For September's Book Club, we read The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. Ian, Logan and Mark were present. This is what we discussed.
1. Why is Holling convinced Mrs. Baker hates him?
-Because she's always giving him bad looks
-She's gives him the stink eye.
2. Mrs. Baker says that Shakespeare "is never boring to the true soul." What does she mean by that remark...what is a "true soul"?
-Someone who is kind and genuine.
-Lying was prohibited in Shakespeare's time.
-A pure soul.
-Happy.
-Slightly imperfect because no one is perfect.
3. What is it about Shakespeare that Holling comes to appreciate?
-Holling sees relations between his own life and things that happen in the books/plays
-He might feel like he's similar to Shakespeare
4. How do the Shakespearean plays Holling reads reflect the events in his life?
-In Hamlet, the Danish prince was trying to find himself. Holling's sister intended to go to California to find herself but only made it to Minneapolis.
5. What do you think about Holling's parents? What kind of parents are they? What is uppermost in Mr. Hoodhood's life?
-Mr. Hoodhood expects the best of his children.
-He's always got to get the best of everything.
-He is planning out Holling's future without letting Holling have any say
-The dad doesn't want Heather to go to college.
6. Does the author do a good job of describing the problems faced by seventh graders—friendship, bullying, parents, siblings, teacher expectations?
-That's the basic version of realistic fiction for middle school books that everyone likes
-At the end of the story, everything shows out in a specific way. Everyone ends up getting along.
-With most good books, the end is the only thing that makes complete sense and brings everyone together.
7. What episodes did you find especially funny? The rats episode, the yellow tights, the cream puffs?
-My favorite part was with the track.
-One of the funny parts is the rats and the yellow tights.
8. Talk about the line, "when the gods die, they die hard." What symbolic "gods" die for Holling?
-Mickey Mantle
-His father
-His mom might be a little disappointing
9. In what way does Holling grow by the end of the book? What does he learn...how does he change?
-Don't be friends with Mickey Mantle
-Holling grows by knowing what Shakespeare meant by all of his plays. What it means to be a person and what happens in everyone's lives. He understands friendship.
-He understands what it is to have a life and to be a human being.
10. Mrs. Baker advises Holling to "Learn everything you can—everything. And then use all that you have learned to be a wise and good man." Does, or will, Holling live up to that advice?
-Maybe
-I think he does because he learns all of the lessons from Shakespeare
-He's learning what true life is about
-4 1/2
-5
-3 1/2
For October's Book Club, we will be reading Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling:
| New friends and a mystery help Aden, thirteen, adjust to middle school and life at a dying western theme park in a new state, where her being born armless presents many challenges. Please be sure to pick up your copy and register for the Club at the Circulation Desk! |
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