Wow. I just finished reading The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. It definitely makes my top ten list of all time. It took me a few pages to get into, but once there, it just kept getting better and better. I laughed out loud, I cried, I laughed again and cried again.
I don’t know if children would enjoy this book as much as adults, but the content is appropriate for all ages.
The story is about a boy named Holling Hoodhood. He is a seventh grader in a small town during the late 1960s. On Wednesday afternoons, Holling is the only student left in class with Mrs. Baker, his homeroom teacher. At first Holling is sure that Mrs. Baker is out to get him, especially when she makes him read Shakespeare. Over the course of the school year, Holling comes to understand a lot of things about life and what Shakespeare was trying to teach about it through his famous plays. Fabulous book. I wish I had 50+ copies of it to give to all the people I love most and say, Read! Read!
Go find yourself a copy.
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Overall Rating: 
Parent’s guide:
- Sex: none
- Violence: some bullying at school, Holling refers to murders and stabbings that happen in some of Shakespeare’s works
- Language: some name calling of other students
- Adult Themes: Some references to fighting and deaths in Vietnam, racial prejudice against a Vietnamese refugee, eighth graders smoking
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