The Wednesday Wars [sound recording]

Schmidt, Gary.  2007.  The Wednesday Wars.  Read by Joel Johnstone. Portland, Maine: Scholastic Audiobooks.  ISBN 9780439925013

Most of the daily struggles of 7th grade, including how to wear tights without being the laughing stock of the school and how to avoid the many death threats from 8th graders, plague Holling Hoodhood. Every Wednesday of 7th grade, Holling stays behind with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while his classmates split between Catholic and Jewish instruction. Holling is a Presbyterian on Long Island in 1967, and he is sure his teacher hates him.

If the reader stays through the slow beginning and the too oft mentioned light, brown, cream-puffs, this text will pleasantly surprise. Told from the perspective of the seventh grader, the audience gets a tangible sense of growing up in 1967 without the adult understanding of the current affairs of the world. Through Holling’s naïve narration, the audience receives glimpses of the war in Vietnam, Robert Kennedy’s campaign for president and the mid-sixties Beatles. As the story progresses, more of the nature of the world is revealed and understood by Holling, and so the audience is given a broader view of his world.

This is a coming of age story offers not only self-awareness, but also global perspective, understanding that love is more than a word and that life offers understanding and support in many unlikely and unexpected places.

Joel Johnstone’s reading of the text is very effective, as he provides not only the various voices and cadence of the characters’ speech patterns but also the emotion of each situation. This satisfying, if not sometimes predictable, novel has much to offer readers of young adult literature.

““Listen, laugh, cry, and marvel at the goodness of humankind.” (Audiofile/August/September 2007)

"Holling’s unwavering, distinctive voice offers a gentle, hopeful, moving story..." (Booklist/Jun 2007)

Possible Activities:
1. This text can easily be used to support a history class covering Vietnam, or American life during Vietnam.
2. The Wednesday Wars can easily be used as a motivator for an English class covering Shakespeare's plays.
3. A discussion could be initiated to discuss the normalcy versus strangeness of life at home during war. Many connections can be made to the present.