



The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place
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4.4 • 18 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
E.L. Konigsburg revisits the town of Epiphany to tell the story of Margaret Rose Kane, Connor's older half-sister. It's about the summer when Margaret Rose turned twelve--the same year that Cabbage Patch dolls were popular, that Sally Ride became the first woman to go into space, that El Nino turned the world upside-down. Margaret Rose begins her summer with a miserable experience at camp, from which she's rescued by her beloved, eccentric uncles. Little does she know that her uncles, in turn, need rescuing themselves--from a tyrannical city council determined to tear down her uncles' life work--three spectacularly beautiful towers that her uncles have been building since before Margaret was a baby. A rousing book about intelligence, art, and the fierce preservation of individuality, from EL Konigsburg.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This elegant, absorbing novel focuses on Margaret, half-sister of Connor (the narrator of Silent to the Bone) the summer she is 12, in 1983 (long before Connor's birth). As the novel opens, Margaret's Hungarian immigrant great-uncle Alex shows up at her summer camp to remove her mid-session. He bests the autocratic camp director as the woman attempts to demonstrate her professionalism and suggests that Margaret is "incorrigible." Konigsburg strikes just the right balance: Uncle Alex, Margaret and, by extension, the audience, are immediately allied against the forces of pomposity and falsehood. En route to the house Uncle Alex shares with his brother , Margaret, who narrates, lets readers know that she has been bullied by her cabin mates while the camp director has been willfully blind (the heroine never does tattle). Konigsburg's fans will expect that Margaret is not simply there to be rescued, however, and it is Margaret who ends up making the biggest stand. In their backyard Uncle Alex and Uncle Morris have built extraordinary towers that have stood for 45 years (the structures inevitably evoke the Towers of Watts); now that their once-abandoned and dangerous neighborhood has been gentrified, the new residents have won a campaign to tear down the towers, arguing that they "don't fit the history." These premises lay fertile ground for penetrating discussions about how a culture defines history and art. While the novel strikes a few uncharacteristically false notes toward the end, the author offers readers so much, so well, that her book is a veritable feast, amply demonstrating how intelligence can triumph over pretense. Ages 10-up.
Customer Reviews
Awesomely awesome book
I really recommend this book and all other books by E. L Koingsburg
The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place
I loved reading this book so much.It showed the growth of emotions Margaret Rose the main character gains.It also speaks to fighting,for what you believe until you get it.