The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E.L. Konigsburg

[Reviews by A]

The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E.L. Konigsburg is the story of a twelve year old girl forced to attend a four week summer camp when she prefers to either accompany her parents to Peru or stay with her beloved great-uncles. The story opens with Uncle Alex rescuing Margaret Rose from camp. Mrs. Kaplan is the director of the girls camp and has taken a stern approach with Margaret. She prefers order and obedience from her campers. We soon learn that her son is the handyman and maintenance operator for the camp. Although artistic and intelligent, Jake prefers to present himself as slightly mentally challenged to help him avoid the campers and their drama. He is quite aware of all that goes on at camp even though his mother seems unaware of the personalities and tendencies of the campers to each other. Jake soon nicknames Margaret Rose “Bartleby” in reference to Herman Melville’s short story.

The story unfolds as Margaret learns that the towers that her uncles have built in their backyard for 45 years are to be demolished. She subsequently learns that this is why the uncles did not plan for her to spend the summer with them. They have been hoping to protect her from the destruction. She later learns that her parents needed time alone to focus on their marriage. An interesting read for a middle grades reader with references to art and literature. Themes in the novel include family, bullying, value of time, and differences of opinion.

I would give The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place a 4 out of 4 rating. I did not find grammatical errors nor errors in the story line. The characters were well developed and engaging. I think it would hold the attention of a middle grades reader who is familiar with reading longer chapter books.

[Ben Moore]

Sounds quite complex but you summarised it well