The Wednesday Wars

The Amazon.com description of this book by  Gary Schmidt starts out like this:

"In this Newberry Honor-winning novel, Gary D. Schmidt offers an unforgettable antihero. The Wednesday Wars is a wonderfully witty and compelling story about a teenage boy’s mishaps and adventures over the course of the 1967–68 school year in Long Island, New York."

I agree about the book being witty and compelling.  I laughed out loud, and read it in about a day and a half.  But I disagree about it having an antihero.  The protagonist of the book, Holling Hoodhood, might not be made of the stuff we picture heroes being made of, but that doesn't make him "anti".  

The book begins by explaining that Holling's teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates him.  Every Wednesday afternoon, the catholic children are released from school early to attend Catechism, and the jewish children are released for Hebrew School.  That leaves protestant Holling with no where to go, which ruins Mrs. Baker's afternoon off.  Thus his Wednesday afternoons of torture begin.

I loved this book.  It touches on so many things we deal with (or fail to deal with) in our world.  There's prejudice, religion, war, coming-of-age, mistakes, cruelty, neglect, redemption, discovering oneself, and determining one's own destiny.  And under that all, it's a moral book.  

Here is a line that sums up why I like this book and find it worth reading.  It's from Mrs Baker to Holling:  

"Learn everything you can - everything. And then use all that you have learned to be a wise and good man."

2012 Newberry Winners

Since many members of our group have a great fondness for young adult literature I thought you might be interested in the new Newberry winners.  

Click HERE for a list of Newberrry winners from 1922-2011

Here's the info from their site about this year's winners:

The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

2012 Medal Winner

The 2012 Newbery Medal winner is Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos, published by Farrar Straus Giroux

The importance of history and reading (so you don’t do the same “stupid stuff” again) is at the heart of this achingly funny romp through a dying New Deal town. While mopping up epic nose bleeds, Jack narrates this screw-ball mystery in an endearing and believable voice.

“Who knew obituaries and old lady death could be this funny and this tender?” said Newbery Medal Committee Chair Viki Ash.

2012 Honor Books

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai, published by HarperCollins Children's Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers

Hà and her family flee war-torn Vietnam for the American South. In spare yet vivid verse, she chronicles her year-long struggle to find her place in a new and shifting world. 

Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin, published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

On the eve of his induction into the Young Pioneers, Sasha’s world is overturned when his father is arrested by Stalin’s guard. Yelchin deftly crafts a stark and compelling story of a child’s lost idealism.