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The Wednesday Wars
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The Wednesday Wars
Unavailable
The Wednesday Wars
Audiobook7 hours

The Wednesday Wars

Written by Gary D. Schmidt

Narrated by Joel Johnstone

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Holling Hoodhood is really in for it. He's just started seventh grade with Mrs. Baker, a teacher he knows is out to get him.
The year is 1967, and everyone has bigger things to worry about, especially Vietnam. Then there's the family business. As far as Holling's father is concerned, the Hoodhoods need to be on their best behavior: the success of Hoodhood and Associates depends on it. But how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? Rats, for one thing; cream puff, for another. Then there's Doug Swieteck's brother. That's just for starters.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 1, 2007
ISBN9780545047678
Unavailable
The Wednesday Wars
Author

Gary D. Schmidt

Gary D. Schmidt is the bestselling author of The Labors of Hercules Beal; Just Like That; National Book Award finalist Okay for Now; Pay Attention, Carter Jones; Orbiting Jupiter; the Newbery Honor and Printz Honor Book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy; and the Newbery Honor Book The Wednesday Wars. He is also contributor to and co-editor of the acclaimed short story collection A Little Bit Super, co-edited by Leah Henderson. He lives in rural Michigan.

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Reviews for The Wednesday Wars

Rating: 4.267707323529412 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

833 ratings108 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I'm currently reading this book.It is A.R. I Don't know challange level
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Little BookwormHolling Hoodhood can't win. He's the only kid in class who doesn't have to go to either Hebrew school or Catechism thus making him spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker who makes him read Shakespeare. This one fact leads to him performing in a play as a fairy, getting the girl, letting lose the class rats among other things all well learning some valuable lessons and suffering many death threats.I really enjoyed this book. The reader, Joel Johnstone, did an excellent job bringing Holling to life. I loved how Holling related the events in his life to the Shakespeare plays he was reading. I felt sorry for how certain people in his life treated him (his dad mostly) and how he could never seem to get a break. At first I was sure about Mrs. Baker but she proved to be the most reliable and honest adult in the book. I guess because it was set in 1967 it was a different me then but I was bothered by Holling's father. But Holling is a good kid and he tries very hard.I also loved Holling's interpretations of Shakespeare's plays and his attitudes about Romeo and Juliet, and Hero and Claudio among others were very funny. This is a nice little introduction to Shakespeare for kids and might get them interested in reading some of the plays plus there is some history on the Vietnam War.The Wednesday Wars is a 2008 Newbery Honor book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Holling Hoodhood thinks his new 7th grade teacher hates him, and he recounts all the little things she does that convinces him this is so. But he gradually realizes that Shakespeare isn't necessarily the horrible punishment he first thought, that bullies aren't always one-sided evil beings, that parents can be flawed but still good, and that first impressions of 7th grade teachers are not always completely accurate. All this within the background of the Vietnam War, the fate of MLK and Bobby Kennedy, and a sister who wants to be a flower child.Matilda meets A Christmas Story. I enjoyed this one immensely.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book skillfully combines the humorous experiences of a 7th grade boy in 1967 (dealing with bullies, accidentally ruining a batch of cream puffs, having to appear on stage in tights) with the weightier issues underlying the social fabric of the time (the Vietnam War, the Cold War, social unrest).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The adventures of the 7th grade protagonist in this book are too amazing to be believed, but fun to read! As a teacher, I, of course, thought the teacher character was particularly good. :)

    Lexile 990
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Holling Hoodhood is in seventh grade and is convinced that his teacher. Baker hates him because he has to stay his afternoons with her other unlike the other kids go to church. Making him read Shakespeare and other boring books then afterward making him write essays and tests. Not only that but he swears that she hired Doug Sweiteck's (a sneaky pranker) brother to kill him during recess. He was also forced to do the worst chores like cleaning the chalkboard erasers and cleaning the board. He knew she was out to get him. Later in the year he joins a play so he could get some creme puffs for free because he was being threatened by Meryl Leel and Danny Hupher. Sycorax and Caliban (pet rats) escaped and began hiding in the ceiling as the tiles began to get heavier and heavier. A few months later on Valentines Day Meryl Lee and Holling started dating and saw Romeo and Juliet. By the end of the year he tries out for the track team and gets in varsity because Sycorax and Caliban chased him with evil read eyes. The 8th graders on the varsity team were angry and spit in his face. There was a race and Danny Hupher got hurt so Holling ran it for him and beat the race. His sister Heather Hoodhood decided to go find herself and headed to California with a boy who was also trying to find himself. She later changes her mind and is stranded until her brother gets her because their dad refused to!People should read this book because it has a lot of humor and is interesting! The way Holling assumes that his teacher hates him because of all the stuff he has to do is funny. The way he decides to take on actions to help his family. To put other peoples needs before his (most of the time). The way he has courage to perform in yellow tights even though he's nervous that someone from school will see him. The most touching part though is when he got his sister instead of abandoning her like his father and mother. He sold a prize item for money just to make sure his sister is alright! Defiantly recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a feel-good story set in a challenging time in American history: the Vietnam War, the assassinations of MLK and Bobby Kennedy, and the ever present threat of a nuclear attack. But in between Walter Cronkite's grim reports, Hollis Hoodhood finds meaning and happiness during his Wednesday afternoons learning Shakespeare with his English teacher Mrs. Baker.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book. Please keep in mind this book is meant for middle schoolers but I thought it was hilarious and heartfelt. A definite read for all ages.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a great book! It was charming and funny but did touch upon some of the reality of life during the Vietnam war. Holling Hoodhood is a Presbyterian. On Wednesday half the 7th grade class goes off to Catholic Catechism while the other half attends Jewish religion class. Which leaves Holling to spend each Wednesday afternoon with Mrs Baker. He is convinced she hates him and tells us the story of the many mishaps that sprung up from this hate.
    Fun and amusing!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Laugh out loud funny, poignant , and a look back to my younger days.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is one of my new all time favorite books. Holling Hoodhood tells about his year in seventh grade in 1967-68. Somehow, as I read, I kept hearing the narrator of the film "A Christmas Story" reading the book in my mind. I think it's because I had the impression that the story was being told by an adult looking back on this time, rather than the 7th grader telling the story fresh out of the grade. That is never specified. Maybe the language made me feel that way.The main focus is on his Wednesday afternoons, when half of his class is excused from school to go to Catholic School, and the other half is excused to go to Synagogue, but Holling, a lone Presbyterian, has to stay with his teacher, Mrs. Baker. "Mrs. Baker hated me," it says on page 2. he elaborates greatly on why and just how much Mrs. Baker hates him.But as the book progresses, there is much, much more to Mrs. Baker that initially meets the eye. The book is filled with humor, poignant sweetness, sadness, the meaning of Shakespeare, and a little 7th grade romance as seen from the boy's perspective.It's all in the writing.(Side note, don't like either book cover. The hardcover edition made the book look dry and dull, which is isn't. The paperback cover makes it look like a frivolous humor book for 4th grade boys, which it is also definitely not.)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A very cute book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I loved the fact that the author was able to capture the sensibility of life in the late '60s. Holling finds his views of his world, of who he is, and of the adults around him all changing throughout his school year. I loved that his initial view of what was happening between he and Ms. Baker was a war and that slowly over time, he realizes that it is anything but. Interesting commentary on family life and loyalties.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    If an historical novel needs to be set in a time before the author was born, then THE WEDNESDAY WARS does not qualify. But a case might be made that when the setting is a time well before the birth of the intended audience for the book, it might be called historical. In this case, Gary D. Schmidt has set his book in the 1967-68 school year. It is a sobering thought for me that even the parents of many of today's middle schoolers were no more than toddlers at the time Schmidt is writing about (when I was in college).

    Holling Hoodhood, the protagonist, is a seventh-grader at Camillo Jr. High in a town on Long Island. Because he's the only Presbyterian in his class of Jews and Catholics, and his church doesn't do Christian education during "release time," he and his homeroom teacher, Mrs. Baker, are forced to spend Wednesday afternoons together. Neither of them is happy about this at first, and Holling claps a lot of erasers. Then, Mrs. Baker decides to introduce Holling to Shakespeare. Their relationship grows to include coaching in running as well as help with Holling's budding romance with Meryl Lee Kowalski. Many funny and poignant vignettes of junior-high life keep the book moving.

    All this goes on against the backdrop of these tumultuous years -- Walter Cronkite on the news every night with fresh casualty reports from Vietnam; politics, assassinations, flower children, hometown soldiers missing and killed. This book would give young readers a good idea of what America was like then. It also contains that which is timeless -- the processes of growing up and of learning, and how those processes can be helped along by a great teacher. As someone who had some great teachers myself, I really appreciated this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I got his book as a gift from my cousin Becky, and it was excellent. It's the kind of book that treads very lightly, dealing with a whole host of touching, poignant things, without you ever realizing it. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book for guys and girls. Very likeable narrator, 7th grade boy Holling Hoodhood. Touches on growing up, friendship, motivation and being your own person. Set in the 1960s during the course of a school year.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the kind of book one might select to use as a whole-class novel to read together in a 6th or 7th grade class. As I was reading it (and chuckling at its humorous tone) I was imagining sharing it with a class and having them research aspects of the Vietnam War era alluded to in the book, such as Bobby Kennedy, flower children, bomb drills, etc. It was alternately light and deep, and it was very enjoyable!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Wednesday Wars is set in Long Island in 1967. Holling Hoodhood narrates the tales of his seventh grade years, with each chapter covering a different month of school. The crux of the story includes the Wednesday afternoons he spends alone with his homeroom teacher, Mrs. Baker. Holling is convinced Mrs. Baker hates him. Holling is the only Presbyterian boy in his class; the rest of the class is split evenly between Catholics and Jews. All of the other students leave school early on Wednesdays to attend church. Mrs. Baker must find activities to occupy Holling's time. The first few weeks, Holling does cleaning projects, but soon Mrs. Baker has the idea for them to start reading Shakespeare together.This book manages to include an incredible amount of Shakespeare, and Schmidt does an excellent job of making Shakespeare relevant, even to the readers who have not yet read his plays. Holling's relationship with his parents and sister is tumultuous at times, but there is a sense of timelessness to their problems modern readers will surely relate to. Schmidt also deftly uses the 1967 setting to share the political and sports history of the time. The book is immensely relatable, yet it includes vast amounts of historical and literary knowledge as well.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is set in 1967 Long Island, narrated by a seventh grade boy, the awesomely named Holling Hoodhood. As the book starts, Holling is convinced that his seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates his guts. While the other students in his class go to Catholic or Jewish religious education classes, Holling, a Presbyterian, is forced to stay alone with Mrs. Baker. Eventually they start reading Shakespeare together. Sounds like a fairly simple story, right? Think again. In the hands of Schmidt, what could be a basic, boring coming of age story is a masterpiece. I laughed out loud and I sobbed out loud, sometimes within the space of the same page. I really cannot recommend this book enough. Highly recommended for kids and adults! Five stars.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wonderful characters, great story. Lots of 1967 history and 60's parents to match.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Charming! Another contemporary book set long enough ago that communications technology doesn't interfere with the children's world. (The other I'm thinking about is When You Reach Me).
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wonderful coming-of-age book about Junior High School student Hollis Hoodhood. Holling feels that his English teacher hates him because she makes him stay after school to read Shakespeare and diagram complex sentences. Loved this story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was humorous. I definitely enjoyed reading it!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I liked this book very much; enter it under the genre of "boys who actually like literature and reading." I think this will appeal mainly to students who already like literature, but would be worth trying for. It may even inspire a few to try Shakespeare. I particularly liked how events such as the assassination of MArtin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy are dealt with, as well as the Vietnam War. The plot centers on Holling Hoodhood and the Wednesday afternoons he must spend with Mrs. Baker. Both are not keen on this arrangement but gradually they develope a close relationship and Mrs. Baker acts as a mentor and substitute parent for his uninterested father. Interspersed are some very funny passages, as well as some ones to make you tear up. Nicely done!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I don't feel a need to provide a summary because at this point there are 60 reviews of the book already! I don't love it as much as everyone else seems to, mostly because I'm not convinced that a grade seven boy could actually relate to Holling Hoodhood. I think you definitely have to be a decent reader to appreciate some of the humour in the book, and I'd never recommend it to a reluctant reader.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Holling Hoodhood (what a great name!) is a seventh grader in 1967-68. The only Presbyterian in a class of Catholic and Jewish students, he has to spend every Wednesday afternoon alone with his teacher Mrs. Baker while his classmates go to religious instruction. The first two sentences of the book leave no question about Holling's relationship with Mrs. Baker:"Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillo Junior High, there was one kid that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun. Me." Those two sentences tell us a lot about Holling in general. He lives his life in superlatives. He goes from being the class hero to the class goat and back again in a matter of pages. Like many seventh graders, the events of his own life take on extreme importance, while the events of history occupy the background. As we go from September to May with Holling, his relationship with Mrs. Baker improves, he becomes a hero of stage and track, and he gets the girl. Schmidt tells a compelling story, but his real talent is in writing about relationships. Through the smallest details, we see Holling's relationships develop with Mrs. Baker, with his sister, and with his dad. But even more interesting is the way in which Schmidt layers the events of 1967-68 in the background of Holling's story. Mrs. Baker's husband is away at war, as are many other family members and friends of the staff Camillo Junior High. Holling's sister embraces the peace movement, and even Holling's dad pauses when assassinations rock the country. Schmidt shows us these events through the eyes of a seventh grader, capturing the essence of this period in history. This book is funny and sad and rings true with each word. I finished it in a marathon reading session after my family was asleep last Sunday night. With tears rolling down my face, I felt lucky to have seen the world through the eyes of Holling Hoodhood, if only for a year.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Have you ever read a book wherein you cried from one sentence, and then laughed at the next?Have you ever read a book wherein you simply did not want it to end?Have you ever read a book wherein the characters were so beautifully portrayed that you wanted them as real-life friends?Have you ever read a book where the writing was magical, the story line so convincingly incredible that you knew it was destined to be one of your top all-time favorites ... ever?Gary Schmidt has written such a book!Praise should not be given lightly, rendering the message meaningless. Thus, rarely do I gush or stand on a soap box telling all to read a specific book, but this is an exception.RUSH to get it, but then slowly read it, savoring every word, every nuance, every turn of the phrase and every heartwarming paragraph.Welcome to 1967 where Holling Hoodhood is entering Mrs. Baker's seventh grade class at Camillo Junior High in Long Island, NY. The only Presbyterian in Wednesday class, he must stay behind with Mrs. Baker while all others either attend catechism or Hebrew school.What unfolds is quite surprising to Holling as originally he was convinced Mrs. Baker hated him. He soon discovers a magical, wonderful mentor who instills a love of Shakespeare. Soon Holling is quoting verbatim and applying the emotions set forth by Shakespeare to his own real life, coming- of-age situations.The cast of characters includes some bullies, some meanies, and many stellar remarkable people. Using Viet Nam as a backdrop, Schmidt allows us to see the impact on Holling's family, and his teachers, as both Mrs. Baker and Mrs. Bigio, the school cook, have husbands who are fighting in the Viet Nam jungle.Without over politicizing, Schmidt makes a statement as we watch L.B. Johnson escalate the war while families watch the six o'clock news with Walter Cronkite.Through Holling's eyes, we observe the character of a classmate, Mai Thi, A Viet Nam refugee, who becomes a scapegoat and victim of stereotyping.As Holling not only learns Shakespeare, he garners valuable experiences, and as the year progresses, he learns to stand up for himself -- and in the process gains enough confidence to stand up for others.Thanks to Alaskabookworm (Linda) and Stasia for recommending this 2008 Newbery Honor book. The only disappointment I have is that it was an honor book when truly, it should have received the medal!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I started reading this book thinking it was just a regular teen, comedic book and boy was I wrong. I loved it! So many topics are deftly woven into this coming of age type story of a 7th-grade boy reading Shakespeare with his teacher, running, camping, and living through the vietnam war. Wonderful writing and narrator. I can't say enough about this one. It's great -- read it!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A heartwarming coming-of-age story set in the 1960's with a (rather typical to this genre) plucky, under-dog protagonist who faces his life with ironic aplomb.