Review: The Wednesday Wars

Poor Holling Hoodhood.  He lives in the perfect house, but everything his father does is based on what’s best for his architectural firm.   He’s in the seventh grade, and his teacher, Mrs. Baker hates him.   On Wednesday afternoons, the Jewish kids in his class go to Hebrew school and the Catholic kids go to Catechism, leaving Holling, the lone Presbyterian, all by himself, and his teacher is making him read Shakespeare.  Holling has to figure out how to navigate the seventh grade, stay out of trouble with his teacher and the other kids, and keep his dad happy.  Sometimes it just seems like too much for one kid to handle.

Last year, I listened to Lizzy Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt and just loved it, so when I saw Tricia’s review of The Wednesday Wars by the same author, I knew I had to read it.  I absolutely loved this book and feel certain that I can’t do it justice.  There is so much going on in it, yet it works beautifully.  The book touches on family, art, the Vietnam War, a budding young romance, responsibility, history and so much more.  Since it’s told from a seventh grader’s perspective it made me remember what it felt like to be young.

The characters in this book are fantastic.  I especially adored Holling and Mrs. Baker.  Holling really wants to please everyone, but he wants to fit in with his classmates too.  He is earnest and observant and I just wanted to give him a squeeze.  Mrs. Baker is the type of teacher every parent hopes their child will get – tough, but compassionate and caring.  Each chapter is a month in the school year and follows what’s going on in the classroom, in Holling’s home and in the world.  Holling is trying to figure out how he fits in all three places, so it’s really a coming of age story too.

The Wednesday Wars takes place during the 1967-68 school year, so I could relate to so much of what was going on – the nuclear drills, the Vietnam War, the Monkees, just to name a few.   It’s a Newbery Honor Book written for young adults and I do wonder if they could relate to the time period as well as I did.

I’m really having trouble expressing my thoughts about this book, but I loved it.  I laughed a lot as I read the book and just sobbed at the end.  Since I loved both The Wednesday Wars and Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, I want to read more of Gary D. Schmidt’s work.  Have you read any of his other books?  Which ones do you recommend?

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