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The View From Saturday
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From: Megan Schliesman <mjschlie>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 12:53:28 -0600
Like JoAnn Portalupi (message below), but for different reasons, I wasn't enthralled by The View from Saturday on my first reading, but found myself growing to love it on reflection. This is something that came home to me during the CCBC's Newbery Award discussion, which we held in January. The View from Saturday was one of the books on our discussion list and when it came time to discuss the book, I found myself trying to express the feeling of wonder and connectedness that the book gave me. I found myself reflecting on fate and destiny and the way human lives can touch and effect and ultimately enrich one another as I thought about the book. Ginny Kruse reminded me then that right after I read The View from Saturday (a month or more earlier), I had expressed reservations, most notably the fact that there are no contractions used in the dialogue: everyone speaks formally and this had seemed stilted and bothersome to me.
I had completely forgotten that this had bothered me at the time I read the book until she reminded me, and it was fascinating to me to see how my reservations had melted away upon stepping away from the book and letting its essence sink in. Then I found myself wondering why did Konigsburg leave contractions out of the speech of her characters? The best idea I've come up with so far is that the formality of the speech is in effect a contrast to what is actually happening to the individuals in the story: they are dropping formality, dropping the need for structure and opening themselves up to experience and real human interaction.
Any other ideas out there?
Megan Schliesman Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison schliesman at mail.soemadison.wisc.edu
Received on Mon 17 Mar 1997 12:53:28 PM CST
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 12:53:28 -0600
Like JoAnn Portalupi (message below), but for different reasons, I wasn't enthralled by The View from Saturday on my first reading, but found myself growing to love it on reflection. This is something that came home to me during the CCBC's Newbery Award discussion, which we held in January. The View from Saturday was one of the books on our discussion list and when it came time to discuss the book, I found myself trying to express the feeling of wonder and connectedness that the book gave me. I found myself reflecting on fate and destiny and the way human lives can touch and effect and ultimately enrich one another as I thought about the book. Ginny Kruse reminded me then that right after I read The View from Saturday (a month or more earlier), I had expressed reservations, most notably the fact that there are no contractions used in the dialogue: everyone speaks formally and this had seemed stilted and bothersome to me.
I had completely forgotten that this had bothered me at the time I read the book until she reminded me, and it was fascinating to me to see how my reservations had melted away upon stepping away from the book and letting its essence sink in. Then I found myself wondering why did Konigsburg leave contractions out of the speech of her characters? The best idea I've come up with so far is that the formality of the speech is in effect a contrast to what is actually happening to the individuals in the story: they are dropping formality, dropping the need for structure and opening themselves up to experience and real human interaction.
Any other ideas out there?
Megan Schliesman Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison schliesman at mail.soemadison.wisc.edu
Received on Mon 17 Mar 1997 12:53:28 PM CST
