Eva Marie Olinski is the new sixth grade teacher at Epiphany Middle School. She returned to teaching after a 10-year absence resulting from an automobile accident. She is a paraplegic and is working to regain her independence and to establish herself as a professional educator. One of her first tasks was to choose a group of four exceptional pupils to represent her grade in the Academic Bowl. E.L. Konigsburg artfully interweaves the relationships among these four very unique students and Mrs. Olinski. This Newbery Award winning book is filled with a variety of themes -- friendship, adjustment, acceptance, etc. -- and characters making it an excellent choice for the classroom.
Great choice! I may need to revisit this book. It kind of reminds me of _The Mysterious Benedict Society_. The children in that book are chosen to be members of the society for various reasons that are unknown to them for much of the book. Yet, all the children have skills and talents that are needed in the end.
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