I Didn't Know That

Like Holes E.L. Konigsburg's The View From Saturday has layers-like an onion.  The plot centers around four students in Mrs. Olinski's 6th grade class who form a team and compete in the academic bowl.  Each of their stories weave together flawlessly and produce a deep rich narrative that is a joy to read.  I have read this book before and what struck me about it was the number of interesting facts that I learned as I read.  So for today's post I decided to make a list of all the things I didn't know before I read this book-aka what I learned (what, learn something, from a book?? radical). 

Facts Found in The View From Saturday

• There are six steps involved in filling a pen with a nib when writing calligraphy.  These steps should not be viewed as preperation but as the beginning itself.
• Baby turtles that are found half in and half out of their shelves are referred to as either live-pipped or dead-pipped.
• POSH is an acronym standing for port outward starboard home.
• TIP is an acronym standing for to insure promptness.
• The dog in Little Orphan Annie was male.
• Tea Time is always at 4 o'clock.

The book is filled with interesting facts and some editions even have a list of questions and answers found in the book at the back.  I chose to share with you the ones I found most interesting and the ones that made me think, "huh, I didn't know that."

I rarely give thought to titles and cover art but when I selected the picture to appear with this post I suddenly understood why this book is titled The View from Saturday and why there are four cups of tea in a window on the cover.  If you read the book it will be incredibly obvious for you, but as this proves I occasionally miss the obvious.

Learning from a book...that's kdis stuff.