The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
This novel is a breath of fresh air! Our main character Holling Hoodhood experiences prejudice and school bullying set in 1967 which compared to today are different. The characters are all dealing with discrimination, war and finding out where one’s place is in the world. Do we do right by our ambitions or do we do what has been predetermined by our families. Holling is uneasy with his father’s dreams to take over the family’s architect business when he graduates. The title Wednesday Wars comes from the fact that every Wednesday the children at the Junior High School leave for Jewish or Catholic lessons, except for Holling because he is Presbyterian. Immediately he feels that his teacher Mrs. Baker hates him and will make her life miserable. He is also being target by the school’s bully which he seems to defeat each and every time by some accidental fate. Every Wednesday he must stay in class and Mrs. Baker tries to make his life miserable, however the two become friends and Mrs. Baker teaches Holling important lessons of life through their readings of Shakespeare. Holling witnesses a series of events that influence him on what he should do in life and that life is not all about getting ahead and being the best, no under the counter dealings, or backstabbing, like his father does, but about caring about people and the cares and worries. Being a true friend and person having your own thoughts and finally standing up for what you believe
Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson
Hope? What is it? Where is it? These are the questions our main character, Frannie, has on a daily basis. Frannie is a sixth grade African American growing up in the 1970’s with her parents, deaf brother Sean. The novel discusses a time after segregation however tensions are still high between the blacks and whites and discussion of how the freeway splits the two parts of the city and how Frannie and her kind do not belong on the other side. School and home are the places of most of the stories action. The first major event is when a “new kid” arrives at school, one who is white and becomes the target for the bully, Trevor, who himself is dealing with issues of race and color because he is part African American and Anglo. Frannie finds her self defending the new kid and they soon become friends through a series of events. While at home Frannie deals with the issues that surround her brother’s deafness and how he is treated by the hearing girls who do not give him the time of day. Sean tells Frannie he wished that a bridge could be built over the freeway to connect both worlds, the she wants to experience and his world, a world of hearing and being accepted by others who hear. Frannie is also having to deal with the fact that her mother is pregnant and she is afraid that yet another baby will not make it and she will loose her mother for a while due to the darkness that will occur. Hope? Where is it? Frannie realized that hope is everywhere, it is like feathers that dift in and out of sight, it is there all the time and hope is different for everyone. This novel is very uplifting and letting you feel the characters and laugh with them. The author uses actual “jive” talk when she is allowing her characters to interact and some of the excerpts of our nation are discussed like the Black Panthers and the draft. With each chapter you will be drawn in and can’t wait to find out what the truth is behind the mystery.
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schiltz
What a wonderful way to bring the past to live for a classroom on students. The author of this Newberry winner wrote short stories/plays for each of her students that is based on a scene from the middle ages and throughout the stories she teaches vocabulary and meaning of Medieval events and holidays. Throughout the book she also includes little mini lessons or what she calls Background information on different techniques such as the 3 field system of farming, the Crusades and others. What child would not want to read about ones’ first hunting experience, feeling inferior due to weight and size and wondering if you will ever be loved, being handed the responsibility of caring for one’s family after the death of your father, and alcoholism and abuse from the hands of a parent all while being exposed to the way Shakespeare would have written the events. The action, suspense and intrigue will keep any individual glued to the pages of this book.
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