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A review by bookabecca
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
5.0
What a lovely lovely companion YA novel to OKAY FOR NOW! In fact, even some of the characters are similar. For instance, Doug Sweiteck, the protagonist from OKAY FOR NOW, is a minor character in THE WEDNESDAY WARS. It was fun to see the same middle school crowd in the same town, but with a different protagonist's journey.
I love Schmidt's novels because they are relentlessly hopeful without being cheesy, and like OKAY FOR NOW, THE WEDNESDAY WARS also prominently features teachers who step in and save kids lives through learning/loving when parents drop the ball and don't know how to be parents. Schmidt is also incredibly talented at introducing a trope and pulling threads of it throughout the story when you least expect it. Here, he uses Shakespeare, cream puffs, pet rats and the Vietnam War -- and he uses them all flawlessly.
Finally, this novel, like OKAY FOR NOW, includes another example of a fully formed male protagonist who defies stereotype. Holling Hoodhood likes to read, to memorize and perform Shakespeare, and to run track. While he faces patriarchal pressures to "be a man," he meanders through standards of masculinity as an individual, often questioning the very premise of these expectations as best he can as a seventh grader. What a great thing for YA readers to encounter!
While some events seem a little too perfectly timed for verisimilitude, and some aspects of life seem a little too rosy, I can't even hold those things against Schmidt because this is just as delightful book in every way.
I love Schmidt's novels because they are relentlessly hopeful without being cheesy, and like OKAY FOR NOW, THE WEDNESDAY WARS also prominently features teachers who step in and save kids lives through learning/loving when parents drop the ball and don't know how to be parents. Schmidt is also incredibly talented at introducing a trope and pulling threads of it throughout the story when you least expect it. Here, he uses Shakespeare, cream puffs, pet rats and the Vietnam War -- and he uses them all flawlessly.
Finally, this novel, like OKAY FOR NOW, includes another example of a fully formed male protagonist who defies stereotype. Holling Hoodhood likes to read, to memorize and perform Shakespeare, and to run track. While he faces patriarchal pressures to "be a man," he meanders through standards of masculinity as an individual, often questioning the very premise of these expectations as best he can as a seventh grader. What a great thing for YA readers to encounter!
While some events seem a little too perfectly timed for verisimilitude, and some aspects of life seem a little too rosy, I can't even hold those things against Schmidt because this is just as delightful book in every way.