Eureka!

Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place, The

Publication Information

Author: Konigsburg, E. L.

Illustrator:

Title: Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place, The

Date: 2004

Publisher: Atheneum

City: New York

ISBN, paperback: 0-689-86636-4

ISBN, hardback:

Recommended audience:

ABE/ABLE: Yes

ESOL:

Family:

Young Adult: Yes

Picture:

General Information:

Book Type(s): fiction

HSE Descriptor(s):

Summary:

Margaret Rose Kane, 12 years old, escapes oppressive summer camp with the help of her great-uncles and then helps them rescue from urban renewal the sculptural "towers" that they have been creating for 45 years.

Teaching Ideas:

Note that some adult readers may find the flashback episodes disconcerting and distracting. Since the book provides readers with a guide for community advocacy and activism (humorously so), readers can explore Margaret Rose's and Jake's problem-solving methods and plans, and perhaps relate them to a current community issue. Readers could also discuss/write how their community has changed over time. The description of the uncles, their argumentative interaction, and their philosophy would be excellent topics for writing. Character maps describing characteristics with illustrative examples from the text would visually support understanding how characters evolved, interacted and were influenced by events. And readers will want to address the value of art and its lack of pragmatic usefulness as espoused by Jake, the uncles, and Peter Vanderwaal. Teachers will want to use a Sketch to Stretch strategy to help readers visualize the towers and the rose ceiling. The books could be paired with the picture book Pearl Moscowitz Last Stand on the theme of civic activism and The Towers of Watts , a picure book of real folkart towers.

Teaching Strategies: