The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt is a historical fiction novel that won a John Newbery Medal. Seventh grader Holling Hoodhood has a new teacher, who he is left alone with every Wednesday due to the rest of the class going to religious teachings. Mrs. Baker makes Holling do many tasks, from cleaning the blackboard erasers to reading Shakespeare! Living in the late 1970s, atomic bomb threats are already stressful enough. Can he make it through the seventh grade, and will he be able to grow up as well?

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