I've never heard of Gary Schmidt and his "Wednesday Wars" book, I haven't seen any reviews or reviews, no one has said, Alex, but read this little thing. However, by some mysterious coincidence, she got on my marathon list at the end of December, and now one can only wonder how she managed to do it. Here it is read, and I literally do not know what to do with myself from the joy that has fallen on me!
Sometimes I begin to believe in fate and that there are numerous moments in the fleeting time that we simply must survive, one way or another, but we must. These are points of high tension, and it is in them that the mysterious deja vu occurs. It happens that after a while I begin to trace the connection between such moments, and they lead exactly to my current state. An invisible thread stretches somewhere further into the foggy future, but I do not feel much anxiety, because the Universe takes care of me, and it is better to know that there is a road and landmarks than to feel lost in the wilderness of the world.
Gary D. Schmidt is an American children's writer of nonfiction books and young adult novels, including two Newbery Honor books. He lives on a farm in Alto, Michigan,with his wife and six children, where he splits wood, plants gardens, writes, feeds the wild cats that drop by and wishes that sometimes the sea breeze came that far inland. He is a Professor of English at Calvin College.
But let's put an end to digressions and turn our attention to the young tomboy Holling Woodwood. Please pronounce the last name correctly - not just Wood, namely Woodwood, do not upset the boy, there are enough sorrows and injustices in his life, but he is doing well!
This story is about the life of a seventh grader throughout the school year. We have to accompany Holling to school, to meetings with friends, baseball games and back to the Ideal Home, as the Woodwood family nest is called. As a Presbyterian, young Woodwood is spared the need to go to church and listen to sermons on Wednesdays, but the school curriculum does not provide for exceptions for anyone, and therefore the boy will have to somehow keep the boy busy. And this burden is taken on by the new teacher, Mrs. Baker.
No tragedy happened, all that was needed was to linger in the classroom once a week and carry out some small assignments. But everything would be fine if it were not for the burning hatred, the effect of which Holling felt on himself on the first day of the school year. At the same moment, a lump came up to the throat, and with it came the realization that life turns into torture, and no one guarantees that the young man will live to see the summer holidays and the eighth grade. It would be nice to have allies, but who would believe that an English teacher for nothing, for no reason, decided to turn the life of one of her students into a real hell. Come on, Holling! Confess what you did?
As you may have guessed, we have an exciting journey ahead of us, in which there will be everything - numerous duels, strict looks of “square” eyes, crossed arms, exhausting assignments, rape by Shakespeare, truces and so on and so forth.
“A successful place is sweet. It is doubly sweet when the one to whom you take revenge does not know who exactly took revenge on him.
But I will not spoil the impression and retell any significant details, I will move on to what I loved this book so much for and I thank blind chance that entrusted me with the Wednesday Battles. If you have read Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird", then you are aware of how bright and unclouded by "adult" prejudices the children's vision of life is. These innocent creatures live their own dramas, which sometimes overshadow the intensity of passions of classic plays and biographies of famous personalities. The point is not only the richness of interesting events and the brightness of childhood, but also the sincerity and simplicity with which children interpret the events that happen to them, with their loved ones, with compatriots and the whole world. Only from their lips can one hear words of support for those people against whom public opinion is directed. Only they are able to understand "Romeo and Juliet" and feel for themselves what the opposition of families, whose heads work in competing firms, is like. And only they are able to give up the most desirable things, just not to leave their friends and be with them in difficult times.
Our Holling is the heir to Woodwood & Partners, and as the son of an architect, he must take care of the honor and prestige of the Woodwood clan, and therefore Mr. Woodwood gives very unambiguous target designations regarding how and with whom his offspring should communicate. And thank God the boy does everything in his own way, although he tries not to let his father down.
There are many people in the life of seventh grader Woodwood, among them are best friends - Danny Zapfer, Doug Switek, girlfriend and first love Miril Kowalski, lonely Mei Tai, Vietnamese and an orphan, as well as enemies - Doug Switek's brother, for whom the juvenile colony is crying, eighth graders and, of course, Mrs. Baker. However, it’s worth thinking about her, her motives are painfully confused, and you will never guess whether you deserve her encouragement, or maybe it’s just a step in a multi-way combination that will lead to your, Woodwood, death. In addition, there are other bright personalities in the school, for example, the director, with whom the image of a dictator from a small, poor Latin American country is involuntarily associated. There is a barmaid who is intolerant of Mei Tai, and even in a hat, Miss Seedman wanders the corridors, pursued by evil fate, and all the pranks or tricks of the students in one way or another affect her person, and believe me, she will lead to a ward in a mental hospital.
But now our hero is studying Shakespeare, urged on by a strict teacher's gaze, and meanwhile the Vietnam War is going on, the 68th year is coming, fatal for Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. Beatles ride in yellow submarines, flower children ride Volkswagens, and conservatives denounce freethinking and snort at the mention of Columbia University. This war has affected many in the tiny Long Island town where Holling lives. And although the American government itself sent an army to impose its own rules and bring "peace" to a foreign country, the dead also have families, and they still protect the Vietnamese or not, whether they are fighting for their freedom or for something - then more. Give us back the dead and the missing! With rare exceptions, adults blame the yellow star on the red flag for everything, frown as President Lyndon Johnson assures that there are few losses and the enemy is retreating, and watch in horror the footage of distraught and frightened American soldiers huddling to the ground with their ears closed. palms, and wait out the attack of the Viet Cong. And children, children know about the war, hear about it, it seems to them that it is far away, but they still feel injustice towards people, towards the military, towards their families, towards refugees, and at least towards Mei Tai, which the hatred of others.
Apparently, in adults, “... some kind of gene wakes up in the body and they begin to utter some common truths. And they don’t even listen to you, it’s like you speak a foreign language. Your words work only as a trigger mechanism: once - and the worn-out record spun again.
But it's not for nothing that Shakespeare is mentioned in this book. After all, love and friendship overcome everything! So our hero loves Miril very touchingly, although not everything goes smoothly for them, because “You know, in the seventh grade there is one step from love to hate.” And they share their love with other people, together trying to make the world a better place, to help those whom no one wants to help. And, of course, Zapfer also works with them, where would it be without him.
And so, while the kids are training to hide under the desk from the atomic bomb, while the Yankees begin the new baseball season, and the presidential campaign continues, this book sets you up to think about the eternal. And if we can err in light feelings, then the mistakes of hatred are also forgiven. After all, who knows, maybe your implacable enemy is actually your most reliable friend, investing in your formation and growing up, maybe all trials only harden the body and spirit, and Shakespeare is not such a bore and poseur?
This book revealed to me the beauty, the true beauty of childhood, nature, city, friendship and love. All the most important life values have saturated the pages of this not so well-known book. Gary Schmidt teaches us to love our neighbors, forget about hatred and disagreements, put up with each other and not let resentment fill the void formed in our hearts. "Wednesday Battles" is simply a miracle and an ode to everything beautiful that exists in our life, with its victories and defeats, trials and gifts. A happy ending depends only on us, we can fill it with kindness and warmth.
And it doesn't matter if you found yourself or not, maybe you were just looking for yourself in the wrong place.
“Or it’s just that there wasn’t a person nearby who would suggest that you don’t need to look for yourself at all. You need to be found"
According to Shakespeare, the difference between comedy and tragedy is not at all in humor, but in the fact that the heroes of the tragedy do not have power over their fate, and the heroes of the comedy, even after all the misfortunes that have fallen on them, remain strong, courageous and free, they go further towards their goals and continue to live, disposing of what they have. Thanks Schmidt, you inspired me to re-read Julius Caesar, Macbeth, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, etc. Now I can look through the eyes of Holling Woodwood at these immortal works. Well, of course, replenish the arsenal with your favorite curses in the spirit of:
"All toads, reptiles, spells of Sycorax!"
Comments