The Wednesday Wars

by Gary D. Schmidt

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 10+
Type: historical realistic fiction

Holling Hoodhood's teacher hates his guts. Why else would she possibly make him read Shakespeare outside of class?
It's 1967 and Holling has a lot to worry about. There's a war going on in Vietnam. He has to keep a good reputation since he's going to inherit Hoodhood and Associates, the architecture family business. Cream puffs. His crush, Meryl Lee, who doesn't always like him and whose father owns a rival architecture company. Mean kids at school. Oh, and there's a pair of giant rats lurking around too. So why does Mrs. Baker have to add reading Shakespeare to the stack?
Eventually, though, Holling learns to appreciate Shakespeare and the Bard starts to improve his life. But after an unfortunate newspaper article featuring him--him!--wearing only yellow tights and white feathers around his butt, it all comes back, with even more worries to haunt him.
This book is very realistic and doesn't seem like historical fiction when you read it, except for the mentions of war. For example, they practice going under their desks in case there is a bomb. Holling has a believable and slightly sarcastic voice that is fun to read. This book is also pretty good, because even if all Holling's worries seem unconnected, Shakespeare ties them all together so it's not a scattered plot. Mostly this book is told with Holling's sarcastic voice but some parts are more sentimental. Overall, this is a really great book.

Life As We Knew It

by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Rating: ****` (4.5 stars)
Age group: 10+
Type: dystopia

Miranda Evans is living a perfectly normal life with her two brothers and divorced mother. Recently, meteorologists have predicted that a meteorite will hit the moon and be visible from Earth. It's supposed to be beautiful and everybody in her neighborhood is looking forward to it. However, on the day of the collision, the meteorite actually pushes the moon closer to Earth. This causes havoc on Earth, raising the tides, blocking out the sun, and causing volcanoes to erupt and storms to happen often. Pretty much everyone thinks the world is going to end. Miranda's family must struggle to survive, stockpiling food and keeping warm, because the moon has changed weather too. People around them are dying, even close friends. The gas company can't supply them anymore, and stores are shut down. They're only surviving because of their woodstove that doesn't need gas.  But they still have many troubles... can they make it through everything?
This book is really gripping. It is told in a diary format and Miranda's voice is very believable and realistic.  The family troubles that don't have to do with the weather are also believable. Something else that is realistic is the portrayal of life after the moon moved, even though it hasn't happened. It's a dystopia but it's not a crazy and strange dystopia. It seems like it could actually happen. Life As We Knew It is a great survival story. It is very thought out. It ends at a sort of drop-off, but there are also some sequels which are called The Dead & The Gone and This World We Live In.