On the surface, this is a story about four diverse New York students, all of them "nice," coming together as secret friends who then become the youngest-ever middle school champion quiz team.
"The Souls," as they call themselves, are:
Noah - is an almost-abrasive know-it-all
Nadia - a transplanted Floridian with a genius dog
Ethan - a quiet wannabe theater geek born into a farming family
Julian - an out-of-step Indian who brings them together through tea parties
The team sponsor/coach is Mrs. Olinski, who's teaching again for the first time since the accident than made her a paraplegic.
Honestly, I was lost some of and bored most of the time. All five of the characters narrate sections of the story and I couldn't keep the peripheral characters straight nor care about their character quirks. Also, there seemed to be a desire to make it a bit "magical" -- Mrs. Olinski had been on the verge of choosing a different student over Julian to round out the quiz team and, somehow, The Souls knew this. At the end of the story, Mrs. Olinski asks the group "Did I choose you or did you choose me?" and The Souls reply is "Yes!" Uh, whatever.
D+
