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[CCBC-Net] Wednesday Wars
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From: Rita Auerbach <rita.auerbach>
Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:29:24 -0500 (EST)
I appreciate all of the merits people have pointed to in Wednesday Wars. I have been struggling, however, with its purported setting in 1968. This was a year of enormous political, social and cultural turmoil in this country. I'm not sure I can judge how this would have been experienced by Holling. By 1968, I was in graduate school and very politically involved. Holling's experience would clearly have been very different. But shortly afterwards, I began teaching high school on Long Island, though not in Hicksville. My students, who would have been about Holling's age, were very aware of the protests which had affected their school, their lives, and, particularly, their older siblings. To me, the book could be about the current war in Iraq which is sadly, to most people whose families are not directly involved, no more than a distant disturbance. Reactions to Viet Nam, in part because of the draft which faced male high school graduates who did not go on to college, were much s
t! ronger. Holling certainly is aware of soldiers dying in Viet Nam, but his world, to me, does not begin to mirror the turmoil of the late 60's. I see that Gary Schmidt graduated from high school in 1975. While the book is somewhat autobiographical, the author in 1968 would only have been in about the 5th or 6th grades, not quite Holling's age. Although the difference is small, I think these couple of years would make a huge difference in a young person's awareness. I have discussed this with people younger than I, and I have read the postings to this list. I know mine is a minority concern. But I cannot get over the feeling that this is a book about our current time rather than about the Viet Nam era. Rita Auerbach
---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:28:17 -0600
>From: "Kathleen T. Horning" <horning at education.wisc.edu>
>Subject: [CCBC-Net] Wednesday Wars
>To: CCBC-NET <ccbc-net at ccbc.ad.education.wisc.edu>
>
>Several people have mentioned "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary Schmidt as
>one of their favorite books of the year. I found it to be kind of a slow
>starter (how many times did the main character need to tell us he felt
>like his teacher hated him, for example), but once I got into it, I
>enjoyed it much more than I thought I was going to.
>
>I found a couple of problems that, for me, kept it from being
>distinguished. For one, the whole premise stretched credulity -- that of
>Holling being the only Protestant kid in his 7th grade class who was
>therefore forced to stay behind and read Shakespeare while his Jewish
>and Catholic classmates were excused for the afternoon to attend
>religion classes. It seemed to me to be an obvious, and rather clunky,
>device for working in Shakespeare. Also, it didn't seem very believable
>that the teacher would be able to arrange a visit with the Yankees for a
>couple of her students. I loved the Mickey Mantle scene that preceded it
>(and was glad the author found an artful way to counter the internalized
>homophobia of the whole yellow tights thing), and think it would have
>been stronger if the author had left it at that.
>
>Since I was about the same age as Holling in 1967, I enjoyed the
>historical time period and think he got most of the details right, but
>there were a couple of details I found jarring. For example, the author
>frequently made reference to the asbestos ceilings and $24,000 Major
>League salaries, and each time he did that, I was jettisoned right back
>to 2007 so I could wink back at the author over the child reader's
>shoulder. I can't recall ever even hearing or using the term "asbestos"
>as a child until they were their carcinogenic nature became front page
>news in the late 1970s. Also, it didn't seem right to me that Hollings'
>16-year-old sister was a Monkees fan. I didn't know any self-respecting
>16-year-olds in 1967 who were Monkees fans, especially not aspiring
>flower children. I would have expected her to be a Beatles fan. (There
>is a reference to the sister missing a Beatles TV special, but I'm not
>sure there was such a thing aired in the U.S. in early 1968.) In an odd
>way, I think the book would have more successfully given a sense of time
>period if those sorts of details had been left out. They felt tacked on
>or forced to me, and detracted from the story.
>
>I thought "Feathers" by Jacqueline Woodson, set in 1971, did a much
>better job at capturing the era. Other than the mention of a few song
>titles, I can't think of any specific time period details that she
>used. She managed to recreate the feeling of the era through the
>concerns and social interactions of the characters.
>
>KT
>
>
>--
>Kathleen T. Horning
>Director
>Cooperative Children's Book Center
>4290 Helen C. White Hall
>600 N. Park St
>Madison, WI 53706
>
>Phone: 608-263-3721
>FAX: 608-262-4933
>
>horning at education.wisc.edu
>http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
>
>_______________________________________________
>CCBC-Net mailing list
>CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
>Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe...
>http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Sun 30 Dec 2007 10:29:24 PM CST
Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:29:24 -0500 (EST)
I appreciate all of the merits people have pointed to in Wednesday Wars. I have been struggling, however, with its purported setting in 1968. This was a year of enormous political, social and cultural turmoil in this country. I'm not sure I can judge how this would have been experienced by Holling. By 1968, I was in graduate school and very politically involved. Holling's experience would clearly have been very different. But shortly afterwards, I began teaching high school on Long Island, though not in Hicksville. My students, who would have been about Holling's age, were very aware of the protests which had affected their school, their lives, and, particularly, their older siblings. To me, the book could be about the current war in Iraq which is sadly, to most people whose families are not directly involved, no more than a distant disturbance. Reactions to Viet Nam, in part because of the draft which faced male high school graduates who did not go on to college, were much s
t! ronger. Holling certainly is aware of soldiers dying in Viet Nam, but his world, to me, does not begin to mirror the turmoil of the late 60's. I see that Gary Schmidt graduated from high school in 1975. While the book is somewhat autobiographical, the author in 1968 would only have been in about the 5th or 6th grades, not quite Holling's age. Although the difference is small, I think these couple of years would make a huge difference in a young person's awareness. I have discussed this with people younger than I, and I have read the postings to this list. I know mine is a minority concern. But I cannot get over the feeling that this is a book about our current time rather than about the Viet Nam era. Rita Auerbach
---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:28:17 -0600
>From: "Kathleen T. Horning" <horning at education.wisc.edu>
>Subject: [CCBC-Net] Wednesday Wars
>To: CCBC-NET <ccbc-net at ccbc.ad.education.wisc.edu>
>
>Several people have mentioned "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary Schmidt as
>one of their favorite books of the year. I found it to be kind of a slow
>starter (how many times did the main character need to tell us he felt
>like his teacher hated him, for example), but once I got into it, I
>enjoyed it much more than I thought I was going to.
>
>I found a couple of problems that, for me, kept it from being
>distinguished. For one, the whole premise stretched credulity -- that of
>Holling being the only Protestant kid in his 7th grade class who was
>therefore forced to stay behind and read Shakespeare while his Jewish
>and Catholic classmates were excused for the afternoon to attend
>religion classes. It seemed to me to be an obvious, and rather clunky,
>device for working in Shakespeare. Also, it didn't seem very believable
>that the teacher would be able to arrange a visit with the Yankees for a
>couple of her students. I loved the Mickey Mantle scene that preceded it
>(and was glad the author found an artful way to counter the internalized
>homophobia of the whole yellow tights thing), and think it would have
>been stronger if the author had left it at that.
>
>Since I was about the same age as Holling in 1967, I enjoyed the
>historical time period and think he got most of the details right, but
>there were a couple of details I found jarring. For example, the author
>frequently made reference to the asbestos ceilings and $24,000 Major
>League salaries, and each time he did that, I was jettisoned right back
>to 2007 so I could wink back at the author over the child reader's
>shoulder. I can't recall ever even hearing or using the term "asbestos"
>as a child until they were their carcinogenic nature became front page
>news in the late 1970s. Also, it didn't seem right to me that Hollings'
>16-year-old sister was a Monkees fan. I didn't know any self-respecting
>16-year-olds in 1967 who were Monkees fans, especially not aspiring
>flower children. I would have expected her to be a Beatles fan. (There
>is a reference to the sister missing a Beatles TV special, but I'm not
>sure there was such a thing aired in the U.S. in early 1968.) In an odd
>way, I think the book would have more successfully given a sense of time
>period if those sorts of details had been left out. They felt tacked on
>or forced to me, and detracted from the story.
>
>I thought "Feathers" by Jacqueline Woodson, set in 1971, did a much
>better job at capturing the era. Other than the mention of a few song
>titles, I can't think of any specific time period details that she
>used. She managed to recreate the feeling of the era through the
>concerns and social interactions of the characters.
>
>KT
>
>
>--
>Kathleen T. Horning
>Director
>Cooperative Children's Book Center
>4290 Helen C. White Hall
>600 N. Park St
>Madison, WI 53706
>
>Phone: 608-263-3721
>FAX: 608-262-4933
>
>horning at education.wisc.edu
>http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
>
>_______________________________________________
>CCBC-Net mailing list
>CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
>Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe...
>http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Sun 30 Dec 2007 10:29:24 PM CST
