The View from Saturday

How did Mrs. Olinski choose her Academic Bowl squad for sixth graders? She had many responses ready. Which ones, nevertheless, were true? How could she have possibly picked Julian, Ethan, Noah, and Nadia? And why were they such a strong team? Many were taken aback when Mrs. Olinski's squad emerged victorious in the sixth-grade Academic Bowl competition at Epiphany Middle School. When they also defeated the seventh and eighth grades, it was an even greater surprise. And everyone started to wonder: How did it happen? as they went on to achieve even bigger successes.

It occurred, at least in part, because Noah had unintentionally served as best man at the wedding of Nadia's grandpa and Ethan's grandmother. It was brought about by Nadia's realization that she could not allow many newborn turtles to perish. That occurred because Ethan could not leave Julian to confront tragedy on his own. And it transpired because Julian saw a significant quality in each of the other three people and recognized a similar quality in himself.

After suffering injuries in a car accident and returning to the classroom, Mrs. Olinski discovered that her Academic Bowl team was the key to her success and confidence. Initially, she was unaware that her team had more knowledge about the reason for their selection than she did.

This story revolves on a team, a class, a school, and a number of competitions. Four jewel-like short tales, one for each team member, are interspersed throughout the story to pose problems and provide unexpected solutions.