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Holling Hoodhood lives a solid middle-class life in the suburbs, in the sixties. Holling can’t act for fear of endangering his father’s business. He lives with his sister and parents in the Perfect House, an untouchable, do not disturb life. Holling tries to live a life where he, like the house, like his parents, like his father’s business, is not disturbed, but it is not to be. Instead, his teacher, his enemy teacher, sets him a daunting task: to read and think about Shakespeare each Wednesday
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Of course I would like this book.
1. A teacher imparts the love for Shakespeare to a smart-mouthed boy, and he later clinches a very good role in The Tempest for the community play (in return for some cream puffs).
2. The boy has an elder sister who insults him all the time.
3. The different seasons of school life in America are depicted - from fall to winter to spring - with undercurrents caused by the Vietnam War running through each period.
4. Celebrities are shown to be human and fallible too - ...more
1. A teacher imparts the love for Shakespeare to a smart-mouthed boy, and he later clinches a very good role in The Tempest for the community play (in return for some cream puffs).
2. The boy has an elder sister who insults him all the time.
3. The different seasons of school life in America are depicted - from fall to winter to spring - with undercurrents caused by the Vietnam War running through each period.
4. Celebrities are shown to be human and fallible too - ...more
Nov 03, 2013
Astrid Lim
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction,
children,
america,
newbery,
funny-ha-ha,
new-york,
family,
middle-grade
Unexpectedly enjoyable!!!! I like the main characters, Holling with his charm, and of course the admirable Mrs. Baker, who could be one of my favorite teachers in literature. All the Shakespeare elements also complemented the story with the perfect symbolism, and of course the setting of Long Island in 1967 is adorable too (albeit a bit grim because of the Vietnam war). Anyway, a very great middle grade book- a classic!!! and I'm excited to know that there's a companion book for this. Yeay!
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This is an entertaining book! I had read it and later my kids enjoyed it as a read aloud. Holling is in seventh grade and is stuck with some one-on-one time with his teacher. He dreads it at first, but ends up loving the time as he is introduced to Shakespeare. There is lots of humor in this coming of age book.
Seventh grader and he is staying after school on Wednesday to learn about Shakespeare. This is a sweet book and a fun read. It is funny at times and you can really see yourself in a lot of what the Schmidt writes.
Lexile 990L
IL: MG - BL: 5.9 - AR Pts: 12.0
IL: MG - BL: 5.9 - AR Pts: 12.0
Dec 22, 2008
Stacy
marked it as to-read
Feb 11, 2013
Kim DeCina
marked it as to-read
Sep 29, 2013
Amy 💖
marked it as to-read
Aug 18, 2016
erin
marked it as to-read
Jan 16, 2021
Kirsten Barber
marked it as to-read
Oct 11, 2022
Kristen
marked it as n-a-books-have
