1. The Wednesday Wars
By: Alex Ok

2. Summary
The book takes place in Camillo Junior High, Long Island. The year is in The main characters are Holling, Mrs. Baker, and Heather. In the beginning Holling thinks that Mrs. Baker hates him and is plotting an evil plan against him. I just think that Mrs. Baker is just annoyed that she has to be with Holling every Wednesday and not be doing something else. Mrs. Bigo baked cream puffs for veterans. When the students had to leave for church they threaten him to not eat one. The students herd that Holling did have one so they gave Holling one week to buy every one a cream puff. Holling didn’t have enough money to buy the cream puffs so he had to be in an embarrassing play to get the cream puffs. Mrs. Baker and Hollings are reading Shakespeare plays at Wednesdays. Holling asks Meryl Lee If she will go out with him on Valentines Day. Holling takes Meryl Lee to the Romeo and Juliet the play. Holling got the two tickets as a gift from Mrs. Bigo. After the play they got two Hamburgers and Cokes. Holling showed Meryl Lee the blueprints of the school design of his dads which was a mistake because Meryl Lee showed her dad and the dad used the ideas in the presentation. The GYM coach wanted to start a Cross Country team and everybody had to tryout. During Wednesdays Mrs. Baker help Holling be the best at Cross Country. During tryouts Holling had the best time because two rats chased him the whole time. At the Cross Country meet Mrs. Baker told Holling to be first on his last lap. One day Holling’s mom found a note in Heather’s room saying she left to find herself. Mrs. Baker been worried about her husband in the war because the news says Mr. Baker was one of the Marines that disappeared. One night Heather called crying that she was stuck at a bus station to Holling. She didn’t have enough money to buy a ticket. The next day Holling cashed in a ticket for $52. He sent the money to the bus station where Heather is. Holling went to New York City to pick his sister up and brought her back home. Mrs. Baker got an letter saying that Mr. baker will come home in time for sweet strawberries. Mrs. Baker’s class went camping. After the class went camping Holling, his family, Meryl Lee, Mai Thai, Mrs. Baker, and The kowaski family came to watch Danny do a speech for his Bar mitzvah. After that everyone brought strawberries for Mr. Baker when he arrived.

3. Character Analysis of Main Character
Holling is a hard worker. He is also a problem solver. He will be there if you need help. He helps like when he helped Mrs. Baker get all of the cream puffs from the first floor to the third floor one tray after the other. How he helped Mr. Goldman by be in his Shakespeare play and humiliating himself. Also when he helped his sister Heather come back home by giving her money for a bus trip back and being there for her. Holling is also a good friend and kind. Mrs. Baker is a helpful person. She helped Holling be one of the best Cross Country runners by showing him how to run better. She is a good teacher like when she showed Holling all of the Architecture in the community and how important it is. Of course she also has everything a teacher is like be annoyed by the students and being scared of rodents. But she can also be a person you want to hang out with from time to time. She can also be nice and friendly. In the end of the story I think Mrs. Baker and Holling are friends from all of the bonds they had every Wednesday. Like reading Shakespeare together, Training for the Cross Country try outs, being afraid of two loose rats, seeing architecture, and camping together.

4. Review
I give this book a 9 out of 5 stars because I like the the problems that Holling faces in the story and how he solves them. For example: Holling had to buy his classmates cream puffs or they were going to do something bad to him. Since he didn’t have enough money to buy them he had to be in a play dressed in a embarrassing costume to get cream puffs. I also liked the relationship changes in the story. Like in the beginning Holling hated Mrs. Baker but in the end liked her. I don’t give it a ten stars because it wasn’t like the absolute best book I read.

5. Recommendation
I recommend this book to any fifth grader who likes reading about Shakespeare. I also recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about school problems when the teacher and students kind of hate the main character. Also complicated family problems with business. This book has an interesting relationship in it to go with the book. It is basically a regular 1967 school life at Camillo Junior High.