The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

I decided I'm going to call this book historical fiction since it was written about the time period when I was a toddler, and WAY before many of my colleagues were born, not to mention my students who were born in the late 1990s. What I think I liked best about this book was that it was a window into that era. Some were only mentioned in passing, but it made me remember things from my childhood that I had since forgotten. It was an entertaining read.

Holling Hoodhood is a 7th grader who lives in the Perfect House. On Wednesday afternoons at the school he attends, students are released to their churches for religious training (Catechism or Hebrew students), Holling stays behind with his teacher, Mrs. Baker. She "punishes" him by making him read Shakespeare and other things. The misadventures he and his buddies get into are often humorous.

Genre: historical fiction

Topics: 1967-1968, Vietnam War, school, rats, baseball, Yankees, cross country, camping, teachers, family, architecture, self-awareness, 7th grade, Jews, Protestants, Catholics, choir, first crush, nuclear bomb drills, family business, cream puffs, school lunch, Shakespeare, acting, Beatles

Mrs. Beckwith's Rating: 4 of 5

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