia let her dog, Ginger, try out for he part of Annie's dog Sandy in Epiphany High School's production of Annie. Annie is a musical that debuted in 1977, but it was based on the comic strip "Little Orphan Annie" and then the popular children's radio program of the same name from the 1930's. Here's a picture from the comic strip (notice the blank eyeballs) and a video from the 1982 movie version of Annie. There's an entire song dedicated to the dog Annie adopts and names Sandy.
On page 102, Julian talks about the animals on board the cruise ship that performed. He mentions a monkey names Sapphire with blue hindquarters.
The character Daddy Warbucks is mentioned a few times. His name is kind of funny isn't it? He's a very wealthy man. Can you guess how he made his money? Remember the character was created in the 1930's after World War 1.
On page 115, the Souls all get a ride with Mrs. Olinski to Sillington House. Julian is so relieved and enthusiastic he says, "I answered by nodding my head like one of those animals Americans put in the rear ledge of their automobiles." On the next page she even calls them The Souls unwittingly.
Chapter 5
On page 119-120 Mrs. Olinski tries to explain why she didn't choose any honor roll students for her team. She says, "By the time they get to 6th grade, honor roll students won't risk making a mistake, and sometimes to be successful, you have to risk making mistakes." Sounds like Mrs. Olinski would be a fan of the "growth mindset"!
On page 123, Mrs. Olinski is shocked to see her former principal dressed in a turquoise jogging suit. Maybe like this:
On page 124, Mrs. Olinksi things, "Saved by a Genie," as Mr. Singh pushes her wheelchair into Sillington House.
Chapter 6
On Page 128 it says, "Mrs. Olinski's 6th graders were David versus the eighth grade Goliath." This is a reference to a bible story about a small boy who defeated a large bully!
On page 129 Mrs. Olinski makes a point of embarrassing Hamilton Knapp by asking him to teach the class how to belch on command. Please do NOT try this at home! And don't tell your parents that your teacher showed you this video! However, if they do see it, you can impress them with science!
Chapter 7
On page 135, it explains how Mr. Fairbain embarrassed himself as master of ceremonies the previous year by referring to Pope John Paul II as "Pope John Paul Eye Eye". Seems like Mr. Fairbain needed a lesson in roman numerals.
Chapter 8
On page 139, it explains that there are 8 regions in the state on New York where our story takes place. They were named for lakes great and small, for rivers flowing south or east, and one was named for a sound. They only mention three.
- Long Island Sound
- Finger Lakes (where Epipahny is located)
- Hudson River (where Maxwell Middle School)
The map below shows the Finger Lakes and their relationship to the state.
Mr. Singh mentions he was a big fan of Jeopardy! and watched on the cruise ship. This game show has been on television in some form since 1964! Have you ever seen it? Here's a link to the Jeopardy! website. The word means "danger of loss".
At one point the Souls discuss whether they should include questions about the Bible, the Koran, and the Upanishads. I'm sure you've heard of the Bible and maybe even the Koran (Islamic sacred book), but does anyone know about the Upanishads? Me either! I had to look it up! It is the Hindu sacred text!
Throughout the book, questions from the Academic Bowl are included. I thought it might be fun to list them all here:
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