The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt, read by Joel Johnstone

 Spotlight on Historical Fiction

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt, read by Joel Johnstone

Do you remember your first day of seventh grade?  On day one, Holling is convinced his seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Baker, doesn’t like him and plans to make this school year a difficult one.  But, it could be his best year yet!  Let’s shine the spotlight on this historical fiction audiobook:

Summary

Holling Hoodhood believes he is starting seventh grade with a target on his back.  He is convinced his teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates him.  Most of his classmates spend Wednesday afternoons at Hebrew School or Catechism, but not Holling.  He attends Prebyterian church and therefore, spends Wednesday’s alone with Mrs. Baker.  Holling begins his work on Wednesday’s by cleaning the classroom, straightening the books and pounding erasers.  But after a few weeks, Mrs. Baker let’s Holling know they will be shifting to reading Shakespeare together for the rest of the year.  Holling is even more convinced Mrs. Baker hates him.  They take turns reading parts of the plays and discuss what they read.  Holling soon realizes he enjoys the rhythm of the lines in Shakespeare and even quotes them.

Holling endures various incidents throughout seventh grade: ruining a fresh batch of cream puffs with chalkdust from the erasers he pounds, cleaning the cages of the class pets (rats) and accidentally letting them loose, earning a part in The Tempest for the Shakespeare Company’s Holiday Extravaganza and Mr. Goldman picks him to play Ariel…a fairy, racing to get to the Baker Sporting Emporium to get Mickey Mantle’s autograph only to be turned away for wearing his tights from his performance as Ariel, taking the New York State Standarized Achievement Test in the middle of a snowstorm and dropping all of the silverware packed for the year end camping trip while on a hike to the campsite. 

While Holling is focused on his life and the events of seventh grade, the world around him is enduring a difficult time.  The Vietnam War has impacted the lives of many families.  Walter Cronkite is on the news each night updating the details of the days fighting, bombings, missing soldiers and death counts.  Holling’s sister, Heather, is passionate against the war and turns her focus to the injustices around her.  Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. are rising up as leaders, while many criticize President Johnson.

Holling’s father owns an architecture firm, Hoodhood and Associates, which his father reminds him he could run one day.  His father also reminds him his interactions can affect the business.  Holling has many connections to the business and he feels the pressure to do right by his father.  Mrs. Baker’s brother-in-law owns a sporting good chain, which is being redesigned by his father’s firm.  Mr. Goldman’s bakery may expand one day and Holling’s performance as Ariel the fairy could make the difference.  Holling tries to keep his father’s business in mind when he interacts with others, but this is most difficult when it comes to his friend, Meryl Lee.  Meryl Lee and Holling are friends who are growing closer throughout the school year.  When Holling is talking about Meryl Lee with his father, they realize her father is the president of a rival architecture firm, Kowalski and Associates. 

Mrs. Baker slowly redeems herself in Holling’s eyes.  Holling begins to realize Mrs. Baker is not out to get him.  He realizes more and more that she is a real person, especially as he sees her emotions shift from devastation that her husband may be in trouble in the Vietnam War to joy that he is alive and coming home.  Mrs. Baker makes a strong effort to support Holling, too.  She helps him practice for his performance as Ariel.  After the incident with Mickey Mantle, she surprises Holling and his friend, Danny, with a visit from Joe Pepitone and Horace Clarke.  She coaches him up on his running form before his tryout for the track team.  And when his father is late picking him up to go to the New York Yankees baseball game, she drives him to the game. 

The evolution of their relationship will make readers smile!  This is truly a coming of age story, told through the months of the school year.  It shows how Holling opens himself up to the people (and the world) around him. 

Discussion

This work of historical fiction is an engaging audiobook.  Johnstone provides the narration and voices the characters within the book.  He enhances the listener’s engagement with the book through his use of voices and his attention to detail with his expression, use of pauses and the increase or decrease in his volume.  Listeners will find themselves hanging on his words throughout certain events in the story.  It is an easy audiobook to listen to in longer sessions or to stretch out over time into smaller segments.  The book is divided into chapters by the months of the school year from September to June.  Listeners will be able to keep pace with the book because of its linear structure.  Johnstone draws out emotions from the listener, much like Schmidt has done for the reader.  Listeners will feel a range of emotions throughout the book, with moments of excitement, to worry and empathy, as well as sadness.

Schmidt reveals his own childhood experiences through his book.  He grew up practicing atomic bomb drills, memorizing Shakespeare and pounding erasers for his teachers at school.  He grew up listening to passionate voices protesting the Vietnam War outside of school.  His true to life experiences add to the authenticity of the book. 

The authenticity of the book is also grounded in many United States history details to make this a rich example of historical fiction.  Holling refers to the historical events going on around him.  “We listened to Walter Cronkite report on the new casualty figures from Vietnam…” (Schmidt, 2007, p. 7).  He refers to Walter Cronkite’s news reports throughout the story.  Holling also discusses the struggles President Johnson is facing.  His sister describes the hope people have in Bobby Kennedy and the attention people are giving Martin Luther King, Jr.  Holling interacts with New York Yankees baseball players at a time when baseball is a welcomed distraction for many.  Schmidt easily adds historical elements to enrich the storylines.

Schmidt often uses Holling’s sister, Heather, as a voice for the historical events.  She is defined by her passion against the war.  She tells her father “A flower child is beautiful and doesn’t do anything to harm anyone,” (Schmidt, 2007, p. 36).  She struggles to do what is right by her father’s standards as she tries to stand firm in her beliefs.  She asserts her independence throughout the book.  She is often depicted listening to music in her room, but her choices in music also ground this book in its time.  She runs away from home to assert her independence, which is fitting of this character and of the time this book portrays.

Holling is a down-to-earth seventh grader concerned with his world and the interactions within his world.  He is searching for his identity and independence at home and at school.  He shares interesting stories and experiences from seventh grade, which many listeners will relate to.  The relationships Holling develops with those around him evolve over time. 

Holling’s relationship with Mrs. Baker is the hallmark of this book.   Their interactions will keep the listener coming back to hear more.  The plot of the story is driven by the historical events, as well as the meaningful events Holling experiences each month in seventh grade.  His classroom stories will leave listeners nodding in connection with what has occurred to shaking their head in disbelief.  Listeners will be surprised by many events in the story.

Overall, the strength of this audiobook is in the enhancement of the text.  Johnstone’s ability to carry Schmidt’s words from the text to the listener’s ears and still maintain the emotions elicited by Schmidt’s text is outstanding.  Listeners will not be disappointed in this selection as an audiobook!

Awards/Reviews

Gary Schmidt has received awards for his work.  His book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy was named both a Printz and a Newbery Honor Book.  The Wednesday Wars was also a Newbery Honor Book.  The audio version of The Wednesday Wars was recognized by AudioFile as an Earphones Award Winner.  This award is given to outstanding audio presentations going above and beyond in the following areas: narrative voice, vocal characterizations, appropriateness for the audio format and enhancement of the text.

Here is a sample of a review of the audiobook:

“Johnstone brings to life one of the most endearing characters to come along in some time.  Holling Hoodhood is starting seventh grade in 1967.  It is a time of change, not just for Holling as he begins his journey into adolescence, but for the world around him as well.  The war in Vietnam is raging and the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy hang heavy on the American consciousness by the end of the school year.  And for Holling, the world of nascent relationships lies before him, not to mention, baseball, camping and the constant excitement, wonder and terror of being 11 at such a volatile time.  Johnstone's first-person narration perfectly captures Holling's progression from an angst-filled yet innocent boy, to a wiser, self-aware young man.  His reading is touching, funny and insightful; he manages to bring the listener back to a time—real or nostalgically re-imagined, at least—when the crack of a bat against a ball in Yankee Stadium or sharing a Coke with a girl at the Woolworth's counter was all any boy could want.  This is a lovely, heartfelt novel, read with as much care as the author used to create it.” – Publishers Weekly

Here are samples of a few reviews of the hardcover book:

“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.” – Booklist

“This entertaining and nuanced novel limns Holling Hoodhood's seventh-grade year in his Long Island community, beginning in the fall of 1967.  His classmates, half of whom are Jewish, the other half Catholic, leave early on Wednesdays to attend religious training.  As the sole Presbyterian, he finds himself stranded with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, whom he's sure has it in for him. S he starts off creating mindless chores for him but then induces him to read Shakespeare-lots of Shakespeare.  Chapters titled by month initially seem overlong, relating such diverse elements as two terrifying escaped rats, cream puffs from a local bakery, his dad being a cheapskate/cutthroat architect, and Holling's tentative and sweet relationship with classmate Meryl Lee.  The scary Doug Swieteck, and his even more frightening brother, and the Vietnam War are recurring menaces.  A subplot involves a classmate who, as a recent Vietnamese refugee, is learning English and suffers taunts and prejudice.  Cross-country tryouts, rescuing his older runaway sister, and opening day at Yankee Stadium are highlights.  There are laugh-out-loud moments that leaven the many poignant ones as Schmidt explores many important themes, not the least of which is what makes a person a hero.  The tone may seem cloying at first and the plot occasionally goes over-the-top, but readers who stick with the story will be rewarded.  They will appreciate Holling's gentle, caring ways and will be sad to have the book end.” – School Library Journal

Teacher’s Tools

Students could listen to the audiobook and complete journal entries about Holling’s experiences as a junior high student.  Students could link comprehension strategies to their entries like: making connections, asking questions and predicting what will happen next.  The audiobook could also be used by struggling readers or ESL students to support their comprehension.

This book may remind some readers of the popular television show, The Wonder Years.  Episodes of the television show could be shown to students to compare and contrast with the book.  A double bubble map could be used to show students thinking.

Students could write about the relationship between Holling and Mrs. Baker and share how it changed over time.  Students could discuss the events in the book and how they led to shifts in their relationship.

Students could explore the pieces of Shakespeare read by Holling.  The quotes Holling repeats could be discussed within their context.  Students could select additional quotes to memorize like Holling. 

Students could engage in additional research about the history of the United States during the 1960’s.  A timeline of significant events could be developed.

Students could write journal entries from the perspective of other characters in the book.  Events from the book could be selected and students could write how other characters felt about those events using characters like: Mrs. Baker, Meryl Lee, Holling’s mom, dad or sister, Mrs. Sidman or Mr. Baker.

Bibliographic Information

Schmidt, Gary D. 2007. The Wednesday Wars. Read by Joel Johnstone. New York: Scholastic Audiobooks. Audiobook, 6 compact discs; 7.5 hrs. CD ISBN 978-0-4399-2501-3