What is the main conflict in The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg?

The View From Saturday portrays academic competition in the same exciting light as sports novels do football and baseball contests. The story is about a teacher and four sixth graders, underdogs all, who overcome challenges in their personal lives, school lives, and social lives to succeed in areas where they are only expected to be losers. Their triumphs are told in their own words, as well as in the words of third-person narrators, and the characters come alive in the telling as interesting and passionate human beings.