Rating: 5 stars
Cover synopsis: When Holling, the lone Presbyterian in his 7th grade class, is left in the empty classroom on Wednesday afternoons as the other Jews and Catholics are bussed to religious instruction, Mrs. Baker requires him to read Shakespeare.
What a clever novel! The more I read of the book, the more I liked it. Holling is a pretty typical 13-year-old boy who is forced to take up an atypical hobby -- reading Shakespeare. And he finds it's not as boring as he thought.
The clever part comes in the author's weaving of Holling's story with the lessons learned in the plays he's reading. For instance, reading Romeo and Juliet gives him a fresh perspective on forgiving his girlfriend. And reading Hamlet helps him realize his sister is perhaps his only true ally in his family.
Set in 1967-68, the book shadows history of the time -- Martin Luther King Jr., Bobby Kennedy, the Vietnam war all form a backdrop to the earth-shattering events of a 7th-grader's life. The Wednesday Wars won a Newberry award. And it wasn't the author's first. Perhaps I'll have to read more of Schmidt's work. And maybe a little Shakespeare, too. :)
Cover synopsis: When Holling, the lone Presbyterian in his 7th grade class, is left in the empty classroom on Wednesday afternoons as the other Jews and Catholics are bussed to religious instruction, Mrs. Baker requires him to read Shakespeare.
What a clever novel! The more I read of the book, the more I liked it. Holling is a pretty typical 13-year-old boy who is forced to take up an atypical hobby -- reading Shakespeare. And he finds it's not as boring as he thought.
The clever part comes in the author's weaving of Holling's story with the lessons learned in the plays he's reading. For instance, reading Romeo and Juliet gives him a fresh perspective on forgiving his girlfriend. And reading Hamlet helps him realize his sister is perhaps his only true ally in his family.
Set in 1967-68, the book shadows history of the time -- Martin Luther King Jr., Bobby Kennedy, the Vietnam war all form a backdrop to the earth-shattering events of a 7th-grader's life. The Wednesday Wars won a Newberry award. And it wasn't the author's first. Perhaps I'll have to read more of Schmidt's work. And maybe a little Shakespeare, too. :)
