The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
This book was unexpected. I'd never heard of it or the author. I was at the library picking out books for Emery and this one caught my eye. It reminds me of the honing instinct of books I quoted on the Guernsey post.
In The Wednesday Wars we meet Holling Hoodhood; a funny boy who narrates his life during his seventh grade year. He's growing up near New York City during the Vietnam crisis. He has an older sister who frustrates his father because of her "flowerchild" mentality. All his father is concerned about is becoming the Chamber of Commerce Businessman for two years running. While reading the passages including Holling's father, I pictured a mix between the fathers from A Christmas Story and The Wonder Years. Holling's mother was not heard from much except to say she did all the "dutiful" jobs of a wife and secretly smoked when she thought the kids didn't know.
On Wednesdays when the Jewish students went to Hebrew school and the Catholic students went to Catechism, Holling, a Presbyterian, stayed at school with the dreaded Mrs. Baker. He was convinced she hated him but the reader quickly realizes that was only because she was a good teacher. She made Holling do things he didn't want to do like read Shakespeare. Each month of the school year she made him read one of Shakespeare's plays and then they would discuss it and he take tests and write reports.
Through Hollings eye's we get to read stories and events that vary between hilarity, horror, poignancy, and triumph. Whether or not books really have a honing device, I'm glad this one found me. Do yourself a favor and check it out!
Stay tuned next week for a tribute to Mo Willems as we ring in a new month!
