Review by New York Times Review
GARY SCHMIDTS latest book shares themes of friendship, coming-of-age and baseball with his 2005 novel, "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy," winner of a Newbery Honor and a Printz Honor. While "Lizzie Bright" was set in early-1900s rural Maine, "The Wednesday Wars" takes place in a Long Island suburb and is full of the atmosphere of the late 1960s ("We listened to Walter Cronkite report on the new casualty figures from Vietnam, and how the air war was being widened"). For Holling Hoodhood, the everyday trials of seventh grade and the upheavals of the decade are complicated by some troubles of his own. Schmidt spells out the root of the problem at the start. "If your last name ended in 'berg' or 'zog' or 'stein,' you lived on the north side. If your last name ended in 'elli' or 'ini' or 'o,' you lived on the south side." But Holling Hoodhood lives "right smack in the middle of the town." While this Jewish-Catholic separation does not divide the kids of the town socially, it does have its consequences. For one thing, between temple on Saturday mornings, Mass on Saturday afternoons and Holling's Sunday morning church services, "this meant that out of the whole weekend there was only Sunday afternoon left over for full baseball teams." Worse, as the only Presbyterian in his class, Holling is the one seventh grader left in Mrs. Baker's classroom every Wednesday afternoon when the other kids head off for their respective religious studies. He is sure his teacher hates him for this "with heat whiter than the sun." Why else would she roll her eyes when he speaks and torture him by making him read Shakespeare? Not to mention other rigors she puts him through, like cleaning out the cage of the classroom's pet rat - a chore that ends badly, with the two rodents escaping to set up house somewhere in the ceiling. But Holling thinks he has the last laugh: "It turned out that Mrs. Baker's strategy didn't work after all! ... Her nefarious plot to bore me to death failed again, because 'The Tempest' was even better than 'The Merchant of Venice.'" During those Wednesday Shakespeare sessions Schmidt cleverly highlights the plot twists most likely to grab young readers. As Holling says: "It is surprising how much good stuff there was. A storm, attempted murders, witches, wizards, invisible spirits, revolutions, characters drinking until they're dead drunk, an angry monster. ... I figured that she hadn't read it herself, otherwise she would never have let me at it." The author also knows when to quit: this seventh grader is not won over by those star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. He considers the "poison and the knife" "stupid and dumb." (Though his opinion doesn't change, he is smart enough to take the girl he likes to see the play on Valentine's Day.) While Mrs. Baker often seems too good to be true, the neglect Holling's parents dish out is sometimes hard to believe. They are absent from his life in good times and bad, not even bothering to show up for his big cross-country race. When he is cast as Ariel in "The Tempest," they not only prefer to stay home and watch TV but his father fails to pick him up afterward, leaving him alone in the cold. This has a domino effect, making Holling late for a date with destiny, and he is ultimately let down by a beloved hero. When he returns home after this transformational night, his parents barely look up, offering only, "Bing Crosby is just about to start 'White Christmas,' as soon as this commercial is over." Holling does seek help from his father, but Dad always puts business first "So, Holling, what did you do that might make Mrs. Baker hate your guts ... which will lead the Baker Sporting Emporium to choose another architect ... which will mean that there will be no Hoodhood and Associates for you to take over when I'm ready to retire?" Mr. Hoodhood's indifference to both his son and his daughter, Heather, is chilling. The way Holling rallies to support his sister when she becomes stranded after running away from home is one of the book's most touching scenes. THERE are many strands in this story: the Vietnam War, air raid drills, missing soldiers, a classmate who is a Vietnamese refugee, a rescue, extreme humiliation, chalk-covered cream puffs, yellow tights with feathers in all the wrong places and a bully. In fact, so much happens I wondered whether all the seeds Schmidt planted could flower by the end. To his great credit, they do. Still, while "The Wednesday Wars" was one of my favorite books of the year, it wasn't written for me. Sometimes books that speak to adults miss the mark for their intended audience. To see if the novel would resonate as deeply with a child, I gave it to an avid but discriminating 10-year-old reader. His laughter, followed by repeated outbursts of "Listen to this!" answered my question. Best of all, he asked if I had a copy of "The Tempest" he could borrow. Tanya Lee Stone is the author of "A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
"*Starred Review* On Wednesday afternoons, while his Catholic and Jewish schoolmates attend religious instruction, Holling Hoodhood, the only Presbyterian in his seventh grade, is alone in the classroom with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, who Holling is convinced hates his guts. He feels more certain after Mrs. Baker assigns Shakespeare's plays for Holling to discuss during their shared afternoons. Each month in Holling's tumultuous seventh-grade year is a chapter in this quietly powerful coming-of-age novel set in suburban Long Island during the late '60s. The slow start may deter some readers, and Mrs. Baker is too good to be true: she arranges a meeting between Holling and the New York Yankees, brokers a deal to save a student's father's architectural firm, and, after revealing her past as an Olympic runner, coaches Holling to the varsity cross-country team. However, Schmidt, whose Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (2005) was named both a Printz and a Newbery Honor Book, makes the implausible believable and the everyday momentous. Seamlessly, he knits together the story's themes: the cultural uproar of the '60s, the internal uproar of early adolescence, and the timeless wisdom of Shakespeare's words. Holling's unwavering, distinctive voice offers a gentle, hopeful, moving story of a boy who, with the right help, learns to stretch beyond the limitations of his family, his violent times, and his fear, as he leaps into his future with his eyes and his heart wide open."--"Engberg, Gillian" Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
On the first day of the 1967-68 school year, Holling Hoodhood thinks he's made a mortal enemy of his new teacher when it turns out he's the only seventh-grader who does not leave early every Wednesday to attend Hebrew school or catechism. (Holling is Presbyterian, and though eminently likeable, he does have a knack for unintentionally making enemies.) Stern Mrs. Baker first gives him custodial duties, but after hilarious if far-fetched catastrophes involving chalk dust, rats and freshly baked cream puffs, she switches to making him read Shakespeare. He overcomes his initial horror, adopting the Bard's inventive cursing as his own to dress down schoolyard bullies. Indeed standing up for himself is the real battle Holling is waging, especially at home, where his architect father has the entire family under his thumb. Schmidt, whose Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy won both Printz and Newbery Honors, delivers another winner here, convincingly evoking 1960s Long Island, with Walter Cronkite's nightly updates about Vietnam as the soundtrack. The serious issues are leavened with ample humor, and the supporting cast-especially the wise and wonderful Mrs. Baker-is fully dimensional. Best of all is the hero, who shows himself to be more of a man than his authoritarian father. Unlike most Vietnam stories, this one ends happily, as Schmidt rewards the good guys with victories that, if not entirely true to the period, deeply satisfy. Ages 10-14. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-This entertaining and nuanced novel limns Holling Hoodhood's seventh-grade year in his Long Island community, beginning in the fall of 1967. His classmates, half of whom are Jewish, the other half Catholic, leave early on Wednesdays to attend religious training. As the sole Presbyterian, he finds himself stranded with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, whom he's sure has it in for him. She starts off creating mindless chores for him but then induces him to read Shakespeare-lots of Shakespeare. Chapters titled by month initially seem overlong, relating such diverse elements as two terrifying escaped rats, cream puffs from a local bakery, his dad being a cheapskate/cutthroat architect, and Holling's tentative and sweet relationship with classmate Meryl Lee. The scary Doug Swieteck, and his even more frightening brother, and the Vietnam War are recurring menaces. A subplot involves a classmate who, as a recent Vietnamese refugee, is learning English and suffers taunts and prejudice. Cross-country tryouts, rescuing his older runaway sister, and opening day at Yankee Stadium are highlights. There are laugh-out-loud moments that leaven the many poignant ones as Schmidt explores many important themes, not the least of which is what makes a person a hero. The tone may seem cloying at first and the plot occasionally goes over-the-top, but readers who stick with the story will be rewarded. They will appreciate Holling's gentle, caring ways and will be sad to have the book end.-Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Intermediate, Middle School) Entering seventh grade, Holling Hoodhood knows all about teachers. They're ""born behind their desks, fully grown, with a red pen in their hand and ready to grade."" And the worst of them hate your guts, which is precisely the way he believes Mrs. Baker feels about him. Every Wednesday afternoon, when the rest of his class leaves early to attend Hebrew school or catechism class, Holling, the lone Presbyterian, stays behind with Mrs. Baker. As Holling sees it, she uses the extra time for special torture, ranging from cleaning out rat cages to diagramming impossibly convoluted sentences to reading Shakespeare. That the two will grow to respect each other is a predictable trope, but the alliance nevertheless becomes convincing and winning. Insistently in the background is the Vietnam War: Mrs. Baker's husband is missing in action at Khesanh; the school's cook loses her husband in the conflict; the presence of a Vietnamese refugee in the class triggers hatred and bigotry. At home, Holling's sister supports the peace movement and women's rights; his father puts his architectural business above all; and his mother passively acquiesces to Mr. Hoodhood. Ultimately, Mrs. Baker steps out from behind her desk as a multilayered individual who helps Holling (often through their discussions of Shakespeare's plays) to dare to choose his own ending rather than follow the dictates of others. Schmidt rises above the novel's conventions to create memorable and believable characters. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
It's 1967, and on Wednesdays, every Jewish kid in Holling Hoodhood's class goes to Hebrew School, and every Catholic kid goes to Catechism. Holling is Presbyterian, which means that he and Mrs. Baker are alone together every Wednesday--and she hates it just as much as he does. What unfolds is a year of Wednesday Shakespeare study, which, says Mrs. Baker, "is never boring to the true soul." Holling is dubious, but trapped. Schmidt plaits world events into the drama being played out at Camillo Junior High School, as well as plenty of comedy, as Holling and Mrs. Baker work their way from open hostility to a sweetly realized friendship. Holling navigates the multitudinous snares set for seventh-graders--parental expectations, sisters, bullies, girls--with wry wit and the knowledge that the world will always be a step or two ahead of him. Schmidt has a way of getting to the emotional heart of every scene without overstatement, allowing the reader and Holling to understand the great truths swirling around them on their own terms. It's another virtuoso turn by the author of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (2005). (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
