A Soul's Inspiration

All of us carry disabilities around with us. For some, they are on the outside, visible to every passing glance, every casual observer. For others, they lurk just below the inner surface, jumping out to hinder progress and interrupt our passage through daily life. Still others suffer from disabilities perceived only through the viewpoints of other people. They become crippled by the burden of outside impressions, failing to meet a subjective standard of acceptability or commonality, and are unable or unsure of how to overcome their fear of standing tall: outside the norm, outside the average, outside the commonplace.

Eva Marie Olinski, newly returned to her position as a sixth-grade teacher, bears the obvious burden of the first type of disability. Eva Marie Olinski is a paraplegic. She lost her ability to walk and her husband in the same accident, years earlier. Four of Mrs. Olinski's new homeroom students, Julian, Noah, Ethan, and Nadia are each afflicted with another type of disability.

Julian is different. He comes from a far-away land, he wears knee-socks with old-fashioned short pants, he carries a briefcase to school. Anyone can see that Julian Singh does not fit in, with the possible exception that is, of Julian Singh.

Noah knows practically everything. Logic combined with facts tend to order his universe. But knowledge can be a surprising handicap. Noah's facts and figures, his keen intellect, offer little companionship for a young boy desirous of friends and craving normalcy.

Nadia has confidence. In spades. Who can blame her? Her dog is a genius and is Nadia's best friend in the world. Nadia's is the fear of being regarded as ordinary.

Ethan's disability is two-fold; his renowned-around-town older brother, and the blanket of silence he wraps around himself to disguise his feelings of inadequacy.

These four unique and marvelous individuals find themselves united by bonds which may bend but do not break: the knowledge that being individual is more important than fitting in, that true friends will accept a person as they are and that "The Souls" as they choose to call themselves, possess the singular ability to help Eva Marie Olinski once again stand tall and proud without ever leaving her wheelchair.

"The View From Saturday" a Newbery Medal-winningnovel by E.L. Konigsburg, weaves together a superb tale that middle-grade readers will find inspiring and delightful. Anyone who has ever been a kid can relate to Ethan, Noah, Nadia and Julian.

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