Summer Reading Technology Project
The Wednesday Wars, By Gary Schmidt
Setting
The setting of this book takes place In Holling, the main characters, school and his neighborhood where they just moved into.
The Main Character
In the Wednesday Wars Holling is an ordinary kid with an annoying sister and a middle class neighborhood. In the book Holling is very patient with his mean teacher and is very respectful to his dad. This is because Hollings dad works in architecture and Hollings teacher is one of his clients. All through the book Holling is being told by others to deal with it and that is what he does, and in the end it turns out well.
The Conflict
Once his teacher, Mrs.Baker, knew he didn't go to church on Wednesday like everyone else she said, "I guess that Wednesday afternoons will be busy after all." After Holling heard these words he knew she hated his guts, and to make matters worse on Wednesdays she made him clean the chalk erasers and read Shakespeare! Some days when everyone went out to recess Mrs.Baker would make him do chores for her. But Holling handled this very well because he knew he had to be nice to Mrs. Baker.
The Plot
Exposition - Holling is meeting his new teacher and learning that she hates his guts.
Rising Action - Holling try's to keep his temper after his teacher makes him work for her.
Climax - Holling is embarrassed because the hole school learned Holling played a role in a play and had to where tights because he was the fairy.
Falling Action - Holling saves his sister from a bus hitting her and the school forgets about the play.
Resolution - Holling finds out his teacher doesn't hate his guts and was only trying to help him, and his dad got the contract from Mrs. Baker's family.
Summary
In The Wednesday Wars Holling is an ordinary kid with an annoying sister and a normal house but when he arrives at school on the first day he finds out that this year isn't going to be so normal after all. Once his teacher, Mrs.Baker, knew he didn't go to church on Wednesday like everyone else she said, "I guess that Wednesday afternoons will be busy after all." After Holling heard these words he knew she hated his guts, and to make matters worse on Wednesdays she made him clean the chalk erasers and read Shakespeare! Some days when everyone went out to recess Mrs.Baker would make him do chores for her. But Holling handled this very well because he knew he had to be nice to Mrs. Baker. This was because Hollings dad works in architecture and Mrs. Baker's family is one of his dads clients. Holling respected his dads authority when he said to be nice to her and never disobeyed his father no madder what thing she made him do. This tells you Holling is very respectful and is very patient, to be able to put up with Mrs. Baker. One day Holling went by the bakery to buy some cream puffs but he was a few dollars short. He asked the baker if he could earn the extra cash. The baker said he needed someone that knew Shakespeare to be in his play. Holling was surprised at this and realized that Shakespeare wasn't so bad after all. Once Holling arrived at his first dress rehearsal he found out that his outfit was extremely embarrassing and that he was playing the role of a fairy. After the play Holling read the news in the paper, and he saw himself on the front page prancing around as a fairy on the stage. When he got to school he found this photo taped all over the school. It was the most embarrassing moment of his life. The next day there was a blizzard, but Holling's principle was crazy so, with the roads filled with ice, they got picked up by the buses. The next day was just like the last with people calling Holling names, such as fairy boy, and people looking at him like he's crazy. After school Holling started to walk home but on the way one of the buses lost control and Holling's sister was standing at the wrong place at the wrong time. Almost immediately a sense of heroism kicked in and Holling dived at her and saved her from the bus. The next day came bad news and good news. The good news was that everyone respected him now but the bad news was he suffered a bad injury to his posterior. In the next few days Holling found out that his teacher, Mrs. Baker, really didn't hate his guts. In fact, she thought the opposite about him. For example she gave him cream puffs and she took only him on a field trip. They also went to a baseball game with some other classmates and after the game the baseball players recognized Mrs.Baker who used to be a track athlete for the U.S. This meant Holling got to meet the players and have a tour of the stadium. In the end Holling changed his perception of Mrs.Baker and they became friends. This was surprising because Holling never thought he would ever be friends with a teacher.