1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Schmidt, Gary D. 2007. THE WEDNESDAY WARS. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN 0618724834
2. SUMMARY
Holling Hoodhood, a junior high student during the torrential year of 1967. He is convinced one of his teachers hates him and his sister is sucked into the Flower Child movement going on in the nation. His parents are uninvolved in his life it seems and his classmates have him pegged all wrong.
Through the events in his 7th grade year of school, Holling develops a passion for Shakespeare, a friendship with the teacher that loathes him and develops his own identity in a pivotal decade in American history.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Gary Schmidt uses the events of the late 1960’s to aide his story of Hollis Hollingsworth. The Vietnam War is the leading story in newspapers and TV along with the controversial political views of the time. With the additions of two political leader’s assignations the reader becomes quite informed of the feeling of that era in history.
Holling Hoodhood is an average junior high student trying to fit in. He does his best to avoid the school bully, has a crush on a classmate, and attempts to deal with the stressful events occurring around him and at home. The school kids in the book are depicted authentically to the times of which they are portrayed, as well as an all female teaching staff adds to the realism of the times.
Factual events of the time become dulled in as the reader learns of Hollings sister’s dislike of the Vietnam War and the conflicting views of his mother and father adds tension to Hollings home life.
The story takes place physically in a community section of Long Island, New York. Holling attends junior high, which he finds more traumatic then the world events he is living there. Being the only Presbyterian, Holling must stay after school on Wednesdays while his Catholic and Jewish classmates go off for their religious training. Stuck, he feels, with Mrs. Baker. He believes she is out to get him and make his life miserable. Holling is quoted in the first line of the book, "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.” First she has him doing chores like pounding erasers and cleaning animal cages. When it appears he is enjoying his work. Mrs. Barker devises a new torture method, studying Shakespeare.
Mrs. Baker’s personal association with Vietnam War, her husband oversees fighting, brings the event in to the classroom for the students to witness first hand.
As Booklist points out in a review, “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.” Holling may feel as if he is fighting a war with her, when actuality, she has stepped in as the parental figure he needs desperately, yet in actuality his own parents are much too concerned with other matters (hippie sister, work) to the job of parenting.
The character, Mai Thi, lends another twist as a new student that has been rescued from Vietnam by the Catholic Relief Agency and brings part of the history of Vietnam into the classroom. The irony of a Vietnam student being taught by a teacher whose husband is fighting against the Vietnamese makes the story one that tugs at the heart and makes the reader develop an understanding for both sides of the issue.
Although the story centers on major historic events, they do not over play the story. Simply, the story is about living life and the events that go on around you as it happens. A quote from the book reminds the reader of current events, both past and present.
“And it really doesn't matter if we're under our desks with our hands over our heads or not, does it? No, said Mrs. Baker. It doesn't really matter. So, why are we practicing?
She thought for a minute. Because it gives comfort, she said. People like to think that if they're prepared then nothing bad can really happen. And perhaps we practice because we feel as if there's nothing else we can do because sometimes it feels as if life is governed by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”
She thought for a minute. Because it gives comfort, she said. People like to think that if they're prepared then nothing bad can really happen. And perhaps we practice because we feel as if there's nothing else we can do because sometimes it feels as if life is governed by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”
This novel is entertaining, funny, involving and causes the reader to reflect on their own lifetime world events and the trials of junior high.
4. AWARDS/REVIEWS
Cybil Award, 2007 Finalist Young Adult Fiction United States
International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Honor List, 2010 Honor List Writer Canada
John Newbery Medal, 2008 Honor Book United States
Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature, 2008 Winner California United States
Mitten Award, 2007 Honor Book Michigan United States
National Parenting Publications Award, 2007 Gold Book Ages 12 & Up United States
Society of Midland Authors Book Award, 2008 Winner Children's Fiction United States
Thumbs Up! Award, 2008 Nominee Michigan
Amazon Editors' Picks: Top 10 Books, 2007 ; United States
Best Books for Young People, 2007 ; Washington Post; United States
Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth, 2007 ; American Library Association; United States
Booklist Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth, 2008 ; Booklist; United States
Capitol Choices, 2008 ; The Capitol Choices Committee; United States
Children's Book Sense Picks , Summer 2007 ; American Booksellers Association; US
Kirkus Best Young Adult Books, 2007 ; Kirkus; United States
Notable Children's Books in the English Language Arts, 2008 ; NCTE Children'sLiterature Assembly; United States
Notable Children's Books, 2008 ; ALSC American Library Association; United States
Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books, 2007 ; Cahners; United States
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 2008 ; American Library Association; United StatesPUBLISHERS WEEKLY STARRED review exert: Newbery Honor "Schmidt, whose "Lizie Bright" and "The Buckminster Boy" won both Printz and Newbery Honors, delivers another winner...deeply satisfying."
BOOKLIST STARRED review exert: "Schmidt...makes the implausible believable and the everyday momentous...a gentle, hopeful, moving story."
HORN BOOK STARRED review exert: "Schmidt rises above the novel's conventions to create memorable and believable characters."
5. CONNECTIONS
Here are some of Shakespeare's plays and quotes that were mention in the book.
"Pied Ninnies" -The Tempest
"Toads, beetles, bats, light on you!" -The Tempest
"A southwest blow on ye and blister you all o're!" -The Tempest
"Tis almost morning, I would have thee gone." -Romeo and Juliet
"Beware the ides of March." -Julius Ceaser
"Pied Ninnies" -The Tempest
"Toads, beetles, bats, light on you!" -The Tempest
"A southwest blow on ye and blister you all o're!" -The Tempest
"Tis almost morning, I would have thee gone." -Romeo and Juliet
"Beware the ides of March." -Julius Ceaser
Author’s website: http://www.hmhbooks.com/schmidt/
Scholastic curriculum to accompany the book: http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/teachers/connections/pdf/WednesdayWars.pdf
Learn more about the 1960’s by visiting the below website and visiting the links throughout. http://www.squidoo.com/sixtiesart . After viewing, Readers Theater in authentic 1960’s garb would make for some fun reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment