Thursday, February 21, 2008

A Couple More Books

Another middle school novel The Wednesday Wars made me laugh out loud in the middle of silent reading today. (Turned into a great teaching moment, when I shared a passage.) This is a terrific book. Holling Hoodhood is a 7th grader who lives in the Perfect House in the Perfect Neighborhood in 1967 New York. He has the bad luck (to him) of having to spend Wednesday afternoons alone with his teacher Mrs. Baker while every other person in his class goes to CCD or Hebrew school. He is the only Presbyterian in his class and thus has no place to go. The novel follows him month by month as he discovers that perhaps Mrs. Baker doesn't hate his guts, he learns a great deal about Shakespeare, how to handle a bully, and of course, about himself. It's really funny and serious too as events of 1967 and 1968 play out (Viet Nam, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr, and Bobby Kennedy) My 8th grade nephew recommended the book to me, and he has great taste! I loved this one.



The 2nd book I finished was so-so. The Friday Night Knitting Club It was slow to get going, and was pretty predictable.

I really should get some of my serious reading done--- but I'm just not in the mood!

1 comment:

Cathy said...

I know how you feel about getting serious reading done...however... I do enjoy the lighter stuff too!