The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place

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Twelve year old Margaret Rose Kane is incorrigible. Not only does she refuse to bend to the will of her manipulative cabin mates at Camp Talequa, she stands up to and inadvertently insults the camp director and Queen-in-residence, Mrs. Kaplan. The intimidating and cruel confrontations that threaten to break Margaret's spririt only serve to strengthen her resolve, and everyone is happy when Margaret is finally banished/rescued from Camp Talequa. Luckily for her, with her parents in Peru, this means she can spend the rest of the summer with her delightfully eccentric Hungarian great-uncles, Alexander and Morris Rose. Margaret adores her great-uncles, and loves the house at 19 Schuyler Place--especially the three peculiar clock towers (tall painted structures covered in pendants made from broken china, crystal, bottles, jars, and clock parts) that the Rose brothers have been building for as long as she can remember. For Margaret and the Rose brothers, the towers represent beauty for beauty's sake--they sparkle in the sun and sing in the wind--they exist only to spread joy. Not everyone loves the towers however, and forty-five years after the birth of the project, the city council declares the towers "unsafe," and demands that they be dismantled and destroyed. Filled with the same fiery resolve that helped her survive Camp Talequa, Margaret (with the help of a handyman named Jake, a loyal dog named Tartufo, and few other unexpected allies) launches a plan to save the towers in the name of art, history, and beauty.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
In this can't-miss follow-up to E. L. Konigsburg's Silent to the Bone, the Newbery Medal–winning author focuses her attention on the history of Margaret Rose Kane, Connor's half sister, taking readers back to 1983 and Margaret's surefooted effort to keep her uncles' towers from being destroyed.

In the same gentle but powerful tone that resonates through all of her work, Konigsburg begins her novel with Uncle Alex retrieving Margaret from Camp Talequa, where she's had a less-than-pleasurable experience with the cliquish girls in the Meadowlark cabin. After Margaret and Uncle Alex are driven home by the camp director's son -- whom she soon befriends as a fellow fan of the towers -- they and Uncle Morris become embroiled in a fight to rescue the towers from nasty neighbors worried about property values. Thankfully, old neighborhood friends now in powerful and useful positions are willing to help, and when the Meadowlark girls get called up for activist duty, the towers are rescued by being given a practical use that reflects the change in the times.

Delving into the psychology of a neighborhood, old ways versus modernization, and culture's beneficial effect on society, Konigsburg's Outcasts hits an even stronger note than Silent to the Bone. The author weaves together plot strands that leave your sense of justice satisfied at the end, while her main character, Margaret, is a determined girl who makes you root for her all the way. Thoughtful and riveting. Shana Taylor

ANNOTATION

Upon leaving an oppressive summer camp, twelve-year-old Margaret Rose Kane spearheads a campaign to preserve three unique towers her great-uncles have been building in their backyard for more than forty years.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Margaret Rose Kane, Connor Kane's older half-sister in Silent to the Bone, tells the story of the summer she was twelve. Her story begins at Camp Talequa, where her behavior has been downgraded from uncooperative to incorrigible. It's true that when she's asked to take a nature walk or go tubing on the lake, Margaret says, "I prefer not to." But it's equally true that her cabin mates are making her life miserable. By making her the butt of their cruel pranks, by giving her a nasty nickname, by joining in a mean conspiracy, they have mounted an assault on her integrity. Fortunately, before they can destroy her, she's rescued by her great-uncles, Alexander and Morris Rose.

It's not until Margaret is security returned to the safe haven of their home at 19 Schuyler Place that she learns that her uncles, too, are in need of rescue. For the last forty-five years, the Uncles have been building three giant towers from scrap metal and shards of glass and porcelain in their backyard. But now, bowing to pressures from some powerful homeowners, the towers have been declared a blight on the neighborhood. Even worse, the city council has voted to have them destroyed. Margaret Rose is outraged. She knows the towers for what they truly are: irreplaceable works of art. To Margaret, the towers sing. They sing of the joy of making something big and beautiful out of bits and pieces, of integrity, and perhaps most important of all, they sing of history. And Margaret Rose is determined to make sure they always will.

From the incomparable E. L. Konigsburg comes a rousing story about art, history, and the fierce preservation of individuality.

FROM THE CRITICS

The Washington Post

There are a handful of authors writing for pre- and early-teen readers whose books are so quirkily original, so airily intelligent, that a single paragraph can make a jaded reviewer's spirits rise. They include Betsy Byars, Polly Horvath, Richard Peck, Daniel Pinkwater, Britain's William Mayne and, of course, E.L. Konigsburg, who won the Newbery medal in 1968 for From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and again 29 years later for The View From Saturday. Konigsburg's latest could make her a triple winner. — Elizabeth Ward

USAToday

Rarely have the horrors of girls' camp been so delectably delineated: the treacly sweet control freak of a camp director, the endless group activities, the vileness of a gang of bullying queen bees and alpha girls. Not to mention their followers, who have moral backbones made of marshmallow … Outcasts is a beautifully written, witty tale with subtle, sometimes sardonic and bittersweet elements. — Deirdre Donahue

Publishers Weekly

Ringwald, who knows a thing or two about portraying teen girls dealing with big life issues, is a fine choice to narrate the story of wise-beyond-her-years Margaret Rose's 12th summer. In a tone that's blas and disaffected when warranted, yet emotionally resonant and passionate in all the right places, Ringwald effectively brings listeners to Margaret's world. When her parents take a long summer vacation to Peru, Margaret is sent to Camp Talequa. But the mean and childish pranks of her bunkmates and the camp's cheery emphasis on "crafts-on-demand and Mother Nature" have Margaret refusing to participate in any activities. The unhappy camper is grudgingly granted a reprieve by the camp and spends the rest of the vacation with her eccentric and artistic great uncles. Margaret soon finds herself in the middle of a battle to preserve the tower sculptures made of clockworks, porcelain, crystal and scrap metal her uncles have built in their backyard over the past 45 years. Ringwald's solid work ensures that listeners will find much to like in Konigsburg's latest story of smart and memorable characters. Ages 10-up. (Feb.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Heidi Hauser Green

Her parents have gone to Peru for the summer, and twelve-year-old Margaret Rose Kane is miserable at Camp Talequa. The camp's counselors and nurse have come to call her "incorrigible," which is even worse than their initial assessment of "uncooperative." The girls in her cabin have banded together to bend Margaret Rose to their will through an assortment of cruel jokes and pranks. All of this has only served to strengthen Margaret's resolve not to back down. Into this stand-off comes Uncle Alexander! He has come to collect the girl and bring her back to 19 Schuyler Place, the home he shares with Uncle Morris. To Margaret, this only makes sense. She loves her eccentric Hungarian great-uncles dearly, and staying with them had been one of her top choices for how to spend the summer in the first place. Quickly, though, she learns just why she had not been brought to 19 Schuyler Place sooner. For more than forty years, the uncles have been constructing three towers in their backyard out of scrap metal, bits of glass, and porcelain. Now, the towers have been declared a "blight" on the community, and city council has vowed to have them removed. The uncles didn't want Margaret Rose to see the towers torn down. Margaret doesn't want to see that, either. And so she sets about saving them. Award-winning author E. L. Konigsburg is in top form in this compelling story about identity, self-expression, and, ultimately, survival. Readers familiar with her Silent to the Bone will welcome the return of Margaret Rose Kane to the printed page, and those just coming to Konigsburg's work will surely find themselves looking for more! 2004, Atheneum, Ages 10 to 14.

VOYA - Jamie S. Hansen