The Wednesday Wars

http://img1.imagesbn.com/p/9780547237602_p0_v2_s260x420.JPG

Bibliography:

Schmidt, Gary D. (2006). THE WEDNESDAY WARS. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN 9780618724833

Summary:

As it is, middle school is hard enough, but for Holling Hoodhood it seems even worse.  On Wednesdays, being the only Presbyterian at Camillo Junior High, he is left behind to stay with Mrs. Baker while half his class goes to Catechism and the other half to Hebrew School.  Holling is certain that Mrs. Baker hates “him with heat whiter than the sun” because he is in her way of an afternoon off.  However, as time goes by, he learns just how special these days truly are.

Critical Analysis:

Gary Schmidt does a considerable job combining humor, drama, and history in his book The Wednesday Wars.  The plot is laugh out loud funny as Holling, who lives on Long Island,  battles boredom, janitorial duties, and Shakespeare with “white feathers waving on [his] butt,” however the gravity of becoming a person that stands up for himself is not downplayed by the hilarity of Holling’s comical catastrophes.  In addition, it’s as though readers are actually hearing Walter Cronkite giving his nightly updates as Holling's father catches up on the evening news and has no time to give fatherly advice.  Readers also get a glimpse into the time period of 1967-1968 with Vietnam, Mickey Mantle, the rage of becoming a flower child, and the like by which Schmidt successfully weaves portions of history into Holling’s life.  Overall, Gary Schmidt offers middle schoolers and older an entertaining read with The Wednesday Wars.

Awards:

2008 Newbery Honor

2010 Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award.

Review Excerpts:

“Schmidt has a way of getting to the emotional heart of every scene without overstatement, allowing the reader and Holling to understand the great truths swirling around them on their own terms.” -Kirkus Reviews

“The serious issues are leavened with ample humor, and the supporting cast—especially the wise and wonderful Mrs. Baker—is fully dimensional. Best of all is the hero, who shows himself to be more of a man than his authoritarian father.” -Publishers Weekly

“Holling's unwavering, distinctive voice offers a gentle, hopeful, moving story of a boy who, with the right help, learns to stretch beyond the limitations of his family, his violent times, and his fear, as he leaps into his future with his eyes and his heart wide open.” -Booklist

Connections:

-Read Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy also by, Gary Schmidt

-Read Dead End in Norvelt, by Jack Gantos - also set in the 1960s, compare and contrast the novels

-Research the 1960’s, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, Vietnam