Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt takes place in America in 1967 during the war in Vietnam. Holling Hoodhood just started 7th grade, and already knows that his teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates his guts. Of course, his parents and his "flower child" sister who supports in Bobby Kennedy don't believe him.
Mrs. Baker made Holling see her every Wednesday after school to read Shakespeare. And that has a lot to do with the story.
Mrs. Baker and Holling changed by the end of the story because Holling didn't think Mrs. Baker hated him anymore. It turned out that Mrs. Baker was really nice, and she brought him to baseball games and introduced him to Joe Pepitone and Horace Clarke.
I think the ending to Wednesday War was really good. You see, Mrs. Baker's husband was in Vietnam, lost in a jungle. Mrs. Baker had gotten a telegram saying the army was sending a helicopter to look for him. Then near the end of the book Mrs. Baker got a telegram from him. It said-
SWEET EYES STOP OUT OF JUNGLE STOP OK STOP HOME IN TIME FOR STRAWBERRIES STOP LOVE TY STOP
Holling said Shakespeare couldn't write better. Then, on the very last page, Mrs. Baker and Lieutenant Baker saw each other again. I can't say what happened, though. But, as Holling said, toads, beetles, bats. If you can't figure that out for yourself, then a southwest blow on ye and blister you all o'er. Because let me tell you, it was a happy ending.
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