The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place

by E.L. Konigsburg

You’re probably familiar with author Konigsburg from her Newbery award-winning book From the Mixed-Up Filed of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, which is an excellent book about a brother and sister who live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a while. I’ve had The Outcasts of… on my reading list for a while, and decided it might be nice to read on the train.

And it was nice, although very short (which, for a children’s book, isn’t necessarily a bad thing). I loved that it referenced “Bartleby the Scrivener,” a great short story by Herman Melville (loads better than Moby Dick – you really should read the story). The characters were interesting, but you know what? I felt like it would have made a much better movie than book. Isn’t that odd? Usually you read a good book and think, Wow, wouldn’t that be a fun movie, but here I almost felt like someone had written a book after hearing someone describe a movie. Hm.

It wasn’t as good as From the Mixed-Up…, understandably, but it definitely wasn’t bad. It at least helped take up some time on the train. I had to listen to really loud music on the Zune while I read because I was sitting right by a girl who seemed to have a combination of whooping cough, pneumonia, and emphysema (is that even possible?). Yup.