The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

Image retrieved from www.amazon.com

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Schmidt, Gary D. The Wednesday Wars. New York, Houghton Mifflin Company: 2007. ISBN: 9780618724833

2. PLOT SUMMARY

Holling Hoodhood is the one kid “that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun” and he is doomed to spend every Wednesday afternoon with her. Holling is a seventh grader at Camillo Junior High during a time when the Vietnam War and the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy hangs heavy on America. Since everyone else in his class is either Jewish or Catholic and leaves for religion classes on Wednesday afternoons, Holling is forced to spend every Wednesday afternoon alone with Mrs. Baker. What he sees as her strategy to bore him to death by making him read Shakespeare doesn’t work at all because he finds Shakespeare to be surprisingly good. Holling is on a journey to become who he’s supposed to be. Even though he doesn’t yet know who he’s supposed to be, he knows it doesn’t match what his father wants him to be - an architect who will take over the family business one day. During the 1967-68 school year, Holling, an endearing and relatable character, turns from an anxious young boy into a wiser, more confident young man.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Holling Hoodhood tells his own story of adventure and defeat. His voice is that of a typical seventh grader living in 1967, but is also relatable to any seventh grader now or in recent history. In the beginning of the book, Hoodhood is a timid character who is convinced that his teacher, Mrs. Baker, Hates him and is out to get him. His sister urges him to “become who you’re supposed to be: Holling Hoodhood” instead of “the Son Who Is Going to Inherit Hoodhood and Associates.” However, through a series of events, the reader watches him become who he’s supposed to be. He becomes an actor, an athlete, an expert on Shakespeare, and a hero - allowing his defeat in each experience to help him grow (just like he learned from the character Caliban in Shakespeare's The Tempest).

Besides Holling Hoodhood, each character in the book reminds the reader of someone they known - the taunting older sibling, the passive mother, the overbearing father, the bully, the strict teacher who you think has it out for you, the dictatorial principal, and the list goes on. Schmidt makes each character unique, yet gives them characteristics that causes the reader to think of who that person might be in his or her own life.

History is presented accurately and appropriately from the voice of a seventh grader. While all the adults have bigger things to worry about - the Vietnam War and deaths of two prominent American figures - Holling Hoodhood is just trying to survive Mrs. Baker’s English class. He is aware of what is happening around him, (and the reader gets a good idea of what is happening from Heather, Holling’s older sister) but as a seventh grader it is hard to think beyond yourself and your own circumstances. Schmidt expertly intertwines historical events - presenting them accurately and in the terms of a seventh grader - into a heart-wrenching and lovable story.

The Wednesday Wars takes place in suburban Long Island, New York during the 1967-68 school year. Mrs. Baker’s English classroom on Wednesday afternoons is the main setting for the story, along with “The Perfect House.” The book takes place during the Vietnam War, and Mrs. Baker’s husband is fighting in the war. Mrs. Baker gives the audience a picture of what someone with a loved one fighting abroad looks like to a seventh grader. Holling can tell she is worried from her body language and the way she acts. Mai Thai, Holling’s friend and classmate who was brought here from Vietnam, also gives the reader a picture of racism during this time.

Themes in The Wednesday Wars include friendship, love, and transformation, but the main theme is be who you’re supposed to be. This theme is introduced early in the book through a conversation Holling has with his sister in which she tells him to be Holling Hoodhood instead of who his father wants him to be. We see it again when Holling discusses the character of Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. He says Shylock is “Someone who wants to become who he’s supposed to be,” but he couldn’t because they wouldn’t let him. “He was trapped.” Holling is no different than Shylock. He’s trapped by who his father wants him to be. We see this theme again when Heather runs away to “find herself,” and again at the end of the book when Holling finally stands up to his father and his father asks who he is. He replies, “I don’t know yet … I’ll let you know.” He’s sure to become who he’s supposed to be.

The Wednesday Wars follows Holling Hoodhood through an entire school year. Schmidt divided the book into chapters according to the months of the school year, beginning with September. This style draws the audience into the rhythm of the school year. It takes the reader from all the newness and unknown of September, through the winter months and challenges of going to school in the cold, into the final days of Spring and Summer when the sun seems to finally come out again - literally and figuratively. By the time June comes around, everything seems so much more clear to Holling and he has come of age.

Schmidt catches the flavor of the times by including duck drills - regular drills in which students duck under their desks to protect them from atomic bomb attacks. Holling’s father listens to Walter Cronkite report the news - a journalist who has been called “the most trusted man in America” during that time. Schmidt seems to know his history so well that he effortlessly transports his readers to the 1960s. Every detail of this novel brings those days and time to life. This is a fun read for anyone, but for students in Holling’s same stage of life, its an encouragement to be who you’re supposed to be - and read some Shakespeare along the way.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

2008 Newbery Medal Honor Book

From BOOKLIST - “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.”

From KIRKUS REVIEWS - “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).”

5. CONNECTIONS

Gather other books written by Gary d. Schmidt to read such as:

• Okay For Now. (A companion to The Wednesday Wars). ISBN 0544022807

• Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. ISBN 0544022793
• Trouble. ISBN 0547331339

Watch a Duck and Cover video such as this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqXu-5jw60 and discuss the threat of a bomb attack.

Watch and read Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and watch Bobby Kennedy’s campaign speech. Discuss the importance of these two figures in history and to Holling Hoodhood’s character.

Read about William Shakespeare’s works and discuss the characteristics of a comedy and a tragedy.