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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
This is a book about Shakespeare. It's also a book about a twelve year old boy who seems very wise for his age. It's also a book about living through the sixties and living with a patriarch who doesn't really deserve the deference people give him. It's also a book about love.
One thing I've been reflecting on a lot is how you can show love and care for another person without needing heavy intimacy. How can you know what someone else needs or what will help someone else unless they tell you everything. Mrs. Baker is a great picture of what this looks like. She doesn't speak to Holling about what's going on in his life but she seems to know what he needs when it matters and then she is there for him. I really enjoyed the way she is written.
I also like that the book managed to have a happy ending that felt real and earned. It's still a story with lots of happy coincidences but the lives of its characters felt real and I felt like I could know them.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am grateful for whoever recommended it.
One thing I've been reflecting on a lot is how you can show love and care for another person without needing heavy intimacy. How can you know what someone else needs or what will help someone else unless they tell you everything. Mrs. Baker is a great picture of what this looks like. She doesn't speak to Holling about what's going on in his life but she seems to know what he needs when it matters and then she is there for him. I really enjoyed the way she is written.
I also like that the book managed to have a happy ending that felt real and earned. It's still a story with lots of happy coincidences but the lives of its characters felt real and I felt like I could know them.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am grateful for whoever recommended it.
I liked how this book started and that's it. It was boring. This book is really descriptive. It kind of reminded me of the book by John Grisham's Painted House. That book to me was also a story of a boy really descriptive, heading no where.
I liked this book. The narrator is clever and cynical and provides a fantastic view into his 1960s world. I feel like the book would be best on audio book, though, so you can hear the narrator-driven plot and voice more clearly.
Such a great story! Scholastic labeled this as a book for kids between 3rd and 7th grade- so an easy read for adults but enjoyable nonetheless.
“Maybe the first time that you know you really care about something is when you think about it not being there, and when you know-you really know-that the emptiness is as much as inside you as outside you. For it falls out, that what we have we prize not to the worth whiles we enjoy it; but being lacked and lost, why, then we rack the value, then we find the virtue that possession would not show us while it was ours. That's when I knew for the first time that I really did love my sister.”
I have to admit that I cried over this audiobook. Between Schmidt’s story and Johnstone’s reading I was a mess. Somehow the story of Holling Hoodhood (where in the world did that name come from?) hit me in all the right places.
This is the story of Holling Hoodhood’s seventh grade school year. He is sure that his teacher hates his guts, that his sister is a pain in the neck and his father is right. By the end of the year much has changed and Holling is a better person for it.
This all takes place from the fall of 1967 through the spring of 1968. I was in eighth grade that year and I really did not remember much about it. However, this book brought much of it back, which I know is part of why I cried. In the spring of 1968, we lost both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy. The Vietnam war was on television every night. Many people went through changes in that year.
I also cried because Schmidt got junior high school right. It is a hard period of time for kids. There are lots of adjustments as children become teenagers. Teachers are fairly inscrutable and parents may not be as perfect as children thought. I am impressed that Schmidt told this part of the tale so well.
Also, there was a lot of personal sadness in this story. That reflects the times also. There was a lot of loss to the war, to the generation gap and all the national problems. Schmidt did that well also.
This book was recommended to me as an audiobook. I had thought about reading it, but I think I would have missed something. Johnstone made sure I thought that a seventh grader was telling this tale. He did an excellent job.
This may not have been the best book to read during the pandemic, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
I have to admit that I cried over this audiobook. Between Schmidt’s story and Johnstone’s reading I was a mess. Somehow the story of Holling Hoodhood (where in the world did that name come from?) hit me in all the right places.
This is the story of Holling Hoodhood’s seventh grade school year. He is sure that his teacher hates his guts, that his sister is a pain in the neck and his father is right. By the end of the year much has changed and Holling is a better person for it.
This all takes place from the fall of 1967 through the spring of 1968. I was in eighth grade that year and I really did not remember much about it. However, this book brought much of it back, which I know is part of why I cried. In the spring of 1968, we lost both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy. The Vietnam war was on television every night. Many people went through changes in that year.
I also cried because Schmidt got junior high school right. It is a hard period of time for kids. There are lots of adjustments as children become teenagers. Teachers are fairly inscrutable and parents may not be as perfect as children thought. I am impressed that Schmidt told this part of the tale so well.
Also, there was a lot of personal sadness in this story. That reflects the times also. There was a lot of loss to the war, to the generation gap and all the national problems. Schmidt did that well also.
This book was recommended to me as an audiobook. I had thought about reading it, but I think I would have missed something. Johnstone made sure I thought that a seventh grader was telling this tale. He did an excellent job.
This may not have been the best book to read during the pandemic, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
Seventh grader, Holling Hoodhood, is certain that his teacher, Mrs. Baker, doesn't like him and now he must spend every Wednesday afternoon with her while the rest of the class goes to religion classes. Mrs. Baker decides to make Holling spend his Wednesday class time reading and studying the works of Shakespeare. In the meantime, Holling is handling many of the typical problems of middle school such as siblings, parents, bullies, and embarrassment. In the midst of it all, Holling will learn more about himself and how to embrace the person he wants to become.
I love this book. The time period is 1967 and the backdrop of the Vietnam War is an important part of the story. The impact of the war on the lives of everyday Americans is seen throughout the story from bombing drills in school to loved ones in battle. The setting is reflected in subtle but powerful ways.
I love so many of the people in this story. There is so much richness and depth to all of the characters - not just the main character. Everyone is on their own personal journey of discovery and growth, providing plenty of topics for discussion with your kids.
Many of the students in my Outschool book clubs thought the book had a slow start, but most enjoyed it in the end even though many still found it slow. It's true that this story doesn't have a dramatic climax because this story is more about personal growth and change, but I think it is definitely a winner!
I love this book. The time period is 1967 and the backdrop of the Vietnam War is an important part of the story. The impact of the war on the lives of everyday Americans is seen throughout the story from bombing drills in school to loved ones in battle. The setting is reflected in subtle but powerful ways.
I love so many of the people in this story. There is so much richness and depth to all of the characters - not just the main character. Everyone is on their own personal journey of discovery and growth, providing plenty of topics for discussion with your kids.
Many of the students in my Outschool book clubs thought the book had a slow start, but most enjoyed it in the end even though many still found it slow. It's true that this story doesn't have a dramatic climax because this story is more about personal growth and change, but I think it is definitely a winner!
I read this as a seventh grader, then as a seventh grade teacher. I loved it from the bottom of my heart both times.
Wednesday Wars was a recommendation from a friend and what a delightful and poignant read. This story will transport you to middle school days amidst a world at war in Vietnam. The author does a brilliant job touching deep and painful things without dragging you through the details. It's a thoughtful and hilarious read that will have you both laughing and crying. And for those Shakespeare fans, there are some exquisite moments of brilliance.
This book is so well written. Any book that makes me laugh out loud AND choke up with tears is an automatic 5 stars from me. I adored this book from the first to last page. No paragraph is wasted - humour, horror, heartbreak, hope - from conversations to activities, Schmidt extracts every drop of potential from the world he has recreated. And he has somehow done this without a heavy hand.
To describe the plot makes this book sound like a redundant coming of age story that is just a rehash of The Wonder Years. But Fred Savage never had it so good (or bad!). I truly felt 12 years old while reading this book - suffering through the humiliations and triumphs of adolescence all over again (I'm 32). This is a must read.
To describe the plot makes this book sound like a redundant coming of age story that is just a rehash of The Wonder Years. But Fred Savage never had it so good (or bad!). I truly felt 12 years old while reading this book - suffering through the humiliations and triumphs of adolescence all over again (I'm 32). This is a must read.