Reviews for The Wednesday Wars

The average rating for The Wednesday Wars based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-07-02 00:00:00 Ken Carden Audiobook rating: ★★★★★ Book rating: ★★★★★ "J U S T   S W E L L" Oh I am so going to miss you 'let me tell you' about your life to me, Holling!! "I never thought being in seven grade would mean so many death threats" Written so convincingly youthful and full of hearts and humor. Holling Hoodhood's journey into seven grade is peppered with misadventures, extremely good luck, self discovery and even Shakespeare. So hilarious and sarcastic and really heartfelt. ► I listened to the audiobook and oh my lord, I could not stop! Love the narrator's voice too much: he has this boyish/teenage voice and his performance is pitch perfect: awkward and sarcastic. ❤

Review # 2 was written on 2008-02-11 00:00:00 Kimberly Rocha Holling Hoodhood's got a problem. It's 1967, and he's just started seventh grade at Camillo Junior High, and his teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates his guts. Every Wednesday afternoon, half of the kids in Holling's class go to Hebrew school and the other half go to St. Adelbert's for catechism. And Holling, as the only Presbyterian in the class, stays behind with Mrs. Baker. And Mrs. Baker makes him read Shakespeare. Outside of class. What follows is a year in Holling's life, a year of Wednesdays with Mrs. Baker and life in general. It's 1967, and his sister wants to be a flower child, and his father owns the architecture firm Hoodhood and Associates and sees Holling as The Son Who Will Inherit Hoodhood and Associates. There are rats, and cream puffs, and Doug Swieteck's brother. There are telegrams and baseballs and tights (with feathers!) and atomic bomb drills. This is a quiet book that gets you in all the right places. If I had to sum it up in a phrase, I'd say it was about how people surprise you'sometimes in bad ways, and more often in very good ways. It's about heroes'the ones you create for yourself, and the ones that you discover. It's about finding your way when the world is confusing. It's about being in seventh grade, and learning that it's not who you are that matters, but who you decide to be. This book made me laugh out loud on the subway, those big belly laughs that make strangers think you're crazy. It also made me cry, no less that four times. This is not a book with great tragedy, but it is a book with great power. It's a book that made me feel. I read it slowly, reading and rereading each line and word, savoring the chapters. But I didn't horde it, didn't put it down and save it for later, because I could. not. stop. reading. I just couldn't. It wasn't so much that I needed to know what happened'it was more that I desperately wanted to hear Holling's voice in my head some more. I wanted more afternoons with Mrs. Baker. This is the kind of book that you read and reread, and then read bits aloud to the people you care about, because you want to share it with them. It's the kind of book that makes you feel like you really, really know the characters, like what happens to them is important to you. It's the kind of book that makes you want to read Shakespeare, and more importantly, to curse like Caliban. It's really one of the best reading experiences I've had in a long time. I urge you to read it. I want to talk about the Mickey Mantle episode with you. I want to hear what you think about cream puffs. And I want you to know what I mean when I say, "toads, beetles, bats." Or "chrysanthemum." Mostly, I want you to meet Holling Hoodhood and Mrs. Baker, two of my new favorite literary creations. I want them to be part of your life the way they've been part of mine since I started this book. I really think you'll like them a lot.