false 0 0 false false Thu Aug 07 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 07 08:47:24 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 08:47:24 -0700 2009
Let me tell you, The Wednesday Wars Schmidt depicts the life of a Shakespeare-reading, cross-country running seventh grade boy in the Vietnam Era about as well as it’s possible to depict any historical situation through fiction. Schmidt masterfully mixes Holling Hoodhood’s personal trials and rites of passage through seventh grade with the nation and the world’s trials. Holling’s life is full of tensions of all kinds–familial, school, cultural, and religious. It is due to Holling’s religious orientation–as a Presbyterian among a class of Catholic and Jewish students–that he finds himself alone in Mrs. Baker’s classroom every Wednesday afternoon when the other kids head off to attend to their religious studies.

Wednesdays with Mrs. Baker at first seem like cruel and unusual punishment. She sets him to tasks such as reading Shakespeare, carrying cream puffs, pounding dust out of chalky erasers, and cleaning the pet rats’ cages (the rats being named Sycorax and Caliban). Yet, while Holling does suggest more than once that Mrs. Baker most definitely hates his guts, he comes to realize that there’s more to her than her teacher exterior suggests. Mrs. Baker ends up teaching him not only about Shakespeare, diagramming sentences, and proper running form but also about cultural understanding and appreciation and about caring for others outside one’s own family.

Holling’s own family come across as rather cold and distant. His father cares mainly for his architectural contracts and his status as Chamber of Commerce Businessman of 1967. His mother does a lot of cooking lima beans and submitting to his father’s mandates. His sister spends her time listening to the Beatle’s, joining campaigns, rebelling against her father’s expectations, and finding herself.

Holling’s friends, on the other hand, make sacrifices for him more than once and come through for him when he’s feeling down and out. Holling Hoodhood has an authentic seventh-grade narrative voice. At times, he appears extremely ignorant and at other times he seems wise beyond his years. The Wednesday Wars stands as a strong story about friendship, baseball, wartime, cultural differences, and the impact that caring teachers can have on the next generation. It’s a well-written book that many kids will enjoy reading…really.]]>