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The Wednesday Wars

Gary D. Schmidt

4.09 · Rating details · 37,100 ratings · 6,213 reviews

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 te ...more

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Hardcover, 264 pages

Published May 21st 2007 by Clarion Books

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Jul 02, 2018 L A i N E Y ~back in a bit~ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobook, reviewed, unputdownable, humor-i-get, unforgettable, read-me-a-phonebook, precious-character, pleasant-surprise, middle-grade

Audiobook rating: ★★★★★
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 an ...more

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Feb 11, 2008 Lucy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: kidlit, middlegrade, 2009, historicalfiction, books-that-deserve-six-stars, favorites

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 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. ...more

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Jul 13, 2012 karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: why-yes-i-ya, readventurer-made-me-do-it

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, ...more

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Jun 21, 2010 Greg rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-for-kids, fiction

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 instea ...more

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Jun 17, 2013 Hal Johnson rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: school, pub-2007, kids, newbery-honor

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 th 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 (view spoiler) 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! ...more

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Aug 25, 2011 Catie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Catie by: Flannery

Shelves: ya, audio, read-in-2011, middle-grade

This book is a heartwarming mix of nostalgia, life lessons, beauty, and awkward humor with a nice side of brown…light…perfect cream puffs. And let me tell you; it’s really swell.

Holling Hoodhood is the only kid in the seventh grade who doesn’t have to attend either Temple or Catechism on Wednesday afternoons. No, instead he gets to spend every single Wednesday afternoon with Mrs. Baker, who hates his guts. Each Wednesday she finds new ways to torture him: endless cleaning of chalkboard erasers, This book is a heartwarming mix of nostalgia, life lessons, beauty, and awkward humor with a nice side of brown…light…perfect cream puffs. And let me tell you; it’s really swell.

Holling Hoodhood is the only kid in the seventh grade who doesn’t have to attend either Temple or Catechism on Wednesday afternoons. No, instead he gets to spend every single Wednesday afternoon with Mrs. Baker, who hates his guts. Each Wednesday she finds new ways to torture him: endless cleaning of chalkboard erasers, rodent wrangling, and Shakespeare.

On the surface, this book seems idealistic and a bit light. But as it unfolds, there are moments of truth, tragedy, and deep emotion. The story takes place during one of the most tumultuous times in American history, and the undercurrents of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement are ever present.

In the beginning, Holling is an unassuming, agreeable boy who seems to take whatever Mrs. Baker and the other students have to dish out. He has moments of small rebellion (mostly in his head), but he doesn’t really stand up for himself. But by the end of this story, he has confidence and conviction. His growth into a mature almost-man is incredibly moving.

I fell in love with all of the characters in this book: Mrs. Baker, evil mastermind; Danny, my pied ninny fighting hero; Holling’s sister, innocently rebellious; even Mrs. Bigio, who resurrected her gods. This book grabbed a hold of my emotions and carried me right along. It’s rare that I am able to completely buy in to a story this wholesome and light hearted, but it happened here.

I also love Holling’s changing reactions to the words and lessons of the Shakespeare plays that he reads. It makes me think of all of the great works that I’ve read, that have impacted me in completely different ways at different times of my life. I think that’s what great literature does: it speaks across age and experience. It translates for all of us, in different but equally powerful ways.

This is one of the best audio performances I’ve come across. Joel Johnstone sounds quite a bit like Fred Savage (which only adds the Wonder Years vibe that I get from this book). He also manages to capture Mrs. Baker’s dry genius, Meryl Lee’s sweetness, and Holling’s father’s brusque indifference. And the voice that he uses for Mrs. Brigio sounds exactly like lunch lady Doris from the Simpsons!

Perfect Musical Pairing

Paul Simon – American Tune

One of my favorite songs, about the despair and weariness of the American past and present, but I think that it ends on a hopeful note. Tomorrow’s going to be another day, and we don’t know what will come, but we will face whatever it is. ...more

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Nov 05, 2020 Aj the Ravenous Reader rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, physically-owned-books, unexpectedly-good, five-stars, lol, reality-bites, middle-grade, shortie, easy-read

"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 de "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.
...more

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Dec 24, 2010 Bonnie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya-middle-grade

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 a ...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Clif Hostetler rated it liked it

Shelves: novel

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 muc ...more

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Nov 18, 2020 S.D. Smith rated it it was amazing

One of the best books I've ever read. Absolutely brilliant. A nailed-on classic.

Mr. Schmidt, take a bow.

(And thank you.) ...more

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May 05, 2009 Tatiana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, children-s-middle-school, newbery

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 Mr ...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Anne Bogel rated it it was amazing

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. ...more

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Dec 03, 2010 Scott rated it it was ok

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. H 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.

...more

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Jan 26, 2008 Claire rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: adult readers of kid lit and YA lit

Shelves: ya, middle-grade, love-love-love

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 Hollin ...more

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Sep 28, 2007 Christina rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Other Librarians

Shelves: kid-books

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 si ...more

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Jan 09, 2020 BookNightOwl rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook, fiction, books-i-own, historic-fiction, family, vietnam-war, school, friendship

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.

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Jan 26, 2008 Donalyn rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: deep thinkers

Shelves: children-s-historical-fiction

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.

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Dec 15, 2007 Suzanne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: youngadult-fiction, historical-fiction

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. ...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Robin Lee Hatcher rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, challenge-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 ...more

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Aug 17, 2013 Duffy Pratt rated it really liked it

Shelves: childrens, historical-fiction

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 performa 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). ...more

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Nov 05, 2007 Joshua rated it it was amazing

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. ...more

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Mar 24, 2020 Kari Ann Sweeney rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2020, middle-grade

I loved it. This is me GUSHING! Set in 1967 during the Vietnam War, it captured all the complex, nostalgic feelings of middle school. It was tender and full of humor, but also handled the deeper issues of the time period with care. It explored friendships, crushes, sibling relationships, embarrassment, bullies and more. I loved so many things about this book, but the best part was the relationship between inspirational-teacher Mrs. Baker and Holling.

I would recommend it for any adult and the ol ...more

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Dec 31, 2009 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Lisa by: Doug

Shelves: fiction, young-adult

I learned two new ways to cuss this month. First, my sister Aimee told me that in the Fantastic Mr. Fox movie instead of cussing they say, "What the cuss!" Love it! Next, Holling Hoodhood the 7th grade narrator of this delightful book learns all about the best kind of cussing by reading, Shakespeare's "The Tempest." He says,"Caliban-the monster in the play-he knew cuss words. Even Doug Swieteck's brother couldn't cuss like that-and he could cuss the yellow off a school bus." There are great scen I learned two new ways to cuss this month. First, my sister Aimee told me that in the Fantastic Mr. Fox movie instead of cussing they say, "What the cuss!" Love it! Next, Holling Hoodhood the 7th grade narrator of this delightful book learns all about the best kind of cussing by reading, Shakespeare's "The Tempest." He says,"Caliban-the monster in the play-he knew cuss words. Even Doug Swieteck's brother couldn't cuss like that-and he could cuss the yellow off a school bus." There are great scenes of Holling practicing these Caliban curses behind closed doors. Holling has me cussing,"Toads, beetles, bats," left and right. Especially when my kids delete my first review of this book to play Nick Jr. "Toads, beetles, bats," I can't remember everything I said the first time.

This book is well deserving of the Newbery Honor it received. Holling is the lone Presbyterian stuck at school with his teacher Mrs. Baker (who hates his guts) every Wednesday while half the class heads off to Hebrew school and the other half to Catechism. This book is very reminiscent of, "The Wonder Years." I kept expecting Kevin and Winnie to pop up on the next page. I loved watching the relationship between Holling and Mrs. Baker unfold throughout the year on Wednesday afternoons and beyond. Holling also has a sister in High school and the scenes between the two of them are touching and magical. This book will definitely have you giggling and tearing up constantly.

A great book to recommend to your kids or read with them.

Thanks to Doug for recommending this wonderful book!

Spoiler Alert**

I have to include this passage because I checked this out from the library. I want to be able to visit this passage of beautiful writing from time to time:

"Think of the sound you make when you let go after holding your breath for a very, very long time. Think of the gladdest sound you know: the sound of dawn of the first day of spring break, the sound of a bottle of Coke opening, the sound of a crowd cheering in your ears because you're coming down to the last part of a race-and you're ahead. Think of the sound of water over stones in a cold stream, and the sound of wind through green trees on a late May afternoon in Central Park. Think of the sound of a bus coming into the station carrying someone you love.
Then put all those together.
And they would be nothing compared to the sound that Mrs. Baker made that day from somewhere deep inside that had almost given up, when she heard the first line of that telegram.
The she started to hiccup, and to cry, and to laugh..."

I'm Crying all over again!

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Jun 13, 2018 Emily M rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, middle-grade-fiction

Another reviewer mentioned that this book shows that it was written by a Baby Boomer, and I had the exact same thought while reading. My parents were exactly the age of the protagonist in 1968, and while they remember where they were when they heard MKL Jr had been assassinated, the stories they tell about junior high are all about normal life, not what Walter Cronkite was saying about the Viet Cong on the evening news. I mean, I bet American history teachers everywhere are assigning this to the ...more

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Aug 22, 2015 Amber rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: librarybooks, audiobooks

In the year of 1967, Holling HoodHood is entering the seventh grade and notices that his English teacher Mrs. Baker hates him. She tries her best to make his life miserable, but with his Dad's Architect firm HoodHood and Associates vying to get the contract for her family's Sporting goods store, all Holling can do is grin and bear it even when she tortures him with Shakespeare. Will he survive? Read on and find out for yourself.

This was a pretty good audiobook that I borrowed from my local libra ...more

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Jun 09, 2017 Teresa Osgood rated it really liked it · review of another edition

2018 Update: Read it out loud with the family. The walls echo with cries of "Toads, beetles, bats" and "Dang wimpy slugs!" Delightful.

The title, and the list of 410 things, set me up to expect a battle of pranks. Instead, this funny book reaches deeper, as Holling serendipitously finds himself in various bad and good (and always awkward) situations, and applies Shakespeare to solve them. Maybe someone needs to make his parents read Shakespeare, too. Amusing and touching, I really enjoyed this. ...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Heidi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Heidi by: Flannery

Shelves: amazing-audio, uniquely-portable-magic, long-island-reads, favorites, 2013-favorites

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 exempl 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. ...more

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Jan 14, 2008 Wendy rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Mam, Laurie

Shelves: newbery-honor

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 reviews, and thinking of rev 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 reviews, and thinking of reviews of other books I've read recently--WHY do so many adults seem to think kids can't enjoy historical fiction unless A. they're already familiar with all cultural references in the book, or B. all cultural references and implications are spelled out in words of one syllable, or, failing that, in an author's note or glossary? Teachers, librarians, parents, is this something you've observed? It seems like an unqualified assumption to me. Even though I'm of a different generation from today's kids, I'm not really that old, and none of that ever bothered me. For one thing, I learned a ton of history from books I read for pleasure, and for another, if I didn't understand something I skimmed over it or occasionally asked my mother what it meant. No. big. deal. I don't like to be all "Well, *I* grew up just fine" about this, but it's still hard for me to imagine that kids now are THAT much different from when I was a kid--especially kids who like to read. I would think that there were some kids who hated historical fiction then and there are some who hate it now. Yes? No?

ETA: Huh. I just remembered that I made sort of the opposite argument a few months ago, about Noel Streatfeild's books having too many cultural references that kids wouldn't get. Clearly there's some kind of line I want to draw; it has something to do with how easy the book is to understand with or without cultural references, and is related to the way some old books make good quasi-historical-fiction, and others are just dated. But I'd hold that it's irrelevant as regards actual historical fiction. If kids don't "get it", it's about the writing, not the topic. Some reviews here seem to be claiming that because kids don't know who RFK was, books shouldn't mention RFK. ...more

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Jul 13, 2007 Kricket rated it it was amazing

Shelves: middle-grade, newbery, own, 2007

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. Adelbert’s for Cat ...more

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Mar 26, 2018 Hannah Mead rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2018

When a teacher makes you read Shakespeare outside of school, you know she hates you. Throw in some cream puffs and a couple of demented rats, and, well, you have the beginning of a very interesting school year. Plus there’s a war going on that is making things rather complicated. So Holling Hoodhood isn’t exactly looking forward to the upcoming year.
The Wednesday Wars is a highly amusing coming-of-age story that manages to teach some good lessens in between the laughs. I found it really interes ...more

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About Gary D. Schmidt

Gary D. Schmidt

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Gary 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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“Vengeance is sweet. Vengeance taken when the vengee isn't sure who the venger is, is sweeter still.” — 90 likes

“Think of the sound you make when you let go after holding your breath for a very, very long time. Think of the gladdest sound you know: the sound of dawn on the first day of spring break, the sound of a bottle of Coke opening, the sound of a crowd cheering in your ears because you're coming down to the last part of a race--and you're ahead. Think of the sound of water over stones in a cold stream, and the sound of wind through green trees on a late May afternoon in Central Park. Think of the sound of a bus coming into the station carrying someone you love.
Then put all those together.” — 69 likes

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