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Jun 24, 2010

Greg rated it:

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 ar More...

9 comments like (23 people liked it)

Jul 20, 2009

Lucy rated it:

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 yea More...

7 comments like (20 people liked it)

Jan 02, 2008

Christina rated it:

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 lo More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2007

Suzanne rated it:

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' More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Jan 07, 2011

Bonnie rated it:

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 More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 21, 2010

Tatiana rated it:

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 More...

6 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2008

Claire rated it:

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 More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Dec 09, 2008

Wendy rated it:

Really charming. It was the same kind of nostalgic book as Penny From Heaven, but better-written, funnier, and more real-feeling. (This one has its obvious parallel in a really good episode of The Wonder Years.) This reminded me of older books about boys coming of age, like It's Like This, Cat and Onion John; but I think the language is wholly modern and accessible. I thought it was so much better--tighter, I guess--than Trouble.

Also, a question: looking at the other review More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 20, 2007

Kricket rated it:

This is a beautiful book, so I reviewed it for our librarian blog at work.

Holling Hoodhood has many things on his mind. The U.S. is at war with Vietnam. His older sister has painted a flower on her face. His father is trying to run the town’s other architect out of business. And Holling’s teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates his guts. You see, every Wednesday after lunch, half of the kids in Holling’s 7th grade class go to the Temple Beth-El for Hebrew School. The other half goes to St. Adelbe More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 26, 2008

Heathercrow rated it:

This book was absolutely fabulous! I enjoyed every minute of it. I was very surprised to find out that it was more than just a Jr. High kid putting up with bullies. It was about life and how you deal with different trials no matter what your age is and everyone deals with these trials in different ways. I am totally serious when I say that I laughed and cried and ignored my family until it was done. It is very worthy of the 2008 newberry award.

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 09, 2007

Joshua rated it:

Without too much effort, you could probably come up with a dozen or so books of the Teacher-Who's-Totally-Mean-At-First-Develops-A-Mentoring-Relationship-With-The-Student-And-There-Are-Some-Life-Lessons-And-A-Bunch-Of-Growing-Up-Happens Genre, but dollars to doughnuts, none would be quite as good or as fun to read as Wednesday Wars. Toads, beetles, bats, I loved it--as the Bard might say. This one could probably work as young as fourth grade.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Dec 13, 2011

Jenny rated it:

Absolutely LOVED this book! Not only was I laughing the whole way through it but I was fascinated by the writing. Now I have to go out and buy it so I can read it again and again and study the writing. And of course enjoy the story. Too funny!

Re-read: Enjoyed it again! This is such a great book.

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 27, 2009

Christina rated it:

All of the people who gave this book five stars can't be wrong, can they? Well, I've been in the minority before, so I guess I'll put myself there again because I really do not think my middle-school students will understand the humor in this book. It reads as an adult's nostalgic look back at his seventh-grade year during the Vietnam War. Although the situations that Holling, the main character, finds himself in are supposed to be funny, I didn't find them to be humorous because of the under More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 20, 2011

Mrshuck rated it:

Wednesday Wars is a rare piece of literature that feeds the soul. Schmidt creates a plot that skims along the positive side of life, occasionally dipping into the deep, heavy emotions of loss and love. Holling Hood Hood is content with his shallow existence as a sports loving, cream puff craving young man skipping through his urban wonder years during the late sixties. An unexpected relationship develops between him and his teacher, Mrs. Baker. Because Holling is mostly ignored by his ghostl More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 30, 2008

Marya rated it:

The narrator is a 7th grader who is suffering through the usual trials and tribulations of adolescence. In particular, he becomes a cross country runner, learns a love for Shakespeare, and finds a mentor in his English teacher. The entire story is written very much in a Leave It to Beaver "golly gee oh shucks" voice. At one point the narrator can't even say the word "butt" *in his own interior monologue*.

What modern day teen would identify with a Leave it to More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 26, 2007

Stephanie rated it:

On Wednesday afternoons at Camillo Junior High half of the class goes to Hebrew School at Temple Beth-El and the other half goes to Catechism at St. Adelbert’s. But Holling Hoodhood is Presbyterian so he stays with his teacher on Wednesday afternoons. At first the teacher gives him tasks to do like clean the chalk boards and erasers. But soon she has a better idea: she teaches him Shakespeare. Holling thinks this is all intended to torture him. But his teacher’s nefarious plan doesn’t work becau More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 20, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

I enjoyed this gentle coming-of-age story set in Long Island in 1967. Holling Hoodhood's seventh grade year is memorable because of what happens to him and around him. Much of the novel focuses on Holling's relationship with his English teacher, Mrs. Baker. At the beginning of the year, Holling is convinced that Mrs. Baker has it in for him. On Wednesday afternoons when half the class goes to Temple and the other to CCD classes, Holling (the lone Presbyterian) is stuck with Mrs. Baker. She m More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 08, 2007

Rebecca rated it:

I loved this book.

Takes place in 1967, Long Island...Holling Hoodhood, the one Presbyterian in a 7th grade sea of Catholic and Jewish peers, is the only student left in Mrs. Baker's English class on Wednesday afternoons (when all others leave for Catholic and Hebrew lessons)...and he is sure that Mrs. Baker is out to get him. So begins The Wednesday Wars. Or rather, so begin the Wednesday Wars.

The chapters are broken down into the months of a schoolyear. Holling's Wednesd More...

5 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 12, 2009

Kristin rated it:

Gary Schmidt is genius. As a professor of English he admittedly has an edge in the world of writing and his amazing talent could not be more obvious than it is in this book. Holling Hoodhood is a seventh grade boy who has to learn Shakespeare and finds ways to apply the heroes and stories from those plays to his own crazy life. This is a story of friendship and family during the late 1960's and I highly recommend it.

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 07, 2008

Shirley rated it:

I listened to this book in the car and on my Ipod and loved it. I wanted something my 23-year-old and 16-year-old could listen to with me on a road trip so chose a young adult book. It takes place in the late 60's during the Vietnam War and is about a jr. high boy, Holling Hoodhood, who learns there is a lot more to his teacher than he ever would have imagined. He learns to read Shakespeare and understand it, and he learns that teachers have lives too. Mrs. Baker's husband is MIA and he sees More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 09, 2008

Kendra rated it:

I enjoyed this book and thought it did a good job of relating a condition of feeling like an outsider without using race or ethnicity. Instead, the main character feels left out because on Wednesday afternoons, half of his class leaves to go to the Catholic church and the other half leaves to go to the synagogue. He's Presbyterian, so he gets to stay put with the teacher, who he has determined is out to get him...hence the Wednesday wars. Maybe I'm a little partial because I'm Presbyterian and g More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 13, 2008

Snorkle rated it:

Holling Hoodhood is exasperated when he finds out that he is going to be spending every Wednesday afternoon with his teacher, Mrs. Baker. He knows that she hates his guts, why else would she make him read Shakespeare? Over the course of 7th grade Holling grows and learns that sometimes things are not always what they seem.

I thought that this was a good book - I read it because I was recommended it, and I had loved, "Lizzy Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt. More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 25, 2008

Kerri rated it:

All I can say is WOW! What a beautifully written book. The symbolism is phenmomenal, and the realism of the characters and what they lived through is beyond words. My favorite kinds of books are what I like to call "slice of life" books. Books that let you in on the everyday, normal existence of an everyday, normal person. That is where the true miracles exist - the love/hate relationship of a brother and sister, the secret life of a lonely teacher, the first crush of a 7th grade More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 01, 2009

Farragut High added it

Gary D. Schmidt offers an unforgettable antihero in THE WEDNESDAY WARS—a wonderfully witty and compelling novel about a teenage boy's mishaps and adventures over the course of the 1967–68 school year.

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 More...

0 comments like

Mar 30, 2009

Jean rated it:

Wow and Wow! The first thing about this book: The main character and first person narrator is named Holling Hoodhood. If you read the name with the last name backwards it brings to mind something that will delight most seventh graders (and all of the members of my family). This book was laugh-aloud funny (I have to think the author had a lot of fun writing it) and misty-eyed poignant. And I loved that I could relate to it so well on a personal level because it was written about a seventh gra More...

3 comments like

Mar 02, 2009

Janessa rated it:

Wednesday Wars engages the reader at so many different levels. I instantly fell in love with protagonist, Holling Hoodhood, and the impending sense of doom that peppers his wry telling of his story. And who wouldn't be fatalistic in his circumstances? On Wednesday afternoons, while his Catholic and Jewish schoolmates leave school to receive religious instruction, Holling, the only Presbyterian in his class, is left alone with his teacher Mrs. Baker, whose Wednesday afternoons he has single-ha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 17, 2009

Diane rated it:

I felt like I needed a lighter read, so I chose the audio version of The Wednesday Wars after hearing some good feedback on the 2007 Newberry Honor book.

The year is 1967 and the Vietnam War is in the news. Lyndon Johnson is President and Holling Hoodhood is in the seventh grade, learning about Shakespeare.

Holling Hoodhood is the only Presbyterian in his grade, so he has to stay in the classroom with his teacher Mrs. Baker on Wednesday afternoons while his classmates More...

0 comments like

Jan 04, 2009

Megan rated it:

I read this book anticipating a light-hearted novel about a 7th-grader in Vietnam War-era America. I wasn't disappointed - I laughed and laughed and laughed. I was surprised by how much depth the novel had, though, as it deals with issues like wartime prejudice. Rated G.

I can't really do this book justice in my review, so I'm including an excerpt:

"And then, suddenly, there he was. Doug Swieteck's brother, on the other side of Camillo Junior High, waiting for a school More...

0 comments like

Jan 02, 2009

Kelly rated it:

Life is tough at Camillo Junior High for seventh grader Holling. Each Wednesday afternoon as the rest of his classmates leave school to attend religious instruction, Holling reads Shakespeare with his teacher, Mrs. Baker. Even though he's convinced she hates him, Mrs. Baker helps Holling prepare for cross country tryouts and a Valentine's Day date with Meryl Lee, gets him tickets to opening day at Yankee Stadium, and often takes the place of his too-busy-to-care parents.

Set during More...

0 comments like

Jan 04, 2012

04codye added it

The Wednesday wars is a fun book that I thought was interesting in the way that it fills like you are in his head. There are 264 pages in The Wednesday wars some of the main characters are Holling Hoodhood she is the main character and is a seventh grader at Camillo Junior High. Mr. Hoodhood he is Hollings dad and is very ambitious architct. Mrs. Hoodhood Hollings mother, a passive. A Doug Sweiteck another seventh grader at Camillo Junior High, one who tries to cause trouble. This story takes pl More...

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