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.