In our last episode of She Made Me Do It, we asked the queen of reader's advisory, Karen, to give us a few recommendations. She responded by giving us each three books that we'd never heard of and that basically all sound amazing. Next week I (Catie) will be reviewing one of her picks for me: Serena by Ron Rash, which was dark and brutal and right up my alley. But in the mean time, while we've all been slacking off, Karen has already read all four of the books we recommended to her! Here today, we are happy to host two of her reviews. These are the recommendations for Karen from Flannery: a double dose of Gary D. Schmidt. Take it away, Karen!
The Wednesday Wars
Author: Gary D. Schmidt
Publication Date: 5/21/07
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
[Goodreads | Amazon]
Blurb(GR): Gary D. Schmidt offers an unforgettable antihero in THE WEDNESDAY WARS—a wonderfully witty and compelling novel about a teenage boy’s mishaps and adventures over the course of the 1967–68 school year.
Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High, who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn’t like Holling—he’s sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like Vietnam. His father wants Holling and his sister to be on their best behavior: the success of his business depends on it. But how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? A bully demanding cream puffs; angry rats; and a baseball hero signing autographs the very same night Holling has to appear in a play in yellow tights! As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds Motivation—the Big M—in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself.
Review:
this book is very...sweet. and ordinarily, a sweet book would make me feel like i had chiggers or something else foul crawling under my skin, and its earnest gee-whizzery would make me feel unclean just because of my mental rolodex of words that are more satisfying to say in moments of astonishment or crisis than "gee whiz."
but this one was different. this one was entirely wholesome, yeah, but wholesome and satisfying like fresh-baked bread, and i didn't want to roll my eyes at all.
this book is many things, but for me, the best part is the inspirational-teacher aspect of it. i loved the way holling's character changed under mrs. baker's ministrations; how his worldview expanded through shakespeare as he was able to find parallels between the stories of shakespeare and the trials facing him in his own life.he went from a boy who was scared of his teacher and believed everyone was against him, to a confident, articulate boy who found the strength to stand up to his father,fight injustice and face his fears.
my only complaint is that there isn't much in the way of dramatic tension. you learn pretty early on that any time something negative could happen, it is like there is a teflon bubble of groovy sixties optimism that just protects him from bad times. and this despite the backdrop of the vietnam war. but it is middle grade, and who wants to make a ten-year-old cry, right? but- yeah - it is pretty forrest gumpy, down to the running and everything. but it means well, and it is a sweet story that i am glad i read.
4/5 Stars
Author: Gary D. Schmidt
Publication Date: 5/21/07
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
[Goodreads | Amazon]
Blurb(GR): Gary D. Schmidt offers an unforgettable antihero in THE WEDNESDAY WARS—a wonderfully witty and compelling novel about a teenage boy’s mishaps and adventures over the course of the 1967–68 school year.
Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High, who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn’t like Holling—he’s sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like Vietnam. His father wants Holling and his sister to be on their best behavior: the success of his business depends on it. But how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? A bully demanding cream puffs; angry rats; and a baseball hero signing autographs the very same night Holling has to appear in a play in yellow tights! As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds Motivation—the Big M—in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself.
Review:
this book is very...sweet. and ordinarily, a sweet book would make me feel like i had chiggers or something else foul crawling under my skin, and its earnest gee-whizzery would make me feel unclean just because of my mental rolodex of words that are more satisfying to say in moments of astonishment or crisis than "gee whiz."
but this one was different. this one was entirely wholesome, yeah, but wholesome and satisfying like fresh-baked bread, and i didn't want to roll my eyes at all.
this book is many things, but for me, the best part is the inspirational-teacher aspect of it. i loved the way holling's character changed under mrs. baker's ministrations; how his worldview expanded through shakespeare as he was able to find parallels between the stories of shakespeare and the trials facing him in his own life.he went from a boy who was scared of his teacher and believed everyone was against him, to a confident, articulate boy who found the strength to stand up to his father,fight injustice and face his fears.
my only complaint is that there isn't much in the way of dramatic tension. you learn pretty early on that any time something negative could happen, it is like there is a teflon bubble of groovy sixties optimism that just protects him from bad times. and this despite the backdrop of the vietnam war. but it is middle grade, and who wants to make a ten-year-old cry, right? but- yeah - it is pretty forrest gumpy, down to the running and everything. but it means well, and it is a sweet story that i am glad i read.
4/5 Stars
Okay For Now
Author: Gary D. Schmidt
Publication Date: 4/5/11
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
[Goodreads | Amazon]
Blurb(GR): Midwesterner Gary D. Schmidt won Newbery Honor awards for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boys and The Wednesday Wars, two coming-of-age novels about unlikely friends finding a bond. Okay For Now, his latest novel, explores another seemingly improbable alliance, this one between new outsider in town Doug Swieteck and Lil Spicer, the savvy spitfire daughter of his deli owner boss. With her challenging assistance, Doug discovers new sides of himself. Along the way, he also readjusts his relationship with his abusive father, his school peers, and his older brother, a newly returned war victim of Vietnam.
Review:
oh, wow.
ariel is going to be so cross with me - this betrayal is worse than my love of graceling. but it has to be said: i liked this book even better than the wednesday wars.
i gave them both 4 stars because i'm nutty like that, but i feel more for this character than for goody-gumdrops holling, even though i did love the wednesday wars a lot.
doug's obstacles are just so much greater than having to wear feathers on his b*tt, and while he remains eerily good-natured throughout his struggles, he does occasionally lash out in a way that feels realistic, even though considering how much he has had to endure, you would expect his reactions to be even stronger and more dramatic.
but this is not that kind of book.
despite the stakes being raised much higher in this one, the bottom line is still the same: people have something to offer, even people who seem completely inflexible, and everyone can be useful if you take the time to figure out where they are coming from and get past their prejudices or their seeming indifference or surface-meanness. it is about helping people and being helped in turn, but it isn't some feel-gooderie karma-novel. yes, it is about the importance of taking into consideration where people are coming from before you judge them or write them off, but it definitely isn't all sweetness and light.
this book, like the first, is full of inspirational-type adults. it is bursting with that small-town "it takes a village" mentality that is largely absent from modern life and storytelling. and it feels good. but it also touches on the other half of small-town living - how quickly gossip spreads and public opinion can turn the tide and treat even a kid with a cold shoulder when the gossip flows against his family.
also like wwars, it is about a kid learning about something and using it to see the world in a new way. with wwars, it was shakespeare, with this one, it is through art. which sounds facile, but schmidt really pulls it off.
a good deal of this book hinges on the problematic nature of perception, and how frustrating it is to be judged by the actions of one's family. doug comes from an abusive home, and this book has one of the most shocking acts of cruelty i have ever read, which i did not see coming at all. he has two brothers, one of whom is perceived as a hooligan, and accused of all manner of nefarious acts. the other has gone off to the vietnam war, and comes back greatly changed. his father has "fast hands," and regularly steals the few things doug treasures. compound that with having to move to a shabby house in a new town, and a serious academic liability, and it would be completely understandable if he became hard and cruel, or alternately retreated into himself and became a cowering mess. but he is neither. some people, when faced with early childhood trauma, emerge, not unscathed, but tempered by what they have had to endure and become devoted to righting injustices to shake off their feeling of powerlessness.
and that's what doug does. nothing grand, nothing precociously eye-rolling, but when mr powell, the inspirational librarian, begins to teach doug to draw, using an original of audubon's birds of america, and laments that some of the plates have been sold to help the town's finances, doug vows to get them back.
but that is only a portion of this novel, which gets bigger and bigger the more i reflect upon it.
the character of lucas was particularly well-done, and i felt for him the entire time he was on the page. just beautiful stuff. if only i could cry...
but, yeah -a great book. the ending was the only thing that prevented this from a five-star, it seemed like he wanted to throw in just one more obstacle and it felt imperfectly-done. but other than that- seriously - a phenomenal book. wow.
4/5 Stars
Author: Gary D. Schmidt
Publication Date: 4/5/11
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
[Goodreads | Amazon]
Blurb(GR): Midwesterner Gary D. Schmidt won Newbery Honor awards for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boys and The Wednesday Wars, two coming-of-age novels about unlikely friends finding a bond. Okay For Now, his latest novel, explores another seemingly improbable alliance, this one between new outsider in town Doug Swieteck and Lil Spicer, the savvy spitfire daughter of his deli owner boss. With her challenging assistance, Doug discovers new sides of himself. Along the way, he also readjusts his relationship with his abusive father, his school peers, and his older brother, a newly returned war victim of Vietnam.
Review:
oh, wow.
ariel is going to be so cross with me - this betrayal is worse than my love of graceling. but it has to be said: i liked this book even better than the wednesday wars.
i gave them both 4 stars because i'm nutty like that, but i feel more for this character than for goody-gumdrops holling, even though i did love the wednesday wars a lot.
doug's obstacles are just so much greater than having to wear feathers on his b*tt, and while he remains eerily good-natured throughout his struggles, he does occasionally lash out in a way that feels realistic, even though considering how much he has had to endure, you would expect his reactions to be even stronger and more dramatic.
but this is not that kind of book.
despite the stakes being raised much higher in this one, the bottom line is still the same: people have something to offer, even people who seem completely inflexible, and everyone can be useful if you take the time to figure out where they are coming from and get past their prejudices or their seeming indifference or surface-meanness. it is about helping people and being helped in turn, but it isn't some feel-gooderie karma-novel. yes, it is about the importance of taking into consideration where people are coming from before you judge them or write them off, but it definitely isn't all sweetness and light.
this book, like the first, is full of inspirational-type adults. it is bursting with that small-town "it takes a village" mentality that is largely absent from modern life and storytelling. and it feels good. but it also touches on the other half of small-town living - how quickly gossip spreads and public opinion can turn the tide and treat even a kid with a cold shoulder when the gossip flows against his family.
also like wwars, it is about a kid learning about something and using it to see the world in a new way. with wwars, it was shakespeare, with this one, it is through art. which sounds facile, but schmidt really pulls it off.
a good deal of this book hinges on the problematic nature of perception, and how frustrating it is to be judged by the actions of one's family. doug comes from an abusive home, and this book has one of the most shocking acts of cruelty i have ever read, which i did not see coming at all. he has two brothers, one of whom is perceived as a hooligan, and accused of all manner of nefarious acts. the other has gone off to the vietnam war, and comes back greatly changed. his father has "fast hands," and regularly steals the few things doug treasures. compound that with having to move to a shabby house in a new town, and a serious academic liability, and it would be completely understandable if he became hard and cruel, or alternately retreated into himself and became a cowering mess. but he is neither. some people, when faced with early childhood trauma, emerge, not unscathed, but tempered by what they have had to endure and become devoted to righting injustices to shake off their feeling of powerlessness.
and that's what doug does. nothing grand, nothing precociously eye-rolling, but when mr powell, the inspirational librarian, begins to teach doug to draw, using an original of audubon's birds of america, and laments that some of the plates have been sold to help the town's finances, doug vows to get them back.
but that is only a portion of this novel, which gets bigger and bigger the more i reflect upon it.
the character of lucas was particularly well-done, and i felt for him the entire time he was on the page. just beautiful stuff. if only i could cry...
but, yeah -a great book. the ending was the only thing that prevented this from a five-star, it seemed like he wanted to throw in just one more obstacle and it felt imperfectly-done. but other than that- seriously - a phenomenal book. wow.
4/5 Stars
Thank you so much for joining us again today, Karen!
