네 명의 초등학교 6학년 학생인 Noah Gershom, Nadia Diamondstein, Ethan Potter, 그리고, Julian Singh은 '영혼들'이라고 하는 모임을 조직한다. 학교에서 학력 경시대회가 다가오자 하반신 마비의 올린스키 선생님은 그들을 학력 경시대회에 대표로 선발한다. 그들은 대회에서 7학년은 물론 8학년까지 이기고, 주(州) 챔피언이 된다. 소설은 수줍은 많은 천재적인 12살 아이들이 매주 토요일 차를 마시면서 모임을 갖는 것을 중심으로 이야기가 이루어진다. 저자의 박학 다식하고 엉뚱한 캐릭터 구성은 작품을 재미있는 우정 이야기로 만들었다.
From the Newbery Medal-winning author of the beloved classic From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler comes four jewel-like short stories--one for each of the team members of an Academic Bowl team--that ask questions and demonstrate surprising answers. How had Mrs. Olinski chosen her sixth-grade Academic Bowl team? She had a number of answers. But were any of them true? How had she really chosen Noah and Nadia and Ethan and Julian? And why did they make such a good team?
It was a surprise to a lot of people when Mrs. Olinski's team won the sixth-grade Academic Bowl contest at Epiphany Middle School. It was an even bigger surprise when they beat the seventh grade and the eighth grade, too. And when they went on to even greater victories, everyone began to ask: How did it happen?
It happened at least partly because Noah had been the best man (quite by accident) at the wedding of Ethan's grandmother and Nadia's grandfather. It happened because Nadia discovered that she could not let a lot of baby turtles die. It happened when Ethan could not let Julian face disaster alone. And it happened because Julian valued something important in himself and saw in the other three something he also valued.
Mrs. Olinski, returning to teaching after having been injured in an automobile accident, found that her Academic Bowl team became her answer to finding confidence and success. What she did not know, at least at first, was that her team knew more than she did the answer to why they had been chosen.
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