Susie Wilde (Children's Literature)
This multi-layered novel tells the story of four sixth-grade children selected for an Academic Bowl team. Below the plot surface lies a web of interconnections. Though at first the children seem quite different, two of the children are "related" when their grandparents marry and a third is, through a string of accidents, best man at this wedding. The fourth boy is an East Indian newly arrived in America, who unites the team with his instincts about their shared sensibilities. Throughout, there is a strong sense of larger forces at work. Who put the team together? Mrs. Olinski, the paraplegic teacher who can't explain her choices to the administration or herself? Or did the children chose her? And why do each of the children's specific areas of expertise show up in the contest questions? Konigsburg brilliantly quarters the story's telling, letting each child tell a part while Mrs. Olinski provides the narrative mortar. And the telling is a connected flow of story that, as with the team, is a very great whole. 1998 (orig. 1996), Atheneum, $16.00 and $4.50. Ages 11 up.

Paula Rohrlick (KLIATT Review, May 1998 (Vol. 32, No. 3))
This Newbery Medal-winner concerns four sixth-grade students who become friends and are chosen as their school's Academic Bowl team by their teacher, Mrs. Olinski. The four are: precise Noah, who visits his grandparents in Florida and ends up as best man in the wedding of grandparents of two of the others; resentful Nadia, upset by the changes in her life brought about by her parents' divorce, whose grandfather marries Ethan's grandmother; quiet Ethan, lost in the shadow of his accomplished older brother; and lonely Julian, who has recently moved to their New York town, with his English accent, Indian background, and magic tricks. Mrs. Olinski has just returned to teaching, 10 years after a car accident that killed her husband and left her a paraplegic, and at first she doesn't quite understand why she's chosen these four students as her team. As their separate tales unfold and merge, however, their strengths become clear, as well as the ways in which each has learned to accept and to reach out with kindness toward others -- including Mrs. Olinski. Typically for Konigsburg, this is an unusual but intriguing and affecting story, in the course of which the reader will pick up a lot of incidental information about topics ranging from sea turtles to acronyms to calligraphy. (There's also a list at the back of the book of 15 Academic Bowl questions, with answers.) Rich fare for those who enjoy an offbeat tale, spiced with interesting ideas, humor, and varied and admirable characters. KLIATT Codes: J*--Exceptional book, recommended for junior high school students. 1996, Simon & Schuster/Aladdin, 164p. 20cm. 95-52624, $4.50. Ages 13 to 15.