BIBLIOGRAPHY
Schmidt, Gary D. 2007. The Wednesday Wars. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN 9780618724833
SUMMARY
Seventh grader Holling Hoodhood is convinced his teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates him. On Wednesdays all of the children in his class either go to Hebrew school or Catechism class, but Holling, being the only Presbyterian in his class, has no such obligation. He and Mrs. Baker spend Wednesday afternoons together reading Shakespeare and completing odd chores. Through reading Shakespeare, Holling gains a unique understanding of the philosophy of the world, the Vietnam War and everyone affected by it. He gains several new friends, one of them being Mrs. Baker, that help him gain new perspectives on world events and his family life. Over the course of the novel, Holling begins to ponder his own place in life. He is to be his father’s successor and he does things to please his father. His sister rebels and at first, Holling cannot understand why she fights against the mold their father has set for the family. By the end of the novel, Holling decides that his father’s mold is not for him either. He does not know if he wants to be his father’s successor yet, but he does know that fulfilling that role is optional not obligation. What he does with his life, what he believes in, and what he stands for are his choices to make. He will let no one tell him what or how to think. The Wednesday Wars is a book about growing older and attempting to find one’s true self.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Gary D. Schmidt begins The Wednesday Wars with a declaration of war: Mrs. Baker hates Holling Hoodhood. Readers cannot be sure if Holling is exaggerating or not, but Schmidt, cleverly choosing to tell the story in first person, puts the reader inside the head of Holling and we experience Mrs. Baker’s behavior through his eyes and follow his thought processes. Mrs. Baker rolls her eyes at Holling and uses a different tone with him than she does with other students. Her eyes seem to rest on him as if she is keeping her eye on an enemy. His family thinks he is being ridiculous, but from all Holling and we the reader can tell, Holling is perfectly rational. Mrs. Baker has declared him the enemy, and Holling’s personal Vietnam War happens parallel to the actual Vietnam War.
Schmidt uses a clever tone which easily mimics the thought and speech patterns of a pre-teenage boy in sometimes amusing and conflicting situations. The humorous situations, such as the release and escape of Mrs. Baker’s pet rats into the ventilation shafts and Holling being forced to wear tights in a community theater production, are tempered with sensitive issues indicative of the time period, such as Mai Thi, a Vietnamese exchange student encountering prejudice from adults as well as her classmates, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and a rebellious sister who is accused of being a “hippie”. At times, readers will not be able to help but laugh out loud, and at other times they may feel somber as Mrs. Baker’s husband, who is a soldier, is declared Missing In Action, and as Mrs. Bigio, who works in the cafeteria, is told her husband was killed in action.
When Mrs. Baker decides to use her individual time with Holling having him read works by Shakespeare and then later quizzing him on them and discussing them with him, Holling thinks of it as a punishment. However, Holling begins equating his life and what is going on around him to Shakespeare. People he knows become characters in the plays as he reads them. His budding relationship to Meryl Lee, a girl whose father owns an architecture firm that rivals his fathers, is likened to the tumultuous and tragic relationship of Romeo and Juliet. However, Holling learns from the shortcomings and even the cleverness of characters and he gains new outlooks on situations. Such as, at first he believes that had Romeo and Juliet never tried to move beyond the rivalry between their families and stayed apart, and safe, they both would have lived; however, what would they have lived for? At the beginning of the story, Holling wants nothing more than to please his father; after all, he is to inherit the family business. Making friends and dating Meryl Lee is not something his father truly approves of, especially when one of his father’s ideas for a blueprint is leaked through Holling’s association with Meryl Lee. Holling is quick to assume that he would be safer by ending things with Meryl Lee, but he truly cares for her, and after reevaluating his situation and that of Romeo’s, he realizes not taking a chance and seeing where a relationship with Meryl Lee could go would not further, enhance, nor enrich his life experiences. Even if it were to all explode in his face, it is better to try and learn from it.
Holling’s home life, which is thought to be perfect, his home being described as “The Perfect House”, is not so perfect. Holling is frequently ignored by the members of his family. His father will not listen to Holling’s concerns, always associating Holling’s social problems with what could be good or bad for future business ventures, his mother is passive and his sister treats him as an annoyance. Episodes at home always have the same familiar pattern. Holling comes home with an issue; his father asks after the last name of the person in question, attaches it to a well-known family business in town and insists Holling put his own opinions and feelings aside and accommodate the person who is wronging him. The pattern begins to unravel as Holling’s sister speaks out against her father’s political and social beliefs. Holling, at first, does not understand why she chooses to anger their father instead of complying with him. His sister wants to go away to college and ends up running away from home. Holling does not realize how much he cares for his sister until she is no longer there. When she calls wanting to come home but has no money to do so, it is Holling who comes to her rescue. Throughout the novel, Holling’s sister is referred to as simply that: sister. When Holling comes to understand her opposition and how important it is to be your own person instead of just what people expect of you, he begins to refer to her by name: Heather.
Holling and Mrs. Baker form a friendship with Mrs. Baker often acting in place of his parents. It is Mrs. Baker that brings Holling to the hospital when he is injured, it is Mrs. Baker who takes him to a baseball game when Holling’s father, once again, forgets a promise, and it is Mrs. Baker who teaches him how to run. Through his relationship, directly and indirectly, with Mrs. Baker-- the former enemy-- Holling comes into his own. He learns that he loves running and that he is good at it. He forms new friendships and alliances with other classmates he may never have spoken a friendly word to, such as Doug Swieteck, a boy might have grown up to be a bully like his older brother. Holling also learns that it is all right to be different and to express himself.
In this story, Holling Hoodhood leaves his people-pleasing childhood behind and ventures into the realm of young adulthood, which is clearly indicated at the end of the novel when he witnesses his friend’s Bar mitzvah, a Jewish passage into manhood, and wishes he could have one himself. Readers are an active part of his experience as his childhood heroes die, such as Mickey Mantle who turns out to be bigoted, and new ones are born: Mrs. Sidhood, rat catcher, Mrs. Bigio who overcomes prejudice and accepts Mai Thi into her home, and Mrs. Baker who made seventh grade monumental.
Young readers unfamiliar with the time period and historical happenings of 1967 will be instantly transported into the life of a boy they can easily relate to, and learn interesting and amusing cultural and historical facts. Music icons, architectural trends, turns-of-phrase, sports facts as well as information about the Vietnam War are presented in an accurate and attractive manner that will keep audiences enthused and entertained.
Schmidt does not provide an author’s note at the end of the work, so that readers can view his sources, but readers will be left on such a high note with the story, they may feel inspired to perform their own original research of the time period. Schmidt certainly provides references to works, materials and happenings that can easily be researched online.
Bravo to Schmidt and this excellent, moving work. The only low note of the novel is that it spanned Holling’s entire seventh grade year, meaning next year he will no longer be in Mrs. Baker’s class. Readers will be left hoping that the platonic bond that formed between teacher and student will remain even after Holling and Mrs. Baker must part ways at the end of the year.
REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
On Wednesday afternoons, while his Catholic and Jewish schoolmates attend religious instruction, Holling Hoodhood, the only Presbyterian in his seventh grade, is alone in the classroom with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, who Holling is convinced hates his guts. He feels more certain after Mrs. Baker assigns Shakespeare's plays for Holling to discuss during their shared afternoons. Each month in Holling's tumultuous seventh-grade year is a chapter in this quietly powerful coming-of-age novel set in suburban Long Island during the late '60s. The slow start may deter some readers, and 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. However, Schmidt, whose Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (2005) was named both a Printz and a Newbery Honor Book, makes the implausible believable and the everyday momentous. Seamlessly, he knits together the story's themes: the cultural uproar of the '60s, the internal uproar of early adolescence, and the timeless wisdom of Shakespeare's words. Holling's unwavering, distinctive voice offers a gentle, hopeful, moving story of a boy who, with the right help, learns to stretch beyond the limitations of his family, his violent times, and his fear, as he leaps into his future with his eyes and his heart wide open. Engberg, Gillian--Booklist.
"Schmidt, whose "Lizie Bright" and "The Buckminster Boy" won both Printz and Newbery Honors, delivers another winner...deeply satisfying."--Publishers Weekly.
"Schmidt rises above the novel's conventions to create memorable and believable characters."--Horn Book.
CONNECTIONS
Students who are interested in works set during the Vietnam War about teenagers or pre-teenagers dealing with social and political issues surrounding the war or who are directly involved in the war may be interested in the following titles:
Woodworth, Chris. 2006. Georgie’s Moon. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0374333065
Myers, Walter Dean. 2008. Fallen Angels. New York: Scholastic Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0545055765
Bryant, Jen. 2010. Kaleidoscope Eyes. New York: Yearling. ISBN 978-0440421900
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