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Books : The Wednesday Wars
Rating: 
- great book!
I loved this book. I am a junior high teacher and chuckled over the perception students have of teachers. The Vietnam War time period is also a hard time period to find good books.
Rating: - Another winner from Gary Schmidt
He did it again. Gary created another thought provoking book about kids becoming adults. It is written in a whole new voice. I had to keep reminding myself that it was really written by the same author as Lizzie Bright. The intertwining of the personal story, the political story of the 60's, and the various Shakespeare stories was amazing. I am an adult, but love a great juvenile fiction book. With "Wednesday Wars" Gary Schmidt is now at the top of my Juvenile fiction author list. I am looking forward to "Trouble" coming soon.
Rating: - Parallels to what's going on today
Set during the Vietnam War, this novel has many parallels to what's going on today in Iraq and Afghanistan. At first, Holling Hoodhood and his teacher have a mutual dislike for each other, but as the year goes on, and Shakespeare begins working on Holling, they come to an understanding. This would be a though-provoking read for middle school and high school students. Highly recommended.
Rating:
- More for Boomers than the YA Crowd
Oddly, THE WEDNESDAY WARS is probably going to appeal more to adults who came of age in the 50s and 60s than it is to young adults. And oddly, despite a lot of positive writing, the overall story will, at times, drag for younger readers -- especially if they are in the "reluctant reader" category.
Let's start with what's good about this novel: It's clean, wholesome, charming, and one might even say, quaint. Although set in the turbulent years of 1967-68 on Long Island, the book seems more like a snapshot out of the 50's -- all Eisenhower tranquility, all "Leave It to Beaver" good fun. Yes, there's mention of Vietnam, nuclear bomb drills at school, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, but it's more in name than in spirit and remains stubbornly remote from the story and the characters themselves (except for protagonist Holling Hoodhood's older sister, the lightly-sketched Heather, who is a Kennedy fan).
I liked the humorous tone, the plot's use of Shakespeare (poor 7th-grader Holling must memorize parts of the Bard's work during Wednesday afterschool sessions), and the character of Mrs. Baker -- the prototypical "teacher we all remember throughout life." What threw me was the character of Holling. He's way too mature and precocious for his age. In the one moment of family crisis, he acts wise WAY beyond his years and acts like a seasoned father, not a 7th-grade kid. His interests, words, and opinions? Also very adult-ish, despite Schmidt's game inclusion of such hijinks as 8th graders wanting to beat him up because he wears tights in a Shakespeare scene and because he outruns his elder classmen in a track meet.
Bottom line: if you like charming, if you like books about memorable teachers, or if you like the 50s (as projected in the 60s), you probably will love this nicely written ode to youth (or at least "a good boy's youth"). If you like your YA a little edgier, a little more realistic to its time, setting, character, then you might smell the professor-writer in all of this and wonder if it misses its full potential. In that sense, reaction to the book may say as much about you as it does the book.
Rating: - the little I read was a joy
I'm not sure what the target audience for this book is, but I love young adult/children's novels and I'm 23. I browsed this book when I was in the US (cannot find it in Australia to finish it) and decided to skim the first page. That turned into the first few chapters - I was smitten! The witty, hilarious dialogue had me sitting in the bookstore trying to hold back giggles. I didn't even get to the Shakespeare plot in the story or anything to do with Vietnam, yet I still loved it. I particularly loved the dialogue that occurred between him and his sister in the beginning when he was telling her that the teacher hated him.
I only wish that EVERY other young adult/children's writer could read this book and see the standard it has set. Previously I had thought that perhaps I was just a bad reader. Now I realise that I only read bad books.
- great book!I loved this book. I am a junior high teacher and chuckled over the perception students have of teachers. The Vietnam War time period is also a hard time period to find good books.
Rating:
- Another winner from Gary SchmidtHe did it again. Gary created another thought provoking book about kids becoming adults. It is written in a whole new voice. I had to keep reminding myself that it was really written by the same author as Lizzie Bright. The intertwining of the personal story, the political story of the 60's, and the various Shakespeare stories was amazing. I am an adult, but love a great juvenile fiction book. With "Wednesday Wars" Gary Schmidt is now at the top of my Juvenile fiction author list. I am looking forward to "Trouble" coming soon.
Rating:
- Parallels to what's going on todaySet during the Vietnam War, this novel has many parallels to what's going on today in Iraq and Afghanistan. At first, Holling Hoodhood and his teacher have a mutual dislike for each other, but as the year goes on, and Shakespeare begins working on Holling, they come to an understanding. This would be a though-provoking read for middle school and high school students. Highly recommended.
Rating:
- More for Boomers than the YA CrowdOddly, THE WEDNESDAY WARS is probably going to appeal more to adults who came of age in the 50s and 60s than it is to young adults. And oddly, despite a lot of positive writing, the overall story will, at times, drag for younger readers -- especially if they are in the "reluctant reader" category.
Let's start with what's good about this novel: It's clean, wholesome, charming, and one might even say, quaint. Although set in the turbulent years of 1967-68 on Long Island, the book seems more like a snapshot out of the 50's -- all Eisenhower tranquility, all "Leave It to Beaver" good fun. Yes, there's mention of Vietnam, nuclear bomb drills at school, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, but it's more in name than in spirit and remains stubbornly remote from the story and the characters themselves (except for protagonist Holling Hoodhood's older sister, the lightly-sketched Heather, who is a Kennedy fan).
I liked the humorous tone, the plot's use of Shakespeare (poor 7th-grader Holling must memorize parts of the Bard's work during Wednesday afterschool sessions), and the character of Mrs. Baker -- the prototypical "teacher we all remember throughout life." What threw me was the character of Holling. He's way too mature and precocious for his age. In the one moment of family crisis, he acts wise WAY beyond his years and acts like a seasoned father, not a 7th-grade kid. His interests, words, and opinions? Also very adult-ish, despite Schmidt's game inclusion of such hijinks as 8th graders wanting to beat him up because he wears tights in a Shakespeare scene and because he outruns his elder classmen in a track meet.
Bottom line: if you like charming, if you like books about memorable teachers, or if you like the 50s (as projected in the 60s), you probably will love this nicely written ode to youth (or at least "a good boy's youth"). If you like your YA a little edgier, a little more realistic to its time, setting, character, then you might smell the professor-writer in all of this and wonder if it misses its full potential. In that sense, reaction to the book may say as much about you as it does the book.
Rating:
- the little I read was a joyI'm not sure what the target audience for this book is, but I love young adult/children's novels and I'm 23. I browsed this book when I was in the US (cannot find it in Australia to finish it) and decided to skim the first page. That turned into the first few chapters - I was smitten! The witty, hilarious dialogue had me sitting in the bookstore trying to hold back giggles. I didn't even get to the Shakespeare plot in the story or anything to do with Vietnam, yet I still loved it. I particularly loved the dialogue that occurred between him and his sister in the beginning when he was telling her that the teacher hated him.
I only wish that EVERY other young adult/children's writer could read this book and see the standard it has set. Previously I had thought that perhaps I was just a bad reader. Now I realise that I only read bad books.
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