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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
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.
no. just no. i would not recommend this book. the plot is repetitive and boring. the characters do not have very much depth. but to be fair i was forced to read this book for school so that’s partly why i hate it so much.
I loved The Wednesday Wars!! Ok, I love all of Gary D. Schmidt's books that I've read!! This one might be my favorite even though it took me a long time to read because of school and work. It has become apparent to me that Gary D. Schmidt loves baseball, especially Joe Pepitone, as he and baseball made an appearance in both The Wednesday Wars and Okay For Now. I also love Ms. Baker! She's such a cool character. Gary D. Schmidt obviously knows his Shakespeare, too. I can't imagine ever being able to read and understand it! (how does a 7th grader do it, that's my question
A very interesting story about a kid who thinks his teacher hates him. The story progresses and it has a very cool overlap and perspective of the events of the Vietnam war, MLK Jr, etc, but it feels like his story with her just kind of drops off. His bond with her as it grows in contrast to his family is beautiful and the Shakespeare he studies with her is a highlight. It’s fun and exciting but a but slow. It has a good ending but left you wanting more in not a good way. But maybe that’s a whole lesson to itself. I wanted him to have an epiphany about his year and more things than he did. But for his age maybe that’s too much to ask. I think it would be an interesting book club book to discuss lots of elements.
This book made me warm and fuzzy all over. Middle-grade books like this will always have a special place in my heart.
Serious themes tied up in the tragicomic world of middle school. Well-crafted handling of the world's brokenness without turning either bleak or saccharine.
IOW, winner winner chicken dinner. I love it and am looking forward to putting this in my students' hands.
IOW, winner winner chicken dinner. I love it and am looking forward to putting this in my students' hands.
I’ll admit, this book took some time to grow on me. Probably because it is told from the perspective of a 7th grade boy, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hang out in the mind of a 7th grade boy 😆 But by the end, this book had brought me both laughter and tears. More than once. Everyone needs a teacher like Mrs. Baker. And I might need to read some Shakespeare again soon 🙂
LOVED THIS! great 1960's historical boy-narrator fiction. listened to it on audio, and the reader was PERFECT which may have made me like it more, but i still think it is strong on its own. unfortunate cover though.....
A perfect young adult novel, which I love to read. I certainly hope this one becomes required school reading (if it hasn't already) because it was fantastic.