The Wednesday Wars Summary
Gary Schmidt

The Wednesday Wars Overview

The Wednesday Wars tells the story of Holling Hoodhood’s year in seventh grade. The story takes place in 1968 when the Vietnam war is being fought. Every Wednesday students are dismissed for religious instruction. Catholics go to the Catholic Church. Jews go to the Jewish temple. Holling is the only Presbyterian, so he spends his Wednesday afternoons with his teacher Mrs. Baker. In September he does chores, but Mrs. Baker begins assigning him Shakespeare’s play to read. At first Holling believes that his teacher hates him, but he discovers that she has her own issues to deal with.Through the troubled relationship with his father, encounters with bullies, acting in a Shakespearean play, dealing with school, and other events, Holling loses his self-absorption and begins to see and empathize with the struggles others are facing. He also learns that he does not have to accept the destiny his father chooses for him, but he can choose his own.