What Would Holling Hoodhood Do?
Feb. 12th, 2008 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penmageI have a new hero, and his name is Holling Hoodhood. Holling Hoodhood is the protagonist of Gary Schmidt's immesurably wonderful The Wednesday Wars, which has just wormed its way into The Top Ten Greatest Books I Have Ever Read.
From now on, my motto is going to be, "What Would Holling Hoodhood do?"
Because really, if it's good enough for Holling, it's good enough for me.
The Wednesday Wars is a book, among other things, about the way people surprise us. Sometimes in a bad way. Mostly in a good way. It's about the way things aren't usually what they seem to be on the surface--about how everyone has layers, everyone has depth--even your English teacher, who seems to have been born behind a desk, red pen in her hand.
If you care about children's literature, if you like reading middle-grade books, you owe it to yourself to read this one, because it is without question one of the best things I've read in a long time. Go out and buy it. Yes, in hardcover. It's worth it. You'll want to own it. You'll want to reread it.
It made me cry on the subway. And not even at the climax.
I can't remember the last middle-grade book that made me cry.
It's also made me laugh out loud, also on the subway. That uncontrolled, people-will-think-I'm-crazy-but-this-is-just-so-funny laugh out loud. Janet Evanovich laugh out loud.
It's sad. It's hilariously funny. It's a hundred different emotions wrapped up in one packed middle-grade package. It's about life, really.
I am going to write a more detailed review after I finish it. Right now I am in the middle. I don't want it to end. I also can't stop reading. I wanted to share this with you because I can't contain how much I love this book.
From now on, my motto is going to be, "What Would Holling Hoodhood do?"
Because really, if it's good enough for Holling, it's good enough for me.
The Wednesday Wars is a book, among other things, about the way people surprise us. Sometimes in a bad way. Mostly in a good way. It's about the way things aren't usually what they seem to be on the surface--about how everyone has layers, everyone has depth--even your English teacher, who seems to have been born behind a desk, red pen in her hand.
If you care about children's literature, if you like reading middle-grade books, you owe it to yourself to read this one, because it is without question one of the best things I've read in a long time. Go out and buy it. Yes, in hardcover. It's worth it. You'll want to own it. You'll want to reread it.
It made me cry on the subway. And not even at the climax.
I can't remember the last middle-grade book that made me cry.
It's also made me laugh out loud, also on the subway. That uncontrolled, people-will-think-I'm-crazy-but-this-is-just-so-funny laugh out loud. Janet Evanovich laugh out loud.
It's sad. It's hilariously funny. It's a hundred different emotions wrapped up in one packed middle-grade package. It's about life, really.
I am going to write a more detailed review after I finish it. Right now I am in the middle. I don't want it to end. I also can't stop reading. I wanted to share this with you because I can't contain how much I love this book.
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Date: 2008-02-13 06:26 pm (UTC)And I do mean sold--I went to my local independent bookstore today and had them order it for me (I love going to a bookstore where the person in the children's department has actually heard of most of the titles I throw at her). Thanks so much for the rec!
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Date: 2008-02-13 06:32 pm (UTC)