I prefer not to.
Earlier this week I read The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E. L. Konigsburg. Kongisburg is probably best known for her unforgettable From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, which I (and everyone else, probably) read as a child. Outcasts was written after I was grown, so I missed it somehow. I first read Konigsburg's companion to Outcasts, Silent to the Bone, as an adult and loved it, and I loved Outcasts as well.
Margaret Rose goes to stay with her uncles over the summer after an abortive experience at camp. Her uncles are very unusual. They are Hungarian. They are Jewish. They don't wear blue jeans or digital watches. They grow their own vegetables and refuse to hurry dinner. They have spent decades building huge artistic towers made of recycled glass in their backyard.
Margaret Rose loves the towers, but unfortunately the neighborhood authority for the recently gentrified neighborhood does not, and orders them torn down. She has to find a way to stop them.
One of the things I really liked about this book--about all of Konigsburg's work, actually--is that her characters aren't--to put it mildly--overly concerned with fitting in. They are the antithesis of kid's books about cliques and conformity. A lesser character would have been embarassed by the uncles' eccentric behabior; Margaret Rose loves it, loves their crazy habits and her old-fashioned name.
I don't think there are any notes in the book, but I can't help but think the story was inspired by the Watts Towers of California.
While googling for pictures of the Watts towers, I found this photo blog, which is so gorgeous it makes me want to go to LA. It looks like Raymond Chandler still walks the streets.
Margaret Rose goes to stay with her uncles over the summer after an abortive experience at camp. Her uncles are very unusual. They are Hungarian. They are Jewish. They don't wear blue jeans or digital watches. They grow their own vegetables and refuse to hurry dinner. They have spent decades building huge artistic towers made of recycled glass in their backyard.
Margaret Rose loves the towers, but unfortunately the neighborhood authority for the recently gentrified neighborhood does not, and orders them torn down. She has to find a way to stop them.
One of the things I really liked about this book--about all of Konigsburg's work, actually--is that her characters aren't--to put it mildly--overly concerned with fitting in. They are the antithesis of kid's books about cliques and conformity. A lesser character would have been embarassed by the uncles' eccentric behabior; Margaret Rose loves it, loves their crazy habits and her old-fashioned name.
I don't think there are any notes in the book, but I can't help but think the story was inspired by the Watts Towers of California.
While googling for pictures of the Watts towers, I found this photo blog, which is so gorgeous it makes me want to go to LA. It looks like Raymond Chandler still walks the streets.