The Wednesday Wars
By: Gary D. Schmidt
Newbery Honor Book - 2008
Holling Hoodhood was an easy character to identify with: a father who's always right and gets his way - even at the expense of his children, a mother who does what dad says, a teenaged sister who won't help you when you tell her that your teacher hates you, and a teacher that hates him.
Well, the hate part is subjective. As a seventh-grade boy I can certainly see why Holling would think his teacher disliked him: he was the only student in class on Wednesday afternoons when the others were at their various religious institutions for classes. Holling's a Presbyterian, so he doesn't go to religion classes. Instead, Mrs. Baker has him cleaning chalkboards and erasers, until the fateful Wednesday when she has him start reading Shakespeare. It's no Treasure Island, but Holling finds many life lessons right in there in front of him. He even takes up Shakespearean cursing. That sounds bad, but in today's context they're nothing - in Shakespeare's time, well, then they were something! "Toads, beetles, bats!" His new talents even land him a spot in a Shakespeare play and he has to wear yellow tights with feathers...and believe me, just reading about his abhorrence of the yellow tights with feathers is enough to keep you going on this one!
There's a lot going on in this little book: the Vietnam War is in full swing, Holling's sister is a flower child (even though dad insists she isn't, and that there is no need for her to go to College since she'll already have a job at Hoodhood and Associates), rats, cream puff incidents, a near deadly accident, Yankee baseball players, Shakespeare, camping, dating, atomic bomb drills and so much more!
I should probably tell you it took me a little bit to get into this one. I've been deeply immersed in fairy tales, mysteries and the Victoria Era for quite awhile now and this was a real switch from those! If you find the beginning lagging a bit, keep with it - it's worth it in the end!
Recommended To:
- Those working their way through the Newbery Award Winners List - I know there are some of you out there!
- Real-life story fans
- Baseball fans
- Shakespeare fans
- Those curious about life in America during the Vietnam War- you'll see various perspectives on the war and how our opinions can affect how we treat each other
- Everyone!
Notes on the Cover:
I like the chalkboard look to the cover - Holding spends some time with chalkboards and erasers. I also like the outline of Holding and of Shakespeare. Would I have picked it up just for its cover? No, I wouldn't have, but this is one of those cases where you miss out if you judge a book by its cover. I
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