Skip to main content

The Wednesday Wars

I was a little hesitant to pick up The Wednesday Wars   so soon after falling in love with Okay for Now (my review).  I don't know why. Schmidt is one of those writers that you can instinctively trust to deliver a good book. While both books share characters they are not really connected and it would be unjust to compare them to one another so I will try not to. Holland and Doug are very different boys with very different stories. They share the same time period, the same school (until Doug moves), and . Their voices are very different though, shaped by their different and each finds an interest unusual for boys their age. experiences and ways of life. Schmidt is to be commended for writing two such distinct, very real, sympathetic characters.
Hardcover copy on left, paperback on right.
Every Wednesday afternoon the 7th graders of Mrs. Baker's homeroom go their separate ways for the last period of the day. Half to the temple for Hebrew lessons, half to Saint Adelbert's for Catechism lessons. Not Holland though because he happens to be Presbyterian. So he is stuck alone with Mrs. Baker, who he is convinced hates his guts and is out to get him. After weeks of making him clean everything in sight Mrs. Baker comes up with a new device of torture: Shakespeare. And Holland can't complain because his father insists the fate of the family business rests on keeping Mrs. Baker happy with him. But it turns out Shakespeare, and Mrs. Baker, might not be so bad after all.

Writing a book about Shakespeare aimed for middle schoolers is a supreme act of bravery. It's not like Shakespeare is merely mentioned, there are quotes and descriptions. Over the course of the year Holland reads: The  Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet. He doesn't just read them though, he internalizes them and connects them to his life. He quotes them. He performs in a production of The Tempest. The Shakespeare here is not a side note, it is integral to the whole. It is incorporated in a way that never takes over Holland's story though, it is just a part of it. It never becomes didactic.

On top of the Shakespeare you have the time period the book is set in, 1967-1968. The year in which Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated, things in Vietnam reached a new level of Hell and President Johnson announced he would not be running for a second term. All of this is included but through the eyes of a seventh grader. Holland filters it in relation to how it affects him, which brings the history to life in a very real way.

While this is a story about Shakespeare and the tumultuous time period both of those are just aspects of the story of Holland. Holland is a well fed, well taken care of, thriving 12 year old. His life is far from perfect but it is also far from awful. He is an average kid. He has the sort of voice that reflects this. He is funny, a little over dramatic at times, and egocentric. Anyone who has ever been 12 can relate. I liked how over the course of the book Holland's scope of the world expanded from himself to see things from a larger perspective. Mrs. Baker and the Shakespeare help with this, as does his older sister. This is not a "coming of age" story, but a story about the typical growth and change that occurs at certain points in the human experience. Holland is one of those kids you can't help but like.

Then there is the writing. Schmidt has a real way with words. I love the imagery he uses and the way he evokes emotion. After an incident in which Holland loses faith in a hero of his he has this to say:
"When gods die, they die hard. It's not like they fade away, or grow old, or fall asleep. They die in fire and pain, and when they come out of you, they leave your guts burned. It hurts more than anything you can talk about. And maybe worst of all is, you're not sure if there will ever be another god to their fill their place. Or if you'd ever want another god to fill their place. You don't want fire to go out inside you twice."
He comes back to this thought several times in the chapter in ways that made me cry. The book is full of vivid phrases and imagery like this that fully engage the senses in experiencing the story.

The Wednesday Wars was a 2008 Newbery Honor book and well deserved the recognition. Now I need to read Schmidt's book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, which won not only a Newbery Honor, but a Printz Honor as well.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Serafina and the Black Cloak

Serafina and the Black Cloak  by Robert Beatty is a thrilling tale of mystery and adventure set at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC in 1899. Having lived in Asheville and visited the house several times, there was no way I was going to pass up a chance to read this. (Also it's MG fantasy, always a bonus for me.) Serafina lives in secret in the basement of the Vanderbilt's spacious vacation home. She has lived there most of her life. Her father worked on the house as it was being built and is the mechanic who runs the massive generator and keeps the electricity going. Serafina is the chief rat catcher, slipping through the halls of her massive home secretly and quietly. She is light on her feet, sees well in the dark, and is quick enough to catch the vermin and keep them out. Serafina knows she if different and strange. Her father insists she stay hidden. But all that changes when one night Serafina witnesses a horrible crime. A little girl, a guest in the house, is fleein

Shorter Musings MG Fantasy

Here are some shorter musings on recent MG fantasy reads. Anya and the Dragon   by Sofiya Pasternack This book is fun. It is a book full of adventure, an obvious bad guy, some more complicated morally gray area characters, and a strong, brave heroine. It is also a book about friendships, community, and fighting for what is right. All things that usually work for me really well. While I enjoyed this, I did feel it was a little overlong and there were certain plot points at the end I didn't love. However, there were things I thought were done really well, such as Anya's Jewish faith and the idea that power needs to be challenged. In the end it was a middle of the road read for me, but it is one I will certainly be recommending to dragon and fantasy adventure lovers I know! R is for Rebel   by J. Anderson Coats This is tough because I usually really like Coats's books. I had such a hard time with this one though on so many levels. It's difficult to get into because t

Favorite Kissing Scenes

When thinking of a favorite things post I could do for February I decided it would have to be kissing. I've already done couples and I was feeling in the mood to do something fluffy and Valentine's related. So kisses it is. I read more MG than YA, and the YA I read tends to not focus on romance so this was actually harder than I expected it to be though a few jumped into my head right away. (And one of my choices does actually come from a MG book. One is adult. Gasp!) The actual scene from the book is quoted followed by my thoughts. The king lifted a hand to her cheek and kissed her. It was not a kiss between strangers, not even a kiss between a bride and a groom. It was a kiss between a man and his wife, and when it was over, the king closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the hollow of the queen's shoulder, like a man seeking respite, like a man reaching home at the end of the day . - The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner Turner doesn't write the

Shadowshaper

Shadowshaper  by Daniel José Older is everywhere. Best of lists. Award buzz. Blogs everywhere. It's one of those books everyone is reading and talking about. I had it on my TBR but decided I definitely needed to read it before the year was out just so I could weigh in on one of the most talked about books of 2015 if asked. It is deserving of every good thing said about it. Every. One. Sierra was looking forward to a relaxing summer break. Her plans involved hanging out with her friends and painting. They did not involve being chased by zombie like creatures and threatened by a magical power connected to her family's heritage she has never heard of. When murals begin fading all over her Brooklyn neighborhood, Sierra is perplexed. When her grandfather, who had a stroke, begins to apologize and starts repeating strange phases and insisting Sierra get the help of a boy she barely knows to help her finish her mural, Sierra is concerned but mostly about her grandfather. Then at a

The Field Guide to the North American Teeanager

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe is a book I picked up on a whim at the bookstore when it first came out. I liked the cover. I thought it had an engaging premise. I went into it with a healthy does of trepidation because the execution could have gone so terribly wrong. Fortunately, Philippe is an excellent character writer, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent reading about Norris's adventures in Texas and high school. High school junior Norris Kaplan's life is ruined by his mother when she takes a job that requires them to leave the only home he has ever known in Montreal, Quebec. Moving is always hard, but Norris knows for him it will be harder than it's ever been for anyone else. Norris is moving to Texas. He will be a Canadian living in Texas. Not just a Canadian. A French Canadian who speaks fluent French. And not just your average run-of-the-mill French Canadian. A black son of Haitian immigrant parents French Canadian. If Norris has