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The Wednesday Wars
In this Newbery Honor-winning novel, Gary D. Schmidt offers an unforgettable antihero. The Wednesday Wars is a wonderfully witty and compelling story about a teenage boy’s mishaps and adventures over the course of the 1967–68 school year in Long Island, New York.
Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High, who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn’t like Holling—he’s sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like Vietnam. His father wants Holling and his sister to be on their best behavior: the success of his business depends on it. But how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? A bully demanding cream puffs; angry rats; and a baseball hero signing autographs the very same night Holling has to appear in a play in yellow tights! As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds Motivation—the Big M—in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself.
Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High, who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn’t like Holling—he’s sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like Vietnam. His father wants Holling and his sister to be on their best behavior: the success of his business depends on it. But how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? A bully demanding cream puffs; angry rats; and a baseball hero signing autographs the very same night Holling has to appear in a play in yellow tights! As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds Motivation—the Big M—in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself.
264 pages, Hardcover
First published May 21, 2007
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30331 people want to read
About the author
Gary D. Schmidt
76 books2,178 followersGary D. Schmidt is an American children's writer of nonfiction books and young adult novels, including two Newbery Honor books. He lives on a farm in Alto, Michigan,with his wife and six children, where he splits wood, plants gardens, writes, feeds the wild cats that drop by and wishes that sometimes the sea breeze came that far inland. He is a Professor of English at Calvin College.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 7,628 reviews
July 20, 2009
Holling Hoodhood’s got a problem. It’s 1967, and he’s just started seventh grade at Camillo Junior High, and his teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates his guts. Every Wednesday afternoon, half of the kids in Holling’s class go to Hebrew school and the other half go to St. Adelbert’s for catechism. And Holling, as the only Presbyterian in the class, stays behind with Mrs. Baker.
And Mrs. Baker makes him read Shakespeare. Outside of class.
What follows is a year in Holling’s life, a year of Wednesdays with Mrs. Baker and life in general. It’s 1967, and his sister wants to be a flower child, and his father owns the architecture firm Hoodhood and Associates and sees Holling as The Son Who Will Inherit Hoodhood and Associates. There are rats, and cream puffs, and Doug Swieteck’s brother. There are telegrams and baseballs and tights (with feathers!) and atomic bomb drills.
This is a quiet book that gets you in all the right places. If I had to sum it up in a phrase, I’d say it was about how people surprise you—sometimes in bad ways, and more often in very good ways. It’s about heroes—the ones you create for yourself, and the ones that you discover. It’s about finding your way when the world is confusing. It’s about being in seventh grade, and learning that it’s not who you are that matters, but who you decide to be.
This book made me laugh out loud on the subway, those big belly laughs that make strangers think you’re crazy. It also made me cry, no less that four times. This is not a book with great tragedy, but it is a book with great power. It’s a book that made me feel.
I read it slowly, reading and rereading each line and word, savoring the chapters. But I didn’t horde it, didn’t put it down and save it for later, because I could. not. stop. reading.
I just couldn’t. It wasn’t so much that I needed to know what happened—it was more that I desperately wanted to hear Holling’s voice in my head some more. I wanted more afternoons with Mrs. Baker.
This is the kind of book that you read and reread, and then read bits aloud to the people you care about, because you want to share it with them. It’s the kind of book that makes you feel like you really, really know the characters, like what happens to them is important to you.
It’s the kind of book that makes you want to read Shakespeare, and more importantly, to curse like Caliban.
It’s really one of the best reading experiences I’ve had in a long time. I urge you to read it. I want to talk about the Mickey Mantle episode with you. I want to hear what you think about cream puffs. And I want you to know what I mean when I say, “toads, beetles, bats.” Or “chrysanthemum.”
Mostly, I want you to meet Holling Hoodhood and Mrs. Baker, two of my new favorite literary creations. I want them to be part of your life the way they’ve been part of mine since I started this book. I really think you’ll like them a lot.
And Mrs. Baker makes him read Shakespeare. Outside of class.
What follows is a year in Holling’s life, a year of Wednesdays with Mrs. Baker and life in general. It’s 1967, and his sister wants to be a flower child, and his father owns the architecture firm Hoodhood and Associates and sees Holling as The Son Who Will Inherit Hoodhood and Associates. There are rats, and cream puffs, and Doug Swieteck’s brother. There are telegrams and baseballs and tights (with feathers!) and atomic bomb drills.
This is a quiet book that gets you in all the right places. If I had to sum it up in a phrase, I’d say it was about how people surprise you—sometimes in bad ways, and more often in very good ways. It’s about heroes—the ones you create for yourself, and the ones that you discover. It’s about finding your way when the world is confusing. It’s about being in seventh grade, and learning that it’s not who you are that matters, but who you decide to be.
This book made me laugh out loud on the subway, those big belly laughs that make strangers think you’re crazy. It also made me cry, no less that four times. This is not a book with great tragedy, but it is a book with great power. It’s a book that made me feel.
I read it slowly, reading and rereading each line and word, savoring the chapters. But I didn’t horde it, didn’t put it down and save it for later, because I could. not. stop. reading.
I just couldn’t. It wasn’t so much that I needed to know what happened—it was more that I desperately wanted to hear Holling’s voice in my head some more. I wanted more afternoons with Mrs. Baker.
This is the kind of book that you read and reread, and then read bits aloud to the people you care about, because you want to share it with them. It’s the kind of book that makes you feel like you really, really know the characters, like what happens to them is important to you.
It’s the kind of book that makes you want to read Shakespeare, and more importantly, to curse like Caliban.
It’s really one of the best reading experiences I’ve had in a long time. I urge you to read it. I want to talk about the Mickey Mantle episode with you. I want to hear what you think about cream puffs. And I want you to know what I mean when I say, “toads, beetles, bats.” Or “chrysanthemum.”
Mostly, I want you to meet Holling Hoodhood and Mrs. Baker, two of my new favorite literary creations. I want them to be part of your life the way they’ve been part of mine since I started this book. I really think you’ll like them a lot.
July 2, 2018
Audiobook rating: ★★★★★
Book rating: ★★★★★
Oh I am so going to miss you ‘let me tell you’ about your life to me, Holling!!
Written so convincingly youthful and full of hearts and humor.
Holling Hoodhood’s journey into seven grade is peppered with misadventures, extremely good luck, self discovery and even Shakespeare. So hilarious and sarcastic and really heartfelt.
► I listened to the audiobook and oh my lord, I could not stop! Love the narrator’s voice too much: he has this boyish/teenage voice and his performance is pitch perfect: awkward and sarcastic.
❤
Book rating: ★★★★★
“J U S T S W E L L”
Oh I am so going to miss you ‘let me tell you’ about your life to me, Holling!!
“I never thought being in seven grade would mean so many death threats”
Written so convincingly youthful and full of hearts and humor.
Holling Hoodhood’s journey into seven grade is peppered with misadventures, extremely good luck, self discovery and even Shakespeare. So hilarious and sarcastic and really heartfelt.
► I listened to the audiobook and oh my lord, I could not stop! Love the narrator’s voice too much: he has this boyish/teenage voice and his performance is pitch perfect: awkward and sarcastic.
❤
June 16, 2020
this is my second book for the readventurer challenge.
this book is very...sweet. and ordinarily, a sweet book would make me feel like i had chiggers or something else foul crawling under my skin, and its earnest gee-whizzery would make me feel unclean just because of my mental rolodex of words that are more satisfying to say in moments of astonishment or crisis than "gee whiz."
but this one was different. this one was entirely wholesome, yeah, but wholesome and satisfying like fresh-baked bread, and i didn't want to roll my eyes at all.
this book is many things, but for me, the best part is the inspirational-teacher aspect of it. i loved the way holling's character changed under mrs. baker's ministrations; how his worldview expanded through shakespeare as he was able to find parallels between the stories of shakespeare and the trials facing him in his own life. he went from a boy who was scared of his teacher and believed everyone was against him to a confident, articulate boy who found the strength to stand up to his father, fight injustice, and face his fears.
my only complaint is that there isn't much in the way of dramatic tension. you learn pretty early on that any time something negative could happen, it is like there is a teflon bubble of groovy sixties optimism that just protects him from bad times. and this despite the backdrop of the vietnam war. but it is middle grade, and who wants to make a ten-year-old cry, right? but- yeah - it is pretty forrest gumpy, down to the running and everything. but it means well, and it is a sweet story that i am glad i read.
i will make this review make more sense later - right now my brain is completely melted.
come to my blog!
this book is very...sweet. and ordinarily, a sweet book would make me feel like i had chiggers or something else foul crawling under my skin, and its earnest gee-whizzery would make me feel unclean just because of my mental rolodex of words that are more satisfying to say in moments of astonishment or crisis than "gee whiz."
but this one was different. this one was entirely wholesome, yeah, but wholesome and satisfying like fresh-baked bread, and i didn't want to roll my eyes at all.
this book is many things, but for me, the best part is the inspirational-teacher aspect of it. i loved the way holling's character changed under mrs. baker's ministrations; how his worldview expanded through shakespeare as he was able to find parallels between the stories of shakespeare and the trials facing him in his own life. he went from a boy who was scared of his teacher and believed everyone was against him to a confident, articulate boy who found the strength to stand up to his father, fight injustice, and face his fears.
my only complaint is that there isn't much in the way of dramatic tension. you learn pretty early on that any time something negative could happen, it is like there is a teflon bubble of groovy sixties optimism that just protects him from bad times. and this despite the backdrop of the vietnam war. but it is middle grade, and who wants to make a ten-year-old cry, right? but- yeah - it is pretty forrest gumpy, down to the running and everything. but it means well, and it is a sweet story that i am glad i read.
i will make this review make more sense later - right now my brain is completely melted.
come to my blog!
March 8, 2022
"No, he can't win. But sometimes I wonder if perhaps Shakespeare might have let something happen that would at least have allowed a happy ending even for a monster- some way for him to grow beyond what Prospero thought of him. There is a part of us that can be so awful. And Shakespeare shows it to us in Caliban. But there's another part of us, too- a part that uses defeat to grow." (PG. 70)
Newbery Honor Book- 2007
Set in the year 1967, this is a coming of age book for Holling Hoodhood in the 7th grade in Long Island. The chapters are the months in his life so we get to see that happens to him, mostly in school, and how his character grows. Wednesday's start out as his most dreaded day as he is stuck in school with his teacher, Mrs. Baker. As the only Presbyterian in the whole of the junior high, he has nowhere to go on Wednesday's as his classmates file out onto school buses to go to their Catholic church or synagogue for the rest of the half day.
Hoodhood thinks Mrs. Baker hates him because of his religion but they form such a wonderful bond while she teaches him some Shakespeare. Lots of laughs and sadness throughout this novel.
Vietnam is in the background affecting their lives at this point. His parents are also typical of that generation. No emotions just expectations. (I can relate)
Beautiful dedication to your most beloved teacher. It is a story of friendships and growing. The author did a wonderful job in creating this seventh grader's voice. I can really believe the narrator is a 14 year-old boy, which hasn't been believable in many novels recently.
Newbery Honor Book- 2007
Set in the year 1967, this is a coming of age book for Holling Hoodhood in the 7th grade in Long Island. The chapters are the months in his life so we get to see that happens to him, mostly in school, and how his character grows. Wednesday's start out as his most dreaded day as he is stuck in school with his teacher, Mrs. Baker. As the only Presbyterian in the whole of the junior high, he has nowhere to go on Wednesday's as his classmates file out onto school buses to go to their Catholic church or synagogue for the rest of the half day.
Hoodhood thinks Mrs. Baker hates him because of his religion but they form such a wonderful bond while she teaches him some Shakespeare. Lots of laughs and sadness throughout this novel.
Vietnam is in the background affecting their lives at this point. His parents are also typical of that generation. No emotions just expectations. (I can relate)
Beautiful dedication to your most beloved teacher. It is a story of friendships and growing. The author did a wonderful job in creating this seventh grader's voice. I can really believe the narrator is a 14 year-old boy, which hasn't been believable in many novels recently.
November 18, 2020
One of the best books I've ever read. Absolutely brilliant. A nailed-on classic.
Mr. Schmidt, take a bow.
(And thank you.)
Mr. Schmidt, take a bow.
(And thank you.)
September 19, 2013
There’s something very pleasant about kids’ books written in the ’60s. They have an assurance that books written in later, more apologetic and hesitant decades lack. They’re usually untroubled by the social upheaval all around them. Hippies may show up here or there, but the books are more likely to be about time travel, or inventions, or mysteries.
This is one of the things you can only learn from consuming texts from that era: that people who lived in the ’60s didn’t know they were living in the ’60s. Watch Blow-Up for the scene in which a character (in a film that features the Yardbirds) invites a girl back to his swinging pad and plays on the hifi elevator jazz. Don’t you know what decade you’re in? you want to scream at him. Play the Yardbirds, you idiot! But he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know.
Much less pleasant are contemporary kids’ books that take place in the ’60s. All of a sudden the author (a baby boomer, no doubt) realizes he’s writing about the most significant decade since the end of the Roman republic, and he can hardly stop his giggling. Assurance becomes smugness. The book becomes a checklist. Kennedys? Check. Vietnam? Check. Air-raid drills? Flower children? Political assassinations? Civil rights? The generation gap? Student unrest? Rock and roll? Check, check them all!
Wednesday Wars checks them all off, dutifully, and unimaginatively. It’s more or less a sitcom otherwise, with sitcom situations that are sometimes amusing and usually just chaotic and trite. The mary-sue narrator gets to At this point, Stanley Fish’s reader-response meter moved to vomit.
Is the author an English teacher and a child of the ’60s? By gum, says wikipedia, he is!
OMG GUYS! THE SIXTIES!
This is one of the things you can only learn from consuming texts from that era: that people who lived in the ’60s didn’t know they were living in the ’60s. Watch Blow-Up for the scene in which a character (in a film that features the Yardbirds) invites a girl back to his swinging pad and plays on the hifi elevator jazz. Don’t you know what decade you’re in? you want to scream at him. Play the Yardbirds, you idiot! But he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know.
Much less pleasant are contemporary kids’ books that take place in the ’60s. All of a sudden the author (a baby boomer, no doubt) realizes he’s writing about the most significant decade since the end of the Roman republic, and he can hardly stop his giggling. Assurance becomes smugness. The book becomes a checklist. Kennedys? Check. Vietnam? Check. Air-raid drills? Flower children? Political assassinations? Civil rights? The generation gap? Student unrest? Rock and roll? Check, check them all!
Wednesday Wars checks them all off, dutifully, and unimaginatively. It’s more or less a sitcom otherwise, with sitcom situations that are sometimes amusing and usually just chaotic and trite. The mary-sue narrator gets to At this point, Stanley Fish’s reader-response meter moved to vomit.
Is the author an English teacher and a child of the ’60s? By gum, says wikipedia, he is!
OMG GUYS! THE SIXTIES!
November 5, 2020
"The quality of mercy is not strained."
Oh gosh. I loved this book. An enjoyable middle-school historical novel set in Long Island in 1967 during the Vietnam Wars. I haven't read a lot of those and I'm very glad I came across this one. Not only does this one has plenty of LOL moments, it's also the kind of book that'll genuinely make you smile and even make you want to ponder about life. We need more books like this. The cover alone already makes me feel all sorts of warm and light. The rats definitely played a huge role in the story. So hilarious!
"Teachers bring up Shakespeare only to bore students to death. And I was going to be bored to death for eight months. No human being could stand it."
It's actually a little kind of reading a more mature Diary of A Wimpy Kid minus the drawings but Wednesday Wars is a bit more structured in a sense that Holling Hoophoop has one specific hell of a nemesis in the person of his teacher, Mrs. Baker who concocts different ways to torture Holling (being a Presbyterian) every Wednesdays during which he is left alone with his tormentor in the classroom while rest of the students went to church.
"But it turned out that Mrs. Baker's strategy didn't work after all! She had wanted to bore me to death, even though she said that she didn't- which was all part of the strategy. But the Merchant of Venice was okay."
Her "evil plots" however make Holling a Shakespeare fan, enabling him to recite random lines from the plays including curse lines (lol) and even ending up in a holiday play of the Tempest as Ariel the fairy.
"That's the Teacher Gene at work, giving its bearer an extra sense. It's a little frightening. Maybe that's how people decide to become teachers. They have that extra sense, and once they have it, and know they have it, they don't have any choice except to become a teacher."
And as it turned out, the nemesis he painted Mrs. Baker to be isn't really the villain in the story. There's also a subtle message of the evils of war and how it's always the innocent suffering its evil effects. There's Mai Thi, the lone Vietnamese student in school amassing all the ugly things said about "Vietcongs" and all that. There are the wives of the American soldiers in the characters of Mrs. Baker and Mrs Bigio and that scene where Mrs. Bigio said sorry to Mai Thi made me cry a little. Okay, a lot. What a lovely little story.
Oh gosh. I loved this book. An enjoyable middle-school historical novel set in Long Island in 1967 during the Vietnam Wars. I haven't read a lot of those and I'm very glad I came across this one. Not only does this one has plenty of LOL moments, it's also the kind of book that'll genuinely make you smile and even make you want to ponder about life. We need more books like this. The cover alone already makes me feel all sorts of warm and light. The rats definitely played a huge role in the story. So hilarious!
"Teachers bring up Shakespeare only to bore students to death. And I was going to be bored to death for eight months. No human being could stand it."
It's actually a little kind of reading a more mature Diary of A Wimpy Kid minus the drawings but Wednesday Wars is a bit more structured in a sense that Holling Hoophoop has one specific hell of a nemesis in the person of his teacher, Mrs. Baker who concocts different ways to torture Holling (being a Presbyterian) every Wednesdays during which he is left alone with his tormentor in the classroom while rest of the students went to church.
"But it turned out that Mrs. Baker's strategy didn't work after all! She had wanted to bore me to death, even though she said that she didn't- which was all part of the strategy. But the Merchant of Venice was okay."
Her "evil plots" however make Holling a Shakespeare fan, enabling him to recite random lines from the plays including curse lines (lol) and even ending up in a holiday play of the Tempest as Ariel the fairy.
"That's the Teacher Gene at work, giving its bearer an extra sense. It's a little frightening. Maybe that's how people decide to become teachers. They have that extra sense, and once they have it, and know they have it, they don't have any choice except to become a teacher."
And as it turned out, the nemesis he painted Mrs. Baker to be isn't really the villain in the story. There's also a subtle message of the evils of war and how it's always the innocent suffering its evil effects. There's Mai Thi, the lone Vietnamese student in school amassing all the ugly things said about "Vietcongs" and all that. There are the wives of the American soldiers in the characters of Mrs. Baker and Mrs Bigio and that scene where Mrs. Bigio said sorry to Mai Thi made me cry a little. Okay, a lot. What a lovely little story.
June 24, 2010
A Review in Two Parts
Part One
Ariel, recommended this book to me, and she wrote a fine good review of the book. You can find it by clicking on her name.
I really liked the book, but didn't love it. I think the things I didn't love about the book were me being a crank. For example, the myopic narrator view point of a seventh grader was great; it caught the distortions that a kid sees the world through and the way teachers and others outside of their own circle are depersonalized into roles instead of people. Without being preachy, though. But, then I would not like the Wally and Beaver golly-gee attitude that would at times sneak into the book. Sometimes it worked for good comic effect but it seemed too pure and innocent for me. Another part that I'm not quite sure how I feel is the Forest Gump path the story veers off into sometimes. But maybe if Tom Hanks hadn't starred in the movie I wouldn't be annoyed by anything that reminds me of the movie.
On the plus side, I really like the month of May in the book (each chapter is a month in the school year). I was a little afraid of what May may bring when I was reading the book, you know since it would be May 1968, probably the most tragic month of the second half of the 20th century. I'm not interested in going into detail and talking late story plot developments or anything, so I'll just leave it that the author does a great job capturing a certain pathos by this point in the novel that originally had only been a suburban comedic effect.
If I was a teacher of young adults and I had them read this book, I'd probably test them by asking them this question: "Tragedy or Comedy? Why? Explain and Defend".
Part Two
(If you are averse to potty mouth language please go away, I'm about to rant it up. You've been warned. Now go away if you don't like dirty words. Seriously. Go Away)
Anyway, thank you for sticking around. This part is called Wednesday Wars as Republican Fantasy , or something like that.
The basic premise of this book is that there is this one WASP kid in a Long Island class surrounded by Papists taking orders from the Vatican (and thus only a step better than Communists, but never to be trusted as real Americans) and Jews (those greedy fucks who run the banks., ie., the ones who figure a way to swindle the poor upper middle class white Protestant males money from him through usury, liberal politics, socialism and ultimately Communism). This paragon of WHITE AMERICA is (gasp!) a MINORITY in this own home, and further more sees that the people in power (his teacher) irrationally hates him! (Just like Big Government (i.e., Liberals, Democrats, (see Jews!) hate the SILENT MAJORITY- which is not mentioned in the book, but which would be used as a rallying slogan by Nixon in the 1968 elections)). See the character in this book as RIGHT WING CHRISTIAN AMERICA circa, well whenever, but today is good. When they are a MAJORITY but for some reason see themselves as a persecuted MINORITY, and they are angry, ANGRY, ANGRY!!!!! that anyone else gets any of the pie besides them, and that if people aren't on their hands and knees sucking their dicks then they are only trying to steal their money and take things away from them (see THOSE FUCKING GAYS WITH THEIR WANTING TO GET MARRIED!!!! HOW DARE THEY!!!!!!).
This might sound like fiction, but sadly it's not. A 13 year old has the right to seeing the world in a distorted manner or persecution. A nation of adults seeing the world in the same way is sad?, scary?, retarded?, enough to make one (me) want to seriously reconsider democracy and not let those suffering from extreme persecution delusions have a right to vote? All of the above?
This isn't even so much a rant, as a pointing out of another story going on in this book. Sadly, for my theory here, the White, Right and Dumb American story falls apart after a chapter or two. Which goes to show that 13 year olds can grow, but stupid ignorant tea-baggers haven't yet shown that they can.
Part One
Ariel, recommended this book to me, and she wrote a fine good review of the book. You can find it by clicking on her name.
I really liked the book, but didn't love it. I think the things I didn't love about the book were me being a crank. For example, the myopic narrator view point of a seventh grader was great; it caught the distortions that a kid sees the world through and the way teachers and others outside of their own circle are depersonalized into roles instead of people. Without being preachy, though. But, then I would not like the Wally and Beaver golly-gee attitude that would at times sneak into the book. Sometimes it worked for good comic effect but it seemed too pure and innocent for me. Another part that I'm not quite sure how I feel is the Forest Gump path the story veers off into sometimes. But maybe if Tom Hanks hadn't starred in the movie I wouldn't be annoyed by anything that reminds me of the movie.
On the plus side, I really like the month of May in the book (each chapter is a month in the school year). I was a little afraid of what May may bring when I was reading the book, you know since it would be May 1968, probably the most tragic month of the second half of the 20th century. I'm not interested in going into detail and talking late story plot developments or anything, so I'll just leave it that the author does a great job capturing a certain pathos by this point in the novel that originally had only been a suburban comedic effect.
If I was a teacher of young adults and I had them read this book, I'd probably test them by asking them this question: "Tragedy or Comedy? Why? Explain and Defend".
Part Two
(If you are averse to potty mouth language please go away, I'm about to rant it up. You've been warned. Now go away if you don't like dirty words. Seriously. Go Away)
Anyway, thank you for sticking around. This part is called Wednesday Wars as Republican Fantasy , or something like that.
The basic premise of this book is that there is this one WASP kid in a Long Island class surrounded by Papists taking orders from the Vatican (and thus only a step better than Communists, but never to be trusted as real Americans) and Jews (those greedy fucks who run the banks., ie., the ones who figure a way to swindle the poor upper middle class white Protestant males money from him through usury, liberal politics, socialism and ultimately Communism). This paragon of WHITE AMERICA is (gasp!) a MINORITY in this own home, and further more sees that the people in power (his teacher) irrationally hates him! (Just like Big Government (i.e., Liberals, Democrats, (see Jews!) hate the SILENT MAJORITY- which is not mentioned in the book, but which would be used as a rallying slogan by Nixon in the 1968 elections)). See the character in this book as RIGHT WING CHRISTIAN AMERICA circa, well whenever, but today is good. When they are a MAJORITY but for some reason see themselves as a persecuted MINORITY, and they are angry, ANGRY, ANGRY!!!!! that anyone else gets any of the pie besides them, and that if people aren't on their hands and knees sucking their dicks then they are only trying to steal their money and take things away from them (see THOSE FUCKING GAYS WITH THEIR WANTING TO GET MARRIED!!!! HOW DARE THEY!!!!!!).
This might sound like fiction, but sadly it's not. A 13 year old has the right to seeing the world in a distorted manner or persecution. A nation of adults seeing the world in the same way is sad?, scary?, retarded?, enough to make one (me) want to seriously reconsider democracy and not let those suffering from extreme persecution delusions have a right to vote? All of the above?
This isn't even so much a rant, as a pointing out of another story going on in this book. Sadly, for my theory here, the White, Right and Dumb American story falls apart after a chapter or two. Which goes to show that 13 year olds can grow, but stupid ignorant tea-baggers haven't yet shown that they can.
July 7, 2010
I think I have come to understand what it takes for a book to be awarded Newbery. It seems these Newberry awarded books are just so wholesome, so full of great life lessons, so sweet and touching in a non-nauseating or preachy way. The Wednesday Wars is just like that.
13-year old Holling Hoodhood is in trouble. While his Jewish and Catholic classmates attend religious studies on Wednesday afternoons, he, the only Presbyterian in his class, is forced to spend this time with his English teacher Mrs. Baker. Holling is absolutely sure Mrs. Baker hates his guts - she makes him clean the classroom and, eventually, read Shakespeare. But as time goes on, both Mrs. Baker and Shakespeare teach Holling how to be a better friend, son, brother, a better person.
The Wednesday Wars is just a sweet coming-of-age story. Holling is an innocent boy who by the end of the story becomes a wiser young man, after going though tribulations of being seen by his classmates wearing yellow tights with feathers on his butt, standing up to his unreasonable father and confronting bullies. The story made me laugh, sigh, and, to my surprise, shed some tears of joy.
The only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5, is that it is a little young for my taste, definitely written for middle-grade kids. But otherwise, it is a perfectly enjoyable story.
13-year old Holling Hoodhood is in trouble. While his Jewish and Catholic classmates attend religious studies on Wednesday afternoons, he, the only Presbyterian in his class, is forced to spend this time with his English teacher Mrs. Baker. Holling is absolutely sure Mrs. Baker hates his guts - she makes him clean the classroom and, eventually, read Shakespeare. But as time goes on, both Mrs. Baker and Shakespeare teach Holling how to be a better friend, son, brother, a better person.
The Wednesday Wars is just a sweet coming-of-age story. Holling is an innocent boy who by the end of the story becomes a wiser young man, after going though tribulations of being seen by his classmates wearing yellow tights with feathers on his butt, standing up to his unreasonable father and confronting bullies. The story made me laugh, sigh, and, to my surprise, shed some tears of joy.
The only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5, is that it is a little young for my taste, definitely written for middle-grade kids. But otherwise, it is a perfectly enjoyable story.
July 25, 2023
✰ 4 stars ✰
“Here's the sentence she gave me:
“For it so falls out, that what we have we prize not to the worth whiles we enjoy it; but being lacked and lost, why, then we rack the value, then we find the virtue that possession would not show us while it was ours.
No native speaker of the English language could diagram this sentence.”
A few things came to mind as I read The Wednesday Wars over the weekend. This book was written in 2007 - times were different back then. This book takes place in 1967-1968 - things were very different back then. This is a middle grade book intended for younger audiences - it's something that you really have to note, because it is about a young boy - so a lot of his hilarious thoughts and misguided but well-intended comments will resonate a lot with young boys. And finally, this is my third read by Gary Schmidt, and it most certainly, won't be the last. 👍🏻👍🏻
“Love and hate in seventh grade are not far apart, let me tell you.”
I liked the idea - I liked the idea that while the Jewish and Catholic students in thirteen-year-old Holling Hoodhood's 7th grade class at Long Island's Camillo Junior High went to their respective religious classes every Wednesday - as a Presbyterian, he gets to stay behind in class. In an effort to make the most of his free time, his homeroom teacher/nemesis, Mrs.Baker introduces him to the wonderful world of William Shakespeare. 📜📜
“He wrote to express something about what it means to be a human being in words more beautiful than had ever yet been written.”
Mr.Schmidt is a very capable writer - he has a unique way of creating characters that can go through many emotional experiences, but still keep the levity fresh in their lives. He also keeps it very close to the heart of the age - first dates and first heartbreaks, embarrassing moments, crushed dreams - he makes sure to capture each instance in a way that also ties in so perfectly with the certain play that Holling is currently reading. That truly is the brilliance of his talent - that I don't ever feel that it's a forced inclusion of a story - that the selective plays mentioned mesh seamlessly into Holling's daily life stories. 🤌🏻🤌🏻
“Thank you for the cream puffs," I said.
"The quality of mercy is not strained," she said.
Mrs. Baker looked up and almost smiled a real smile. Again.”
Mrs. Baker was a wonderful and inspiring teacher - her dynamic with Holling was so fleshed-out, her willingness to help him and teach him, to let him break out of his own inner walls and challenge him to experience new things and not shy away from his own self. They were never just teacher-student when she taught him the plays - she was nurturing him to be a better person - to view things differently and not look down on his own achievements. 💙 As he so perceptively noted that she possessed the Teacher Gene - giving her that frightening, extra sense that they know when a child is in need for a little push - a little further guidance - a little strength of wanting to learn more that they can only ever see being a teacher in their future. She truly deserves all the cream puffs there are. 💟
“When gods die, they die hard. It's not like they fade away, or grow old, or fall asleep. They die in fire and pain, and when they come out of you, they leave your guts burned. It hurts more than anything you can talk about. And maybe worst of all is, you're not sure if there will ever be another god to fill their place. Or if you'd ever want another god to fill their place. You don't want fire to go out inside you twice.”
There's always this one instance in his works that steals the show - that splits my heart open - one that resonates with me deeply. And that one glimpse of Mickey Mantle refusing to autograph Holling's baseball - it's one if the most heart-breaking moments of this book - absolutely earth-shattering - it was heart clenching, it was torturous and it made Holling's dreams crushed - much like my own heart. It was brutal - swift and silent.
But, how the author captured the reaction to it - how he showed the beauty of friendship and spirit in it. The courage to not let your dreams destroy you, but keep your chin up and charge the mountain - to look for the rainbow beyond the hill - Holling seeing the spirit of his classmates - the kinship of kindness and support in the face of it - was beautifully written. 👏🏻👏🏻
“Shakespeare is all about the power of goodness and honesty and faithfulness," she said. "It is about the abundance of love. It is about the weakness of armies and battles and guns and..." She stopped. Her mouth worked back and forth. "It is about the endurance of love," she whispered.”
I do admit, though, that I found Holling's understanding of each play a bit unbelievable - not to say that a thirteen-year-old can't comprehend his plays, but the ease in which he was able to resonate with each made me doubt my own comprehension capabilities! 😭 I did enjoy how subtly he incorporated Shakespeare's dialogue into his daily life - how influenced he was by it made for some hilarious comebacks and witty repartee with his classmates that only if you know the extent to why he's speaking the way he was makes it all the more agreeable.
I also didn't find that there were many layers between Holling and his family - not even revealing his sister's name till the end seemed like a strange choice, even if I do take it as a step towards embracing that his sister means something more than just a face in his life. Truthfully, I may have not enjoyed this as much as I could have, if I had not already read his latest book - I couldn't help but notice the similarities between Hercules Beal and Holling Hoodhood's stories, although I may have felt Hercules' story more on an emotional level. 😢 And because this was more of a historical middle-grade fiction, rather than just a coming-of-age story, the moments highlighting the challenges of the Vietnam War and the ongoing events at that time didn't completely let me feel the heart of his own personal growth. 😔
But, it was still a very engaging and warm-spirited read - Holling was a fascinating if not, slightly less believable character, but still gave some laughable and poignant moments that let him shine as a Middle-Grade voice. ✨✨
“Here's the sentence she gave me:
“For it so falls out, that what we have we prize not to the worth whiles we enjoy it; but being lacked and lost, why, then we rack the value, then we find the virtue that possession would not show us while it was ours.
No native speaker of the English language could diagram this sentence.”
A few things came to mind as I read The Wednesday Wars over the weekend. This book was written in 2007 - times were different back then. This book takes place in 1967-1968 - things were very different back then. This is a middle grade book intended for younger audiences - it's something that you really have to note, because it is about a young boy - so a lot of his hilarious thoughts and misguided but well-intended comments will resonate a lot with young boys. And finally, this is my third read by Gary Schmidt, and it most certainly, won't be the last. 👍🏻👍🏻
“Love and hate in seventh grade are not far apart, let me tell you.”
I liked the idea - I liked the idea that while the Jewish and Catholic students in thirteen-year-old Holling Hoodhood's 7th grade class at Long Island's Camillo Junior High went to their respective religious classes every Wednesday - as a Presbyterian, he gets to stay behind in class. In an effort to make the most of his free time, his homeroom teacher/nemesis, Mrs.Baker introduces him to the wonderful world of William Shakespeare. 📜📜
“He wrote to express something about what it means to be a human being in words more beautiful than had ever yet been written.”
Mr.Schmidt is a very capable writer - he has a unique way of creating characters that can go through many emotional experiences, but still keep the levity fresh in their lives. He also keeps it very close to the heart of the age - first dates and first heartbreaks, embarrassing moments, crushed dreams - he makes sure to capture each instance in a way that also ties in so perfectly with the certain play that Holling is currently reading. That truly is the brilliance of his talent - that I don't ever feel that it's a forced inclusion of a story - that the selective plays mentioned mesh seamlessly into Holling's daily life stories. 🤌🏻🤌🏻
“Thank you for the cream puffs," I said.
"The quality of mercy is not strained," she said.
Mrs. Baker looked up and almost smiled a real smile. Again.”
Mrs. Baker was a wonderful and inspiring teacher - her dynamic with Holling was so fleshed-out, her willingness to help him and teach him, to let him break out of his own inner walls and challenge him to experience new things and not shy away from his own self. They were never just teacher-student when she taught him the plays - she was nurturing him to be a better person - to view things differently and not look down on his own achievements. 💙 As he so perceptively noted that she possessed the Teacher Gene - giving her that frightening, extra sense that they know when a child is in need for a little push - a little further guidance - a little strength of wanting to learn more that they can only ever see being a teacher in their future. She truly deserves all the cream puffs there are. 💟
“When gods die, they die hard. It's not like they fade away, or grow old, or fall asleep. They die in fire and pain, and when they come out of you, they leave your guts burned. It hurts more than anything you can talk about. And maybe worst of all is, you're not sure if there will ever be another god to fill their place. Or if you'd ever want another god to fill their place. You don't want fire to go out inside you twice.”
There's always this one instance in his works that steals the show - that splits my heart open - one that resonates with me deeply. And that one glimpse of Mickey Mantle refusing to autograph Holling's baseball - it's one if the most heart-breaking moments of this book - absolutely earth-shattering - it was heart clenching, it was torturous and it made Holling's dreams crushed - much like my own heart. It was brutal - swift and silent.
But, how the author captured the reaction to it - how he showed the beauty of friendship and spirit in it. The courage to not let your dreams destroy you, but keep your chin up and charge the mountain - to look for the rainbow beyond the hill - Holling seeing the spirit of his classmates - the kinship of kindness and support in the face of it - was beautifully written. 👏🏻👏🏻
“Shakespeare is all about the power of goodness and honesty and faithfulness," she said. "It is about the abundance of love. It is about the weakness of armies and battles and guns and..." She stopped. Her mouth worked back and forth. "It is about the endurance of love," she whispered.”
I do admit, though, that I found Holling's understanding of each play a bit unbelievable - not to say that a thirteen-year-old can't comprehend his plays, but the ease in which he was able to resonate with each made me doubt my own comprehension capabilities! 😭 I did enjoy how subtly he incorporated Shakespeare's dialogue into his daily life - how influenced he was by it made for some hilarious comebacks and witty repartee with his classmates that only if you know the extent to why he's speaking the way he was makes it all the more agreeable.
I also didn't find that there were many layers between Holling and his family - not even revealing his sister's name till the end seemed like a strange choice, even if I do take it as a step towards embracing that his sister means something more than just a face in his life. Truthfully, I may have not enjoyed this as much as I could have, if I had not already read his latest book - I couldn't help but notice the similarities between Hercules Beal and Holling Hoodhood's stories, although I may have felt Hercules' story more on an emotional level. 😢 And because this was more of a historical middle-grade fiction, rather than just a coming-of-age story, the moments highlighting the challenges of the Vietnam War and the ongoing events at that time didn't completely let me feel the heart of his own personal growth. 😔
But, it was still a very engaging and warm-spirited read - Holling was a fascinating if not, slightly less believable character, but still gave some laughable and poignant moments that let him shine as a Middle-Grade voice. ✨✨
December 25, 2010
At first I thought this book was too young for me. The protagonist is a 7th grader, an age I am far past. It was a bit slow at first and my initial conclusion was: This would be great book for a middle school boy, especially one you want to get interested in Shakespeare, but not so great for the general reader.
And then I kept reading and realized that this was a brilliant, touching and funny book. Schmidt is excellent at making believable, nuanced characters--not something I often see at books aimed at preteens. None of the villainous characters are simply one note. The cafeteria lady, for example, loses her son in the Vietnam War and takes it out on the little Vietnamese refugee at the school. But at the same time the cafeteria lady shows true kindness and charity to others. Holling's father is another example. He is demanding, distant, competitive, and often gets angry with his daughter's peacnik attitude. But when Martin Luther King, Jr. (who Holling's father actively dislikes) is assassinated, Holling's father is shocked and upset. Holling himself is more complex than he first appears. He is the same initial everykid (smart but not too smart, physically unimpressive, picked on by his sister and unable to understand some basic social cues) in every book aimed at young boys. But he matures into a young man of such courage and character that I wondered how such a cold father and weak mother could be lucky enough to raise such an amazing kid.
And then I kept reading and realized that this was a brilliant, touching and funny book. Schmidt is excellent at making believable, nuanced characters--not something I often see at books aimed at preteens. None of the villainous characters are simply one note. The cafeteria lady, for example, loses her son in the Vietnam War and takes it out on the little Vietnamese refugee at the school. But at the same time the cafeteria lady shows true kindness and charity to others. Holling's father is another example. He is demanding, distant, competitive, and often gets angry with his daughter's peacnik attitude. But when Martin Luther King, Jr. (who Holling's father actively dislikes) is assassinated, Holling's father is shocked and upset. Holling himself is more complex than he first appears. He is the same initial everykid (smart but not too smart, physically unimpressive, picked on by his sister and unable to understand some basic social cues) in every book aimed at young boys. But he matures into a young man of such courage and character that I wondered how such a cold father and weak mother could be lucky enough to raise such an amazing kid.
December 5, 2010
This book is written like a monthly diary of a seventh grade boy named Holling Hoodhood. It's supposed to be realistic fiction set in 1967, but the events are about as believable as his name. I didn't like it. Here's why.
Everybody around Holling is completely insensitive and cold-hearted, including his father, his mother, his sister, his teacher Mrs. Baker, the school principal, his friends and classmates, Doug Sweiteck's brother, and Micky Mantle. Holling is a complete victim of circumstance. He has the worst of fortune due to everyone's mean spiritedness. And then suddenly and without explanation, his bad luck is completely reversed. Someone just happens to do something extraordinarily nice for him without any apparent reason or motivation. Like when Mrs. Baker, who hates his guts, arranges for some of the Yankees players to come to the school to play catch with him. Yes, him. Or when Kowalski & Associates suddenly backs out of the business contract, leaving Holling's dad to fulfill the contract to build the new junior high school. Or the time Holling wants to buy some cream puffs for his friends so they won't beat him up. He's short a couple of dollars, but the baker just happens to need someone who can play a part in a Shakespeare production, and Holling just happens to be memorizing Shakespeare, so he gets the part, not to mention free cream puffs.
Whether good luck or bad, everything that happens to Holling just happens to him. It just happens to happen to him. It's not a result of any choices that he makes. He's on a roller-coaster of luck, but always, always the victim of circumstance. And let me tell you, that does not make for a good story. Really.
This kind of complete reversal of fortune is an easy way for the writer to get himself out after he's painted himself into a corner. But it's not an easy thing to read. I felt insulted by the lack of sophistication. I expect a more explanation for how things turn around than sheer dumb luck. And I expect the character's actions to have something to do with it.
There is no grander plot. Something terrible and wonderful happens each month. Month after month, beginning with the start of the school year. By March, I had to force myself to finish the book. Toads, beetles, bats.
Except for the Holling and Mrs. Baker, all of the characters seemed faceless, like the adults in Charlie Brown. And none of them made sense. Mrs. Baker has a split personality. Holling's father doesn't care about anything or anyone except his business, and everyone that Holling knows just happens to be connected to his father's business, either as a partner, potential partner, or competitor. We never see another side of dad. Not even a twinge of sympathy. Not even a crack of a smile. His friends Danny and Mai Thi torment him at the beginning of the school year, threatening to beat him up. In the second half of the book, they are nice friends. I guess it was because Holling gave them cream puffs. All the students at school act in unison. They all hate Holling's guts or regard him as a hero for having his picture in the paper again and again. As though none of the students have anything better to do than to care what Holling Hoodhood is up to.
Everybody around Holling is completely insensitive and cold-hearted, including his father, his mother, his sister, his teacher Mrs. Baker, the school principal, his friends and classmates, Doug Sweiteck's brother, and Micky Mantle. Holling is a complete victim of circumstance. He has the worst of fortune due to everyone's mean spiritedness. And then suddenly and without explanation, his bad luck is completely reversed. Someone just happens to do something extraordinarily nice for him without any apparent reason or motivation. Like when Mrs. Baker, who hates his guts, arranges for some of the Yankees players to come to the school to play catch with him. Yes, him. Or when Kowalski & Associates suddenly backs out of the business contract, leaving Holling's dad to fulfill the contract to build the new junior high school. Or the time Holling wants to buy some cream puffs for his friends so they won't beat him up. He's short a couple of dollars, but the baker just happens to need someone who can play a part in a Shakespeare production, and Holling just happens to be memorizing Shakespeare, so he gets the part, not to mention free cream puffs.
Whether good luck or bad, everything that happens to Holling just happens to him. It just happens to happen to him. It's not a result of any choices that he makes. He's on a roller-coaster of luck, but always, always the victim of circumstance. And let me tell you, that does not make for a good story. Really.
This kind of complete reversal of fortune is an easy way for the writer to get himself out after he's painted himself into a corner. But it's not an easy thing to read. I felt insulted by the lack of sophistication. I expect a more explanation for how things turn around than sheer dumb luck. And I expect the character's actions to have something to do with it.
There is no grander plot. Something terrible and wonderful happens each month. Month after month, beginning with the start of the school year. By March, I had to force myself to finish the book. Toads, beetles, bats.
Except for the Holling and Mrs. Baker, all of the characters seemed faceless, like the adults in Charlie Brown. And none of them made sense. Mrs. Baker has a split personality. Holling's father doesn't care about anything or anyone except his business, and everyone that Holling knows just happens to be connected to his father's business, either as a partner, potential partner, or competitor. We never see another side of dad. Not even a twinge of sympathy. Not even a crack of a smile. His friends Danny and Mai Thi torment him at the beginning of the school year, threatening to beat him up. In the second half of the book, they are nice friends. I guess it was because Holling gave them cream puffs. All the students at school act in unison. They all hate Holling's guts or regard him as a hero for having his picture in the paper again and again. As though none of the students have anything better to do than to care what Holling Hoodhood is up to.
January 13, 2017
If a junior high aged boy is part of your household, give him this book. He'll love it, and it will do him good. And if you happen to have been in junior high during the year 1968, this book can serve as a reminder of life (and national politics) at that time. In case you don't remember, 1968 is the year that both Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated.
People today worry about the polarization of American politics. Back in the late 60s things were more polarized, and in a much closer to home way at the family level. It seemed as if each American household was polarized with the youth contingent wanting to drop out, grow long hair, and be an anti-Vietnam-war protester and hippie. Meanwhile their parents were going ballistic over how spoiled and degenerate the younger generation was. In this story the junior high boy has a high school aged sister who aspires to be a flower child much to the consternation of her parents.
I was originally attracted to this book because the main character who is a junior high student happens to be attending a school where he is the only student in his class who is not either Jewish or Catholic (his family is Presbyterian). Consequently, when the students leave once per week for released time religious classes, he is the only one left in class. (Do public schools still have released time?) That sounded like an interesting situation to write a story about. At first the teacher was probably just as disappointed as the student of being left together in the class room. But they grew to appreciate each other by the end of the story.
People today worry about the polarization of American politics. Back in the late 60s things were more polarized, and in a much closer to home way at the family level. It seemed as if each American household was polarized with the youth contingent wanting to drop out, grow long hair, and be an anti-Vietnam-war protester and hippie. Meanwhile their parents were going ballistic over how spoiled and degenerate the younger generation was. In this story the junior high boy has a high school aged sister who aspires to be a flower child much to the consternation of her parents.
I was originally attracted to this book because the main character who is a junior high student happens to be attending a school where he is the only student in his class who is not either Jewish or Catholic (his family is Presbyterian). Consequently, when the students leave once per week for released time religious classes, he is the only one left in class. (Do public schools still have released time?) That sounded like an interesting situation to write a story about. At first the teacher was probably just as disappointed as the student of being left together in the class room. But they grew to appreciate each other by the end of the story.
January 23, 2013
So good! This book covers middle school drama with humor and wit, with the somber Vietnam War as a backdrop. If you like Konigsburg, you'll love The Wednesday Wars.
October 10, 2019
کاش همه ما تو طول دوران مدرسه همچین معلم هایی داشتیم!
ولی هروقت فکر میکردیم معلمی از ما بدش میاد،دقیقا درست فکر میکردیم :))
این کتاب برای من یه جورایی دلنشین بود، حس نزدیک بودن به هودهود و خانم بیکر داشتم.
به عنوان کسی که معلمه کودکانه، همیشه دوست دارم چنین کتاب هایی رو بخونم تا درک بیشتری از معلم بودن پیدا کنم. در نتیجه این جزو کتاب هاییه که دوستشون داشتم و با هر دو شخصیت اصلی کتاب ارتباط خوبی گرفتم!
ولی هروقت فکر میکردیم معلمی از ما بدش میاد،دقیقا درست فکر میکردیم :))
این کتاب برای من یه جورایی دلنشین بود، حس نزدیک بودن به هودهود و خانم بیکر داشتم.
به عنوان کسی که معلمه کودکانه، همیشه دوست دارم چنین کتاب هایی رو بخونم تا درک بیشتری از معلم بودن پیدا کنم. در نتیجه این جزو کتاب هاییه که دوستشون داشتم و با هر دو شخصیت اصلی کتاب ارتباط خوبی گرفتم!
February 8, 2008
One of the best books I have read in a long time. I felt my self reading slower in an attempt to never get to the end.
Mrs. Baker is one of the greatest teacher characters I have met.
Mrs. Baker is one of the greatest teacher characters I have met.
May 19, 2009
I just adore this book. Just as good the second time around.
May 13, 2021
Gary Schmidt makes me laugh and cry like few others can. He is a master at middle grade fiction, and I can't wait to read his books with my own kids one day.
October 3, 2025
12/3/2024
This was my third time to read this young adult novel, this time with my book club. A young adult novel that really hits home for someone far past young adulthood. Every time I’ve told someone they need to read this book, I’ve said how much I laughed, but this time I realized how many times this book squeezed my heart and made it ache and brought tears to my eyes. Like the paragraph about Holling’s parents falling out of love while comparing it to a Shakespeare play. Time and again, I wanted to smack Mr. Hoodhood. I loved Mrs. Baker and wish I’d had her as a teacher when I was in seventh grade. I loved how Holling rescued his sister Heather. This may not be the last time I read this book. It is that good.
REVIEW FROM 3/24/2019
I first read The Wednesday Wars in 2011, and I have never forgotten it (especially the yellow tights and the story that surrounds them). Recently I bought the audiobook so I could read it again. Glad I did. It was just as much a delight the second time through. Toward the end of the book, I drove to a wedding, an hour drive each way along a winding mountain road. I laughed out loud numerous times, and the drive seemed to fly by.
The Wednesday Wars is set during the school year of 1967-1968. The protagonist is 7th grader Holling Hoodhood, the only Presbyterian in his class. Every Wednesday, half the class goes off for Hebrew instruction and the other half goes off for Catholic instruction. Holling is left in his teacher’s care. If not for him, Mrs. Baker would have Wednesday afternoons off. Therefore he is sure she hates him as only a teacher can and is out to kill him in devious ways, including by making him read Shakespeare plays.
I don’t want to give away too much of the story. But I will say this: I laughed and laughed and laughed. I related to all the angst of a 12 year old. I remembered those atomic bomb drills where we got under our desks. I also ached over parts of the story. The writer is truly gifted at saying much with a few words. He also reminded me why I’m glad I’m not a 7th grade boy dealing with the 8th grade boys on the cross-country team. Read the book to know what I mean. LOL! And it is a rare writer who can bring me to tears while I’m walking on the treadmill, but that’s what happened to me when he so wonderfully described the sound Mrs. Baker made when–– (Nope! Not gonna say more.)
If you were ever a kid, if you were ever in the 7th grade, and especially if you were a 7th grade kid during the turbulent ’60s, you need to read this book.
This was my third time to read this young adult novel, this time with my book club. A young adult novel that really hits home for someone far past young adulthood. Every time I’ve told someone they need to read this book, I’ve said how much I laughed, but this time I realized how many times this book squeezed my heart and made it ache and brought tears to my eyes. Like the paragraph about Holling’s parents falling out of love while comparing it to a Shakespeare play. Time and again, I wanted to smack Mr. Hoodhood. I loved Mrs. Baker and wish I’d had her as a teacher when I was in seventh grade. I loved how Holling rescued his sister Heather. This may not be the last time I read this book. It is that good.
REVIEW FROM 3/24/2019
I first read The Wednesday Wars in 2011, and I have never forgotten it (especially the yellow tights and the story that surrounds them). Recently I bought the audiobook so I could read it again. Glad I did. It was just as much a delight the second time through. Toward the end of the book, I drove to a wedding, an hour drive each way along a winding mountain road. I laughed out loud numerous times, and the drive seemed to fly by.
The Wednesday Wars is set during the school year of 1967-1968. The protagonist is 7th grader Holling Hoodhood, the only Presbyterian in his class. Every Wednesday, half the class goes off for Hebrew instruction and the other half goes off for Catholic instruction. Holling is left in his teacher’s care. If not for him, Mrs. Baker would have Wednesday afternoons off. Therefore he is sure she hates him as only a teacher can and is out to kill him in devious ways, including by making him read Shakespeare plays.
I don’t want to give away too much of the story. But I will say this: I laughed and laughed and laughed. I related to all the angst of a 12 year old. I remembered those atomic bomb drills where we got under our desks. I also ached over parts of the story. The writer is truly gifted at saying much with a few words. He also reminded me why I’m glad I’m not a 7th grade boy dealing with the 8th grade boys on the cross-country team. Read the book to know what I mean. LOL! And it is a rare writer who can bring me to tears while I’m walking on the treadmill, but that’s what happened to me when he so wonderfully described the sound Mrs. Baker made when–– (Nope! Not gonna say more.)
If you were ever a kid, if you were ever in the 7th grade, and especially if you were a 7th grade kid during the turbulent ’60s, you need to read this book.
February 1, 2008
If I had the option to give 6 stars to The Wednesday Wars, I'd do it. I giggled out loud at least 30 times on the bus *and* the train, earning myself a certain public transit notoriety as That Annoying Lady With The Book. And most people didn't even notice me getting teary during the poignant parts. Of course I'd heard glowing reviews of this book, but I didn't love Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, so I was skeptical. But no longer. Gary Schmidt, please write more!
It's 1967-68, and Holling Hoodhood is the only Presbyterian kid in his seventh-grade class. That means that while half the town is at CCD on Wednesday afternoons and the other half is at Hebrew school, he's stuck in the classroom with his tough-as-nails teacher. First he does small chores, but after a disaster with eraser-cleaning, the teacher sits him down to work his way through Shakespeare. Over the course of the year, he develops a strong relationship with his teacher (and with the Bard's colorful curses). The tumultuous background of 1968 plays heavily in the month-by-month chapters that structure the book.
Here's what I loved: Holling's voice (hilarious), the characters (Danny Hupfer!), how much the reader must infer from Holling's point of view in order to appreciate what's going on. Here's what I'm not so sure of: can young readers really appreciate all that's going on, especially the ways in which Holling is not the most reliable narrator? Do they? I enjoyed The Wednesday Wars more than anything I've read in a while, but I couldn't dismiss the nagging voice that kept noisily insisting that this was really a grown-up book dressed up in kid's clothing. The readers at my school with are too young for this book, but I'm eager to hear from other teachers and librarians how it's received by real live teens and tweens.
In the meantime, you adult readers of kidlit and YA lit - read it! read it!
It's 1967-68, and Holling Hoodhood is the only Presbyterian kid in his seventh-grade class. That means that while half the town is at CCD on Wednesday afternoons and the other half is at Hebrew school, he's stuck in the classroom with his tough-as-nails teacher. First he does small chores, but after a disaster with eraser-cleaning, the teacher sits him down to work his way through Shakespeare. Over the course of the year, he develops a strong relationship with his teacher (and with the Bard's colorful curses). The tumultuous background of 1968 plays heavily in the month-by-month chapters that structure the book.
Here's what I loved: Holling's voice (hilarious), the characters (Danny Hupfer!), how much the reader must infer from Holling's point of view in order to appreciate what's going on. Here's what I'm not so sure of: can young readers really appreciate all that's going on, especially the ways in which Holling is not the most reliable narrator? Do they? I enjoyed The Wednesday Wars more than anything I've read in a while, but I couldn't dismiss the nagging voice that kept noisily insisting that this was really a grown-up book dressed up in kid's clothing. The readers at my school with are too young for this book, but I'm eager to hear from other teachers and librarians how it's received by real live teens and tweens.
In the meantime, you adult readers of kidlit and YA lit - read it! read it!
January 2, 2008
Oh it's the season to read the books we adults want children to read, and in actual fact they have no interest in doing so. Wednesday Wars sadly falls into that catagory.
It's 1968, and Holling Hoodhood is stuck with his teacher every Wednesday afternoon when the rest of his class attends religious education classes that their respective places of worship.
Holling learns to love Shakespeare, and how to run a good race, and he learns to understand his teacher, Mrs. Baker, and to love his older sister, who is mildly caught up in the tumult of the era.
Holling was likable, there were humorous parts especially the escaped classroom rats, and he came of age with a few interesting adventures; both bittersweet and funny- Mickey Mantle was a total meathead to poor Holling who at the time rushed from the play he was in and happened to be wearing feathers on his butt playing the fairy, Ariel.
I liked this story, and teachers will like this story, and doubtless put it on summer reading lists and the like. Will the majority of kids like this story? If they are assigned it, some will like it. Is this a book most will pick up and read on their own? Not likely.
It's 1968, and Holling Hoodhood is stuck with his teacher every Wednesday afternoon when the rest of his class attends religious education classes that their respective places of worship.
Holling learns to love Shakespeare, and how to run a good race, and he learns to understand his teacher, Mrs. Baker, and to love his older sister, who is mildly caught up in the tumult of the era.
Holling was likable, there were humorous parts especially the escaped classroom rats, and he came of age with a few interesting adventures; both bittersweet and funny- Mickey Mantle was a total meathead to poor Holling who at the time rushed from the play he was in and happened to be wearing feathers on his butt playing the fairy, Ariel.
I liked this story, and teachers will like this story, and doubtless put it on summer reading lists and the like. Will the majority of kids like this story? If they are assigned it, some will like it. Is this a book most will pick up and read on their own? Not likely.
January 10, 2020
This middle grade book took place in 1967 during the Vietnam War. I enjoy books that take place during a historical time. The Wednesday Wars deals with school, family, fathers, teachers and friends. While I enjoyed some of the laugh out loud moments of this book. I love how the main character was reading shakespeare. I felt like the writing of this book was not my style. I had a hard time staying focus. Overall it was okay.
July 9, 2020
Dolabı açıp "Ne okusam ben ya?" diye kendi kendime dertlendiğim anlardan birinde Kanka gözüme çarptı ve epeydir çocuk karakterli bir kitap okumadığım için (epeydir dediğim iki aydan az bir süre ama beni biliyorsunuz, çocukları çok seviyorum) hadi bakalım diyerek kitaba başladım. Çarşamba Savaşları tam olarak hangi sebeple dilimize Kanka diye çevrildi hiçbir fikrim yok ama bir önceki yorumda da taş attığım Yarım Kral / Çolak Kral çevirisini hatırlarsanız, iki kitabın aynı çevirmen elinden çıktığına şaşırma oranımız biraz azalabilir. Okumadan önce fark etmemiştim ama iki kitabın ismi de öyle saçma uyarlanmış ki "kim çevirmiş bu kitabı ya" isyanım beni bu bilgiye ulaştırdı. Neyse, Emre Beye bu ilginç çevirileri için kocaman soru işaretleri gönderiyorum. Gelelim Kanka kelimesiyle hiç alakası olmayan kitabımıza...
Yani, cidden. Normalde kitabı orijinal kopyasından araştırıp yorumlara göz atmasam ismi kanka olan bir kitabı okuyacağımı cidden sanmıyorum ama gerek esas ismi gerek 1967 yılında geçen bir kurguya sahip olması dikkatimi çektiği için epeydir elimde olan kitaplardan biriydi. Şükür ki güzel bir kitap çıktı da Sophie Kinsella sonrası kitaplara karşı içimde yeşeren soğumayı bastırabildim.
Holling, 7. sınıfa giden kitabımızın esas karakteri. Okulun açıldığı zamandan itibaren ay ay yaşadıklarını bize anlatıyor ve biz onun harika karakterini, güzel bakış açısını ve yaşadığı ilginç olaylara karşı seçtiği yolları okuyarak bir yılda geçirdiği değişimlere şahit oluyoruz. Yer yer kalbimi kıran olaylarla karşılaşıyor, yer yer göz dolduran mutluluklarına şahit oluyoruz. Ama gerçekten en güzeli yılın sonunda nasıl da ilerlediğini görebilmek. Dördüncü sınıfları mezun ederken sene başını ve sonunu hatırlatan ufak detayları gözden geçirmek kadar tatlıydı okuması. Ebeveynlerin, öğretmenlerin ve orta okuldan itibaren gençlerin keyifle okuyabileceği faydalı bir kitap olduğunu düşünüyorum.
Kitapla ilgili ufak tefek sıkıntılar yok değildi, çoğu da bence yazardan kaynaklıydı. Ara sıra 7. sınıfa giden bir çocuk değil de, 7. sınıfa gittiğini hayal eden bir yazarın zihniyle karşı karşıya kaldığımız olmadı değil ama genel olarak karakteri iyi yansıttığını söyleyebiliriz.
Yani, cidden. Normalde kitabı orijinal kopyasından araştırıp yorumlara göz atmasam ismi kanka olan bir kitabı okuyacağımı cidden sanmıyorum ama gerek esas ismi gerek 1967 yılında geçen bir kurguya sahip olması dikkatimi çektiği için epeydir elimde olan kitaplardan biriydi. Şükür ki güzel bir kitap çıktı da Sophie Kinsella sonrası kitaplara karşı içimde yeşeren soğumayı bastırabildim.
Holling, 7. sınıfa giden kitabımızın esas karakteri. Okulun açıldığı zamandan itibaren ay ay yaşadıklarını bize anlatıyor ve biz onun harika karakterini, güzel bakış açısını ve yaşadığı ilginç olaylara karşı seçtiği yolları okuyarak bir yılda geçirdiği değişimlere şahit oluyoruz. Yer yer kalbimi kıran olaylarla karşılaşıyor, yer yer göz dolduran mutluluklarına şahit oluyoruz. Ama gerçekten en güzeli yılın sonunda nasıl da ilerlediğini görebilmek. Dördüncü sınıfları mezun ederken sene başını ve sonunu hatırlatan ufak detayları gözden geçirmek kadar tatlıydı okuması. Ebeveynlerin, öğretmenlerin ve orta okuldan itibaren gençlerin keyifle okuyabileceği faydalı bir kitap olduğunu düşünüyorum.
Kitapla ilgili ufak tefek sıkıntılar yok değildi, çoğu da bence yazardan kaynaklıydı. Ara sıra 7. sınıfa giden bir çocuk değil de, 7. sınıfa gittiğini hayal eden bir yazarın zihniyle karşı karşıya kaldığımız olmadı değil ama genel olarak karakteri iyi yansıttığını söyleyebiliriz.
December 23, 2007
I love this book. Love, love, love, love, love, love. Love.
First, it takes place on Long Island, which I didn't even know when I ordered it for the library. So, sure I got an extra chuckle out of Schmidt's description of LI in November than the reader from, say, Nebraska will. But still, this is just an adorable story and you don't have to be stuck on the Long Island Expressway to enoy it. It reminds me of Richard Peck, if Richard Peck wrote about 1960's surburban life and not 1930's Illinois.
It is heartfelt and hopeful without being hokey. A must-read.
First, it takes place on Long Island, which I didn't even know when I ordered it for the library. So, sure I got an extra chuckle out of Schmidt's description of LI in November than the reader from, say, Nebraska will. But still, this is just an adorable story and you don't have to be stuck on the Long Island Expressway to enoy it. It reminds me of Richard Peck, if Richard Peck wrote about 1960's surburban life and not 1930's Illinois.
It is heartfelt and hopeful without being hokey. A must-read.
July 9, 2018
"جنگ چهارشنبه ها"نوشته ی گری دی اشمیت نویسنده ی آمریکایی،درباره ی پسری به نام هالینگ هودهود و معلم کلاس هفتم اوست.درباره ی چهارشنبه هایی که هالینگ و معلمش در کلاس تنها هستند و ماجراهای شیرین،بامزه و گاهی شگفت انگیز رو رقم میزنند.
~~
این کتاب بسیار شیرینه!با خواندنش احساسات مختلفی رو تجربه خواهید کرد;به یاد ترسها و آمال و آرزوهای دوران نوجوانی می افتید،با هالینگ زندگی میکنید،باهاش ترس رو تجربه میکنید،همراهش غصه میخورید و حتی خجالت میکشید!
اگه بخوام با دو کلمه این کتاب رو توصیف کنم باید بگم:زیبا و نوستالژیک!
این دومین کتابی هست که از این نویسنده خوندم و به اندازه ی کتاب اول"فعلا خوبم"ازش لذت بردم.قدرت قلم نویسنده واقعا آدم رو جذب میکنه و باعث میشه دوست داشته باشی کتاب هیچوقت تمام نشه!شاید دلیل اینکه با وجود جذابیت عجیب این کتاب،چند روزی طول کشید تا به اتمام برسونمش همین باشه...!
نکته ی جالبی که در مورد این کتاب و فعلا خوبم وجود داره اینه که هر دو در جریان جنگ ویتنام اتفاق می افتند و نویسنده سعی کرده تأثیر جنگ بر زندگی مردم و عواطف کودکان رو بیان کنه و مهم تر از اون به صورت خیلی زیر پوستی فداکاری سربازان و فرماندهان مدافع کشور و حتی خانواده های آنها رو به تصویر بکشه،به گونه ای که در انتهای کتاب حس سپاسگزاری رو در خواننده زنده کنه.(و البته فکر میکنم بسیار موفق عمل کرده!)
رمانهای آمریکایی رو بسیار دوست دارم و معتقدم نویسندگان آمریکایی به خوبی میتونن ارزشها و فرهنگ کشورشون رو به صورت غیر مستقیم به مخاطب منتقل کنند!البته مسلم هستس که ممکنه فرهنگ کشورهای مختلف در بسیاری موارد تطابق نداشته باشند و مخاطب باید این عدم تطابق رو مد نظر داشته باشه....
نکته ی جالب دیگری که در این کتاب دیدم تأثیر شخصیت های آثار شکسپیر بر رفتار و گفتار و زندگی هالینگ بود;به گونه ای که پس از خواندن هر نمایشنامه به آنالایز ویژگی های رفتاری کاراکترها میپرداخت و از بعضی الگو میگرفت و برخی رو مایه ی عبرت میدونست!این پسر نازنین...
این هم هنر دیگر نویسنده هست که کتابخوانی رو به خواننده ی نوجوان القا میکنه!
در این کتاب شخصیت بد مطلق و خوب مطلق نداریم،همه ی شخصیتها یه جورایی هم خوبن و هم اشتباهاتی دارن،در عین حال همشون(حتی برادر داگ سوییتک😉)به همدیگه عشق میورزن و به هم کمک میکنن....
خیلی در مورد این کتاب و سبک نویسنده حرف دارم ولی به همین طوماری که نوشتم!بسنده میکنم و فقط این کتاب رو به تمام کسانی که دلشون برای دوران خوش نوجوانی تنگ شده،و تمام کسانی که پسربچه ها رو دوست دارن و کسانی که دنبال یه کتاب کامل ان،پیشنهاد میکنم!(مخصوصا اگه فعلا خوبم رو خوندید!)
~~
این کتاب بسیار شیرینه!با خواندنش احساسات مختلفی رو تجربه خواهید کرد;به یاد ترسها و آمال و آرزوهای دوران نوجوانی می افتید،با هالینگ زندگی میکنید،باهاش ترس رو تجربه میکنید،همراهش غصه میخورید و حتی خجالت میکشید!
اگه بخوام با دو کلمه این کتاب رو توصیف کنم باید بگم:زیبا و نوستالژیک!
این دومین کتابی هست که از این نویسنده خوندم و به اندازه ی کتاب اول"فعلا خوبم"ازش لذت بردم.قدرت قلم نویسنده واقعا آدم رو جذب میکنه و باعث میشه دوست داشته باشی کتاب هیچوقت تمام نشه!شاید دلیل اینکه با وجود جذابیت عجیب این کتاب،چند روزی طول کشید تا به اتمام برسونمش همین باشه...!
نکته ی جالبی که در مورد این کتاب و فعلا خوبم وجود داره اینه که هر دو در جریان جنگ ویتنام اتفاق می افتند و نویسنده سعی کرده تأثیر جنگ بر زندگی مردم و عواطف کودکان رو بیان کنه و مهم تر از اون به صورت خیلی زیر پوستی فداکاری سربازان و فرماندهان مدافع کشور و حتی خانواده های آنها رو به تصویر بکشه،به گونه ای که در انتهای کتاب حس سپاسگزاری رو در خواننده زنده کنه.(و البته فکر میکنم بسیار موفق عمل کرده!)
رمانهای آمریکایی رو بسیار دوست دارم و معتقدم نویسندگان آمریکایی به خوبی میتونن ارزشها و فرهنگ کشورشون رو به صورت غیر مستقیم به مخاطب منتقل کنند!البته مسلم هستس که ممکنه فرهنگ کشورهای مختلف در بسیاری موارد تطابق نداشته باشند و مخاطب باید این عدم تطابق رو مد نظر داشته باشه....
نکته ی جالب دیگری که در این کتاب دیدم تأثیر شخصیت های آثار شکسپیر بر رفتار و گفتار و زندگی هالینگ بود;به گونه ای که پس از خواندن هر نمایشنامه به آنالایز ویژگی های رفتاری کاراکترها میپرداخت و از بعضی الگو میگرفت و برخی رو مایه ی عبرت میدونست!این پسر نازنین...
این هم هنر دیگر نویسنده هست که کتابخوانی رو به خواننده ی نوجوان القا میکنه!
در این کتاب شخصیت بد مطلق و خوب مطلق نداریم،همه ی شخصیتها یه جورایی هم خوبن و هم اشتباهاتی دارن،در عین حال همشون(حتی برادر داگ سوییتک😉)به همدیگه عشق میورزن و به هم کمک میکنن....
خیلی در مورد این کتاب و سبک نویسنده حرف دارم ولی به همین طوماری که نوشتم!بسنده میکنم و فقط این کتاب رو به تمام کسانی که دلشون برای دوران خوش نوجوانی تنگ شده،و تمام کسانی که پسربچه ها رو دوست دارن و کسانی که دنبال یه کتاب کامل ان،پیشنهاد میکنم!(مخصوصا اگه فعلا خوبم رو خوندید!)
June 26, 2015
When someone who tends to make good recommendations to you tells you several times that you will probably love something–listen. I finally picked up Gary D. Schmidt and The Wednesday Wars on audio, and I adored it. From first sentence to last, this book was so full and rich and true in every way. I laughed in a way I haven’t laughed listening to audio in well over a year, and I cried. I cried because it was too touching and real and perfect not to.
Never before have I read a book that more exemplified the home where I live now–Long Island, New York, despite the reality that it shows a very different island than you see today. Being a (seemingly) lone protestant in a predominantly Catholic and Jewish population can be every bit as awkward as Holling would have you think. Luckily, I never had a 7th grade English teacher with a vendetta against me because of it. I loved the mentions of Eisenhower Park, Jones Beach, and other locals I’m so familiar with. A historical tour of the area made me want to explore my local history more, and spend more time exploring outside of New York City (in fact, since finishing I have visited a nearby historical township just because).
At it’s heart, The Wednesday Wars is sort of a slightly-older, slightly more-recent, less Midwest version of A Christmas Story. And coming from me, there can’t really be a higher compliment to a kid’s story. Holling Hoodhood’s experiences and emotions vacillate from elated to horrified in that same way, with these everyday occurrences becoming the most ridiculous and monumental, and I loved it. Gary D. Schmidt captures the atmosphere of the time so perfectly that as a listener I was transported to the 1960s, breath catching at news of Vietnam, Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., and certainly sympathizing with Holling’s sister who so clearly wanted more from life than what was being offered her.
But as it is set in its time, The Wednesday Wars also transcends time in our ability to relate so personally. We have all, at least I dearly hope, had that one teacher who will change our lives forever. For Holling Hoodhood, it is Mrs. Baker. And I’m pretty sure that Holling Hoodhood will be that one student that changes Mrs. Baker forever as well. Though their relationship begins tenuously, their warfull Wednesdays soon transform into something more–into a kind of mentorship and love affair with William Shakespeare, and a challenge to be met gladly. This is the book that will make many kids want to pick up that famed playwright, and those of us who have long loved him to look back and smile. And just perhaps we’ll all start calling one another “pied ninny”s instead of “mother _____”s.
The Wednesday Wars is one of those unassuming little books that manages to pack so much real emotion and true human connection into its parts that I am left baffled. There is the experience of friendship and first love, of bullies and killing one’s heroes, of triumph and defeat. Oh, and some pretty epic rats. Holling Hoodhood’s family dynamics smacked so much of the time. His father may be one of the worst fathers I’ve read about in terms of selfishness and neglect, despite the non-abusive nature of his existence. His sister was one of the most intriguing side characters I’ve come across for some time–I couldn’t help but thinking I’d love to read her story as well. I know it would be entirely different from Holling’s, but that it wouldn’t be any less full of emotion or meaning.
There couldn’t have been a more perfect narrator for The Wednesday Wars on audio than Joel Johnstone. I’ve personally only listened to his narration once before (in Thirteen Reasons Why, where it was also stunning), but he’s quickly becoming one of those narrators to seek out. In this case, I definitely feel as if the story was enhanced by its format, and really recommend this one on audio for those of you who enjoy listening.
Original review posted at Bunbury in the Stacks.
Never before have I read a book that more exemplified the home where I live now–Long Island, New York, despite the reality that it shows a very different island than you see today. Being a (seemingly) lone protestant in a predominantly Catholic and Jewish population can be every bit as awkward as Holling would have you think. Luckily, I never had a 7th grade English teacher with a vendetta against me because of it. I loved the mentions of Eisenhower Park, Jones Beach, and other locals I’m so familiar with. A historical tour of the area made me want to explore my local history more, and spend more time exploring outside of New York City (in fact, since finishing I have visited a nearby historical township just because).
At it’s heart, The Wednesday Wars is sort of a slightly-older, slightly more-recent, less Midwest version of A Christmas Story. And coming from me, there can’t really be a higher compliment to a kid’s story. Holling Hoodhood’s experiences and emotions vacillate from elated to horrified in that same way, with these everyday occurrences becoming the most ridiculous and monumental, and I loved it. Gary D. Schmidt captures the atmosphere of the time so perfectly that as a listener I was transported to the 1960s, breath catching at news of Vietnam, Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., and certainly sympathizing with Holling’s sister who so clearly wanted more from life than what was being offered her.
But as it is set in its time, The Wednesday Wars also transcends time in our ability to relate so personally. We have all, at least I dearly hope, had that one teacher who will change our lives forever. For Holling Hoodhood, it is Mrs. Baker. And I’m pretty sure that Holling Hoodhood will be that one student that changes Mrs. Baker forever as well. Though their relationship begins tenuously, their warfull Wednesdays soon transform into something more–into a kind of mentorship and love affair with William Shakespeare, and a challenge to be met gladly. This is the book that will make many kids want to pick up that famed playwright, and those of us who have long loved him to look back and smile. And just perhaps we’ll all start calling one another “pied ninny”s instead of “mother _____”s.
The Wednesday Wars is one of those unassuming little books that manages to pack so much real emotion and true human connection into its parts that I am left baffled. There is the experience of friendship and first love, of bullies and killing one’s heroes, of triumph and defeat. Oh, and some pretty epic rats. Holling Hoodhood’s family dynamics smacked so much of the time. His father may be one of the worst fathers I’ve read about in terms of selfishness and neglect, despite the non-abusive nature of his existence. His sister was one of the most intriguing side characters I’ve come across for some time–I couldn’t help but thinking I’d love to read her story as well. I know it would be entirely different from Holling’s, but that it wouldn’t be any less full of emotion or meaning.
There couldn’t have been a more perfect narrator for The Wednesday Wars on audio than Joel Johnstone. I’ve personally only listened to his narration once before (in Thirteen Reasons Why, where it was also stunning), but he’s quickly becoming one of those narrators to seek out. In this case, I definitely feel as if the story was enhanced by its format, and really recommend this one on audio for those of you who enjoy listening.
Original review posted at Bunbury in the Stacks.
August 21, 2013
It oozes charm. In the first half of the book, Schmidt really had me. I absolutely loved everything surrounding the incident with the creampuffs and its aftermath. While the charm remained, the second half lacked a bit of direction. It didn't quite stall, but the plot is a very slender reed here. And outside of Holling and Mrs. Baker, the characters are all pretty thin.
There's also a fairly horrifying aspect here. During this book, Holling does the following: Appears as Ariel in a local performance of The Tempest; gets brushed by a school bus while saving his sister and landing in the hospital, gets opening day tickets to see the Yankees, goes to Port Authority again to rescue his prodigal sister, runs and wins a varsity cross country match. His parents are not there for any of these things. For his performance in the play, they are too busy watching the Bing Crosby Christmas Special. When he lands in the hospital, they couldn't be bothered. For opening day, his father promises to take him, in spite of already having two prior engagements which he knows he will keep. The father is an incredible asshole, more distant than any Dad I knew of while growing up. And the mom is almost a cypher. With parents like these, its basically a miracle that Holling and his sister grow up with any sense at all. This leaves me wondering: is this how many Boomers think of themselves? As having turned out well in spite of the neglect of their parents?
An additional charm of this book for me is that I grew up in the next town over from Hicksville, where this takes place. He never mentions Hicksville in the book, but its where Schmidt is from. Also, I was one of the kids who left our school for religious instruction (on Fridays instead of Wednesdays). That lasted until I got kicked out for arguing with the nuns. Schmidt does such a great job of capturing the spirit of growing up in sheltered Long Island in the sixties. It almost makes me think that most of the book would be lost on its targeted audience. That said, early teenagers recommended this one to me, so it must play pretty well to at least some of the YAs (at least those who don't spend all of their time re-reading yet again the same couple of series).
There's also a fairly horrifying aspect here. During this book, Holling does the following: Appears as Ariel in a local performance of The Tempest; gets brushed by a school bus while saving his sister and landing in the hospital, gets opening day tickets to see the Yankees, goes to Port Authority again to rescue his prodigal sister, runs and wins a varsity cross country match. His parents are not there for any of these things. For his performance in the play, they are too busy watching the Bing Crosby Christmas Special. When he lands in the hospital, they couldn't be bothered. For opening day, his father promises to take him, in spite of already having two prior engagements which he knows he will keep. The father is an incredible asshole, more distant than any Dad I knew of while growing up. And the mom is almost a cypher. With parents like these, its basically a miracle that Holling and his sister grow up with any sense at all. This leaves me wondering: is this how many Boomers think of themselves? As having turned out well in spite of the neglect of their parents?
An additional charm of this book for me is that I grew up in the next town over from Hicksville, where this takes place. He never mentions Hicksville in the book, but its where Schmidt is from. Also, I was one of the kids who left our school for religious instruction (on Fridays instead of Wednesdays). That lasted until I got kicked out for arguing with the nuns. Schmidt does such a great job of capturing the spirit of growing up in sheltered Long Island in the sixties. It almost makes me think that most of the book would be lost on its targeted audience. That said, early teenagers recommended this one to me, so it must play pretty well to at least some of the YAs (at least those who don't spend all of their time re-reading yet again the same couple of series).
May 15, 2023
This book starts off like any other school story about middle-schoolers. You have a humorous narrator, problems with teachers, and the terrors of seventh grade. Nothing strikes you as brilliant from the beginning, but it's entertaining enough to keep reading.
But then it deepens. Not all of a sudden, not all at once. But as you keep reading, what started as a story of a boy and his problems in school become a boy locked in a world bigger than him. It becomes the triumph of great stories and the shattering heart-break of broken families. It's war and death and anger - all from the perspective of a twelve-year-old boy in New York during the Vietnam War.
At first glance, this book doesn't seem like it would make a big impact. But its slowly-deepening themes, call-backs to great literature, and growth of a seventh-grade boy make it very worth the read. It's easy to read but by no means simple in its depth.
But then it deepens. Not all of a sudden, not all at once. But as you keep reading, what started as a story of a boy and his problems in school become a boy locked in a world bigger than him. It becomes the triumph of great stories and the shattering heart-break of broken families. It's war and death and anger - all from the perspective of a twelve-year-old boy in New York during the Vietnam War.
At first glance, this book doesn't seem like it would make a big impact. But its slowly-deepening themes, call-backs to great literature, and growth of a seventh-grade boy make it very worth the read. It's easy to read but by no means simple in its depth.
February 13, 2025
When I asked my family what we should rate this one when we finished it tonight, they said, "Five stars, five thumbs, five smiles, and five children!" Ha ha.
This was a real WINNER of a book! I LOVE how he included Shakespeare in aspects of life, defined Shakespeare themes and words in a beautifully integrated way in this story. I LOVE that they solve difficult relationship problems. I LOVE the complex storyline and the history. There is just so much to love about this book. My family was SO sad that there wasn't a sequel to the book and now we are all sad to say good-bye. This is our first Gary Schmidt book, and now I had to promise to make another of his books be an upcoming read-aloud. <3
This was a real WINNER of a book! I LOVE how he included Shakespeare in aspects of life, defined Shakespeare themes and words in a beautifully integrated way in this story. I LOVE that they solve difficult relationship problems. I LOVE the complex storyline and the history. There is just so much to love about this book. My family was SO sad that there wasn't a sequel to the book and now we are all sad to say good-bye. This is our first Gary Schmidt book, and now I had to promise to make another of his books be an upcoming read-aloud. <3
June 23, 2025
this book made me nostalgic for a cishet-boy-in-the-60s childhood i never had. even on the first read, it felt like a classic, and something i’m absolutely going to read again. i read the entire book in about one day and it was INCESSANTLY enjoyable the whole way through – not just in the shakespeare references (though there was a delightful amount of those), but also in the relationships between holling and his teacher, holling and his seventh-grade-girlfriend, holling and his sister (GOD there’s a scene with his sister that still fucks me up to think about). it’s a story that could have easily been made into a slapstick middle-school-boy comedy, but it balances all the humor with a genuinely warm and empathetic core and that, i think, is what is so wonderful about it.
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