The Wednesday Wars: A Newbery Honor Award Winner

Gary D. Schmidt

May 2009 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

In this Newbery Honor–winning novel, Gary D. Schmidt tells the witty and compelling story of a teenage boy who feels that fate has it in for him, during the school year 1968-69.

Seventh grader Holling Hoodhood isn't happy. He is sure his new teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates his guts. Holling's domineering father is obsessed with his business image and disregards his family. Throughout the school year, Holling strives to get a handle on the Shakespeare plays Mrs. Baker assigns him to read on his own time, and to figure out the enigmatic Mrs. Baker. As the Vietnam War turns lives upside down, Holling comes to admire and respect both Shakespeare and Mrs. Baker, who have more to offer him than he imagined. And when his family is on the verge of coming apart, he also discovers his loyalty to his sister, and his ability to stand up to his father when it matters most.

Ratings and reviews

Young adult literature loves to target curmudgeon English teachers in its plots, and here is another example. This novel was recommended to me by Alicia Siebers, an English-teaching peer at my own middle school. She read it in a couple of nights; it took me longer. Mrs. Baker is the foil who antagonizes our protagonist, the introspective Holling Hoodhood. Characteristic of Young Adult Literature, the protagonist has a name that can become the gist of jokes and many strange looks and comments. Set in 1967, the Vietnam War is in full bloom. the English tacher's husband is a lieutenant stationed over there, which adds to the rising action in the story. Holling interacts with the teacher; his father-who is very stereotyped as a hippie-hating, government supporting, hard-core conservative who is an architect vying for jobs in a tighly-knit community; a love-interest, or course; and the usual YAL gamut of bizarre incidentals like yellow-toothed rats running loose in the middle school, threats from bullies, and atrocious cafeteria food. All this being said, I enjoyed the book. It is very reawdable (written at a 6th grade level, I would presume), and the story took me back to those days because I was a 7th grader in 1967, too, listening to the horrifying news fromVietnam. Despite the bad press the English teachers gets in this book, she turns out to be okay in the end. And so did the book. I rated this a Three Stars Plus.

The Wednesday Wars is about a boy named Holling Hoodhood starting 7th grade at Camillo Junior High. He finds out that he has a teacher that hates him. Holling lives in the middle, not the North side or the South side. On Wednesday, Holling has to stay and read Shakespeare with Mrs.Baker. One day, when Holling was cleaning the twin rats’ cages, he let the rats escape. Nobody could catch the rats, so they lived in the ceiling and got fatter and fatter. When Holling was buying cream puffs for the class, Mr. Goldman, the bakery owner, asked him if he wanted to be part of a Shakespeare play. So Holling is Ariel the warrior. He has to wear white feathers on his butt on top of yellow tights! On the day of the play, he finds out that Mickey Mantle is giving out autographs. So after the play, Holling hurries to get his baseball signed. Mickey Mantle wouldn’t sign Holling’s ball though, because Holling is wearing yellow tights and white feathers on his butt. Holling things Mickey Mantle is a real jerk. Holling realizes that he loves his sister. One sunny day, Holling sees his sister, Heather, in the middle of the cold about to get run over by a sliding bus on ice. He runs toward Heather and pushes her out of the way. Heather really wants to go to Columbia University, but her dad disagrees. One morning, Heather runs away from home. Holling really missed her. So that night, Holling went to save his sister because she was left all alone, and she was out of money. They ate burgers when they next saw each other and headed home together. Mrs.Baker decided to take her class on a camping trip. Holling and his class had a great time camping. Mrs. Baker and Holling now like each other. Holling and his family went to Danny’s bar mitzvah where he became a man. I really enjoyed this novel because the characters change over time. The many problems were solved at the end of the book. Holling gets more mature and grown up by the end of the book. The Wednesday Wars is a great book! - Claire Yu - Melissa Pinheiro's student - and I, Melissa Pinheiro, agree with Claire's review :) This is a wonderful book for children in grades 4-7, it has humor, a good vocabulary, and is a relatable coming of age story!

I have to say, the title made me sceptical, but this is one of the books that makes me want to be an writer one day. I have high expectations and standards for books; this book met every one of them. It made me think about what life is really all about and what's really important. I highly recommend this.

About the author

Gary D. Schmidt is the bestselling author of The Labors of Hercules Beal; Just Like That; National Book Award finalist Okay for Now; Pay Attention, Carter Jones; Orbiting Jupiter; the Newbery Honor and Printz Honor Book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy; and the Newbery Honor Book The Wednesday Wars. He is also contributor to and co-editor of the acclaimed short story collection A Little Bit Super, co-edited by Leah Henderson. He lives in rural Michigan.