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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSSeventh-grader Holling Hoodhood is convinced his teacher hates him. Every Wednesday afternoon in 1967, while his Jewish classmates go to Hebrew school and his Catholic classmates go to Catechism, Holling is the only student left behind with Mrs. Baker at Camillo Junior High on Long Island. Holling is Presbyterian, which means he has nowhere to be and no escape. He spends those Wednesday afternoons cleaning chalkboards and pounding erasers, certain that Mrs. Baker is plotting his destruction, until she makes an unexpected decision: they are going to read Shakespeare together. Holling braces for boredom, but the plays turn out to be something else entirely, and so does Mrs. Baker, as the school year unfolds against the backdrop of 1967 and 1968 America, a country shaken by the Vietnam War, political assassinations, and a family very much at odds with itself.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Wednesday Wars
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about The Wednesday Wars. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book do two enormous rats escape from a classroom cage and climb into the radiators and ceiling tiles?
✓ Answer
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Holling is cleaning the cage when the rats escape into the Coat Room and then up into the walls. The principal starts a secret Campaign Against the Escapees that goes on for months.
- First half
In what book does a boy wind up wearing bright yellow tights with white feathers attached to the seat?
✓ Answer
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Mr. Goldman casts Holling as Ariel in the Long Island Shakespeare Company's Holiday Extravaganza. The costume becomes the source of months of humiliation for him.
- First half
In what book does a seventh grader save his sister from a sliding school bus at an icy intersection?
✓ Answer
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Holling throws himself at his sister to push her out of the bus's path on Lee Avenue. The bumper catches him on the seat of his pants and sends him flying into a snowbank.
- Second half
In what book does a seventh grader suggest his teacher praise students with "Azalea" and "Chrysanthemum"?
✓ Answer
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
When Holling tries to coach Mrs. Baker before the school board observation, he suggests she use flower code words. She politely declines, but later quietly tells him "Azalea" after his recitation.
- Second half
In what book does a cook apologize by serving a Vietnamese student fried bananas with nuoc mau?
✓ Answer
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
After Mai Thi is bullied with cruel comments about rats, Mrs. Bigio prepares fried bananas with Vietnamese caramel sauce. When she gets to Mai Thi's desk, she sets the plate down and says she is so sorry.
- Near the end
In what book does a sister cry into a Minneapolis payphone before her coins run out?
✓ Answer
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Heather calls late at night from a bus station with only four dollars to her name. Her brother tells her to get to a Western Union station just as the line goes dead for lack of thirty-five cents.
