https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7 en-us 2023-02-17 13:28:26 UTC 2023-02-23 22:56:10 UTC hello@padlet.com asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2486339368 I chose this book because when I was looking through the library for a book to read, most of the books I saw didn't really interest me. Then I saw this book and it looked like a book about a student who was problems in school. This already interested me but it also reminded me of a book I read before, "The War with Grandpa". This was a book which i enjoyed reading so I figured that I would also enjoy this book. ]]> 2023-02-17 13:44:36 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2486339368 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2486821675 "Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillo Junior High, there was one kid that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun. 

Me. And let me tell you, it wasn't for anything I'd done.

 If it had been Doug Swieteck that Mrs. Baker hated, it would have made sense. 

Doug Swieteck once made up a list of 410 ways to get a teacher to hate you. It began with 'Spray deodorant in all her desk drawers' and got worse as it went along. A whole lot worse. I think that things became illegal around Number 167. You don't want to know what Number 400 was, and you really don't want to know what Number 410 was. But I'll tell you this much: They were the kinds of things that sent kids to juvenile."

The opening of this book really makes you immediately see that this book is made for middle schoolers - high schoolers. The book opens up with "Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillo Junior High, there was one kid that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun." These opening lines works so well because it hooks a student which goes to a school. It hooks students because I think we have all felt like a specific teacher hated us with a passion. This makes a connection which is really good for a hook and also, it makes a student really curious to see why someone would be hated. Also, we would want to read more to see what the teacher does and how the student reacts to the teacher. 

This opening did not drop me since I made that connection to the narrator of the book. This made me want to read more to see if he had any similar experiences to me. Also, me personally, I love reading or watching a movie about a student going to school. I feel like the school experience is just so entertaining and I just love reading about student's experience at a school. This is why, in my opinion, this book has a good opening, it hooked the read (who in this case is me) and made me want to read more. So in my case, it doesn't really drop the reader. Maybe for adults and people who don't really like reading about school experiences would drop the book here but not me. 
(This quote is on page 1)]]> 2023-02-17 22:28:40 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2486821675 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2486855954 "'Dad, Mrs. Baker hates my guts.'
'What did you do?' 
'I didn't do anything. She just hates my guts.'
'People don't just hate your guts unless you do something to them. So what did you do?'
'Nothing.'
'This is Betty Baker, right?'
'I guess.'
'The Betty Baker who belongs to the Baker family.' 
See what I mean about that gene thing? They miss the entire point of what you're saying. 
'I guess she belongs to the Baker family,' I said. 
'The Baker family that owns the Baker Sporting Emporium.'
'Dad, she hates my guts.'
'The Baker Sporting Emporium, which is about to choose an architect for its new building and which is considering Hoodhood and Associates among its top three choices.'
'Dad...'
'So, Holling, what did you do that might make Mrs. Baker hate your guts, which will make other Baker family members hate the name of Hoodhood, which will lead the Baker Sporting Emporium to choose another architect, which will kill the deal for Hoodhood and Associates, which will drive us into bankruptcy, which will encourage several lending institutions around the state to send representatives to our front stoop holding papers that have lots of legal words on them?-none of them good?-and which will mean that there will be no Hoodhood and Associates for you to take over when I'm ready to retire?'"

This big section of dialogue is critical to the advancement of the plot of the text. When Holling just wanted to tell his parent about Mrs. Baker and how to deal with her, but when he was telling his dad, his dad got really angry because his company is trying to make a deal with Mrs. Baker's company and doesn't want his family to get on her families bad side. He tells Holling very strictly that he better stay on Mrs. Baker's good side but this is very hard for Holling. Holling just continues to keep getting in trouble with her and he is trying his best to make his dad proud. 
Throughout the text, Holling tries to whatever he can to stay out of trouble and whenever he does something bad, this conversation comes back up. This is why this dialogue is very important and crucial to the development of the text. (This dialogue happened on pages 7 and 8)]]> 2023-02-18 00:06:26 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2486855954 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2486860555 The theme of "The Wednesday Wars" was the coming of age and realizing everything around you while you get older. The theme of "The Wednesday Wars" is essentially the story of how Holling Hoodhood became mature and grew up. He was pretty passive and average when the book begins. When he tells his sister about Mrs. Baker, she even advises him to show some guts. The only unique thing about Holling is that he has a lot of creativity and wants adventure but aside from that, he is generally a typical, average young person who does not really had any unusual experiences. Throughout his seventh-grade year, both his average experiences and him change. He goes from being a young boy who was largely alone to becoming a member of a complicated social system. Also, at the beginning of the book, he went from hating Mrs. Baker and thinking she was a villain and an an alien to thinking of her as a teacher/mentor who genuinely wants to help him. (and she did.) The sessions with Mrs. Baker on Wednesday went from being wars and tortures to tutoring sessions and ways to make Holling grow. During this book, a lot of things happen to him, like his sister running away and his dad losing a huge contract deal for his business. This puts a lot of pressure on him and forces him to grow up. Throughout the book, you can see Holling Hoodhood go from being a self-absorbed child to a empathetic teenager. The book goes from Holling narrating the book from his limited first-person narrative and us knowing only what he thinks to him telling the story of what actually happened. ]]> 2023-02-18 00:20:28 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2486860555 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487197421 One unknown word I found in the book was chaplain. This word is in page number 3 in the book. I inferred this was a job because it was talking about how someone's father was a chaplain and before the word, they were talking about what the student's parents jobs were so that is how I inferred this. This word means a person who is a member of a religious group. This person is usually attached with a private religious institute or the army. That is the denotation of the word. The connotation of the word makes the text feel much more religious and also emphasizes that Holling is different from the others and he is the "odd one out". Other than that, the connotation is pretty neutral and doesn't really add much to the text. 
This word is in this quote on page 3, "But last summer, Ben Cummings moved to Connecticut so his father could work in Groton, and Ian MacAlister moved to Biloxi so his father could be a chaplain at the base there instead of the pastor at Saint Andrew's?" ]]> 2023-02-18 17:34:41 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487197421 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487210045 The unknown word on this page is penitentiary and it is on page 11 in "The Wednesday Wars." This word, while reading it, I could infer that it was a place where people who have done wrong things go and then the actual denotation is a prison/correctional institute where people have done serious crimes. I inferred this using context clues. I looked around the word and it was talking about how the bad students were doing serious things which could land them in big trouble. Then Holling said they are probably trying to get into something. Using background knowledge, whenever someone does something really bad, other people usually say they are trying to get into prison. This is how I inferred this definition. The connotation of this word is very negative but it makes the scene more comedic too. It is saying that the people in his school are very bad and then made it a little bit more comedic by saying that they want to go to prison. 
This quote appeared in this sentence in the book: "It was what eighth graders whose career goal was the state penitentiary did."]]> 2023-02-18 18:10:04 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487210045 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487217522 A unknown word on this page is ladled. When I was reading, using context clues, I inferred that it meant moving something from one container to another. I inferred this by seeing that the text was talking about putting the soup into different containers and ladled was the verb. This means the verb will probably to do something with pouring the soup into different containers. Then I looked for the actual denotation and it actually meant to put a liquid into a container using a large spoon. The connotation of this word is pretty neutral and it just gives a lot more description. 
This is the quote where this word appeared in: "Just as we saw the first star, Mrs. Bigio and Mai Thi ladled the stew out into bowls? "]]> 2023-02-18 18:31:51 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487217522 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487390359 During the Wednesday afternoons with Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Baker wanted Holling to start reading Shakespeare and thought he would enjoy it. At first, Holling though Shakespeare was torture and he hated it so much. Then when he actually started reading his book, he realized Shakespeare wasn't that bad and he enjoyed read his books. Later on, he would often practice saying Shakespearean lines and would love reading these books. These books didn't only convey to his hobbies though because there was this one time when he had to buy his whole class cream puffs or he would of gotten beat-up if he didn't. The problem however was that he didn't have enough money to buy these cream puffs. The person who was selling the cream puffs gave Holling the free cream puffs because he likes Holling's Shakespeare performance. 

This is the part of the text where this happened: "'We have. On Wednesday afternoons from now on, we will be reading Shakespeare together.'" ]]> 2023-02-19 04:51:55 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487390359 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487391858 One big thing which happened in this book which really made Holling have to grow up and jump to the occasion is when his sister ran away with Chit. Before this, Holling didn't have to go through any loss or any big family issues but this was the first issue and it really have a toll on Holling. This affected his daily life and constantly tried to fix the hole in his family. He often tried to help his sister out when his dad really didn't care that much and he got into trouble for her. This shows that Holling really cares about his family and it is very important to him. This plot event is important because it made the main character have to grow up and made there be a lot of character development.


The quote in the book which talked about this event: 
"By the time you read this, I will be somewhere on the highway heading toward the Rocky Mountains with Chit. I'll call when I can. Don't worry. And don't try to follow me."]]> 2023-02-19 04:57:57 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487391858 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487605048 This event probably showed the most character devlopment from Holling throughout the whole book. In this event, Holling stands up to the guy who didn't care about his family and instead only cared about his business. He stood up to his dad. In the beginning of the book, all Holling did was listen to him and never disobeyed him, even if he knew what he was doing was wrong. Throughout the book, Holling grew along side his classmates and Mrs. Baker. Mrs. Baker made Holling turn from a little child to thinking like a teenager and know a lot more about the world. She also make Hollling much more confident in himself. This allowed him to be able to stand up to his dad and this allowed Holling to be more confident. 
The turning point for both Danny and Holling is Danny's bar mitzvah. With his friends and family by his side, Danny undergoes a transformation into a young adult through the ritual of his faith. Just Holling's mother, father, and sister are present to see his change as it takes place in the parking lot. For the first time in his life, Holling expresses his disagreement with Mr. Hoodhood to his father in an outright argument on what constitutes a man. While he may think of himself as a man, Holling informs him—albeit indirectly—that he only goes through the motions of adulthood. Because to Mr. Hoodhood's lack of deliberate decision-making, Holling appears to be suggesting that he is not a man. Instead, he sticks to a predetermined schedule. Holling acknowledges that he wants more than that and that, with the right decision, he can mature into a man.

Although it is obvious that Mr. Hoodhood is upset about this, his mother and Heather appear to be in agreement with his choice, and inside, even Meryl Lee has seen something different in him. Holling's transition to manhood has already begun as a result of his refusal to submit to his father. Mrs. Baker affirms this further by telling him that in the future, he must be knowledgeable and capable of making his own decisions. Shakespeare is appropriately used to describe Holling's fate because most of what Holling has learnt about the world throughout the work comes from Shakespeare.

The quote in the book: 
"As he unlocked the car, my father said, 'I bet you're glad you don't have to go through something like that.' 
'I guess I am,' I said. 
'What do you mean, 'I guess I am'?' he said. 'Would you want to stand up there with all that stuff all over you and chant at everyone?' 
'It was a whole lot more than chanting at everyone,' I said. 'Let's get in the car,' said my mother. 
'No,' said my father. He put his arms up on top of the station wagon's roof. 'I'd like to know what Holling thought was a whole lot more.' 
My stomach got tight. 'He became a man,' I said. 
'You think that's how you become a man, by chanting a few prayers?'
'You think you become a man by getting a job as an architect?'
My father straightened. 'That's exactly how you become a man,' he said. 'You get a good job and you provide for your family. You hang on, and you play for keeps. That's how it works.'
'I really do think we should get in the car,' said my mother. 
'I don't think so,' I said to my father. 'It's not just about a job. It's more. It has to do with choosing for yourself.'
'And you didn't even have to go to California to figure all that out,' said my father. 'So who are you, Holling?'"]]> 2023-02-19 15:23:52 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487605048 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487617482 This is probably, in my opinion, the most important dialogue in the whole book. This quote shows Holling's growth with his friends at school at with Mrs. Baker throughout the whole book. When he stands up to his dad, it shows that he has finally got some confidence to point out his fathers flaws to him and this is just so much growth from  the beginning of the book. When Holling was at the Bar Mitzvah ceremony with Danny, showing that Danny will become a man, Hollling's father doesn't agree with this. He thinks everything is about being an architect and you will only be a man if you can support your family. This is where Holling disagrees and argues with his dad and tells him life isn't about being an architect.
The quote in the book: 
"As he unlocked the car, my father said, 'I bet you're glad you don't have to go through something like that.' 
'I guess I am,' I said. 
'What do you mean, 'I guess I am'?' he said. 'Would you want to stand up there with all that stuff all over you and chant at everyone?' 
'It was a whole lot more than chanting at everyone,' I said. 'Let's get in the car,' said my mother. 
'No,' said my father. He put his arms up on top of the station wagon's roof. 'I'd like to know what Holling thought was a whole lot more.' 
My stomach got tight. 'He became a man,' I said. 
'You think that's how you become a man, by chanting a few prayers?'
'You think you become a man by getting a job as an architect?'
My father straightened. 'That's exactly how you become a man,' he said. 'You get a good job and you provide for your family. You hang on, and you play for keeps. That's how it works.'
'I really do think we should get in the car,' said my mother. 
'I don't think so,' I said to my father. 'It's not just about a job. It's more. It has to do with choosing for yourself.'
'And you didn't even have to go to California to figure all that out,' said my father. 'So who are you, Holling?'"]]> 2023-02-19 15:50:09 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487617482 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487769168 This dialogue doesn't seem that important right when you read it, but it affects the whole book. When Holling goes to clean up the rats' cage, the rats escape. This makes Holling get in trouble, it makes Mrs. Baker find out Hollilng didn't eat the cream puff, theye at all the cream puffs that Holling got, and he got in the 8th grade team because of the rats. This all happened because Mrs. Baker told Holling to clean the rat's cage.
The quote in the book: "Mrs. Baker shook her head. 'There's only one last chore,' she said. 'Sycorax and Caliban need their cage cleaned out.'"]]> 2023-02-19 21:31:59 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2487769168 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2488944966 There is figurative language in the text where it says "The first four were wrong, and she slashed through my answers with a broad swathe of bright red ink. It looked like my test was bleeding to death." This type of figurative language is called a simile and it compares two things using like or as. This simile compares Holling's paper and blood and it shows that Holling has got a lot of questions wrong so Mrs. Baker is writing a lot of stuff on his paper with a red pen. ]]> 2023-02-20 23:09:46 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2488944966 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491125561 Why is Holling so sure that Mrs. Baker hates him? How does this point of view on Mrs. Baker change throughout the text?

In the beginning of the text, Holling thinks that Mrs. Baker hates her because of how she looks at him. Also, on wednesday afternoons, because he is presbyterian so when everyone else goes to their religious school, he has to stay with Mrs. Baker. This makes him think she hates him for making her waste her wednesday afternoons. "Mrs. Baker looked hard at me. I think she rolled her eyes." His point of view changes because throughout the year, Mrs. Baker helps Holling more than anyone else in his life. She helps Holling with his life and also makes him like shakespeare. Holling also learns lessons from Mrs. Baker that he uses later on in the book. ]]> 2023-02-22 13:08:12 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491125561 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491173088 There is one connection about the Vietnam War in the book and in real life. In the text, people in the US had to go to Vietnam to help in the war. One of these people were Mrs. Baker's husband. The Vietnam war had a huge affect on the plot. In the text, it says "Mrs. Bigio opened her mouth, but the only sounds that am eout were the sounds of sadness." This shows even though the war was at Vietnam, people were still losing people in the US. In the text, Mrs. Bigion is losing people because the US is giving troops in Vietnam. In real life, you can see on the news that Americans were dying for a conflict not even involving the US. 
Link: https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics ]]> 2023-02-22 13:44:59 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491173088 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491809196 On page 119 in the book, the author uses personification. The author gives a human trait to a non human thing. In the text, it says "I think my eyes were sweating." This personification shows that Holling was done with the test and was basically crying. He did not like the test and was fed up with bubbling the bubbles with his #2 pencil. The human trait was sweating and it was given to an eye which is not a human. ]]> 2023-02-22 23:04:02 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491809196 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491812644 On page 121, the author used a metaphor to compare two things. In the text, it says "Doug Swieteck's brother's little rat eyes followed me all the way." Here, the author compares Doug Swieteck's Brother's eyes to the eyes of a rat. He did this to give a little bit more description of how Doug Swieteck's Brother looked like and how he was looking at Holling.  ]]> 2023-02-22 23:10:02 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491812644 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491834482 By the end of the book, how does Holling grow and how does he change from him in the beginning of the book? Also, what are some important events that helped him grow?

Holling, throughout the book, learns a lot and grows up a lot more. In the beginning of the text, he was still acting and thinking like a little kid and didn't know a lot. He had the stereotypical middle school student thinking and wasn't that mature. Then, by the end of the book with a lot of help from his friends and especially Mrs. Baker, Holling becomes much more mature and acts like he is an adult. He learns a lot of lessons with Mrs. Baker. He learns about the war, more about familial connections and empathy, etc.

I believe Holling's time with Mrs. Baker was the one "event" that altered his character the most. Even though there were other events, Holling was greatly impacted by his time with Mrs. Baker. With her, he gains the ability to be a friend who cares and supports him much more. He gains knowledge of what it is to have empathy for others. He gains an understanding of what it is to contribute selflessly.

When his sister Heather ran away and ended up stranded, it was one instance that demonstrated how Holling had changed. As Holling's parents were powerless to intervene, it was up to him to save his sister. This thought Holling about how important family is and how to support family.

My opinion is that Holling's encounter with Mickey Mantle was another crucial occasion that influenced him. Mantle is the hero of Holling. Given that Mantle is among the best players to have ever played the game, it makes sense. Holling's belief that he would become a wonderful person is understandable. However, Mantle is a jerk and at one point rejects Holling. After Danny returns his autographed Mantle baseball as a sign of loyalty to Holling, Holling, who is now crushed, follows him home. Instead of some prior hero, Holling learns what true loyalty is from his friends. The text says "He looked at me like I had just spoken a foreign language...I almost cried." This shows that his role model made him very sad and almost cry. Later on, his friend actually cared about him and helped him about. This taught him about friends and kindness. ]]> 2023-02-22 23:46:24 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491834482 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491873334 On page 49, the author uses a simile to give compares two things and give more details to the reader. The author compares the size of a stain on the room of Holling's living room to the size of a garbage can lid. In the text, it says "So by the time my mother discovered it while vacuuming, the stain was as wide as a garbage can lid, and dark with mold." This sentence compares the size of a stain and a garbage can lid using the word "as" and this gives the reader a better description of the stain. It paints a picture in the reader's mind and lets the reader envision the stain. ]]> 2023-02-23 00:44:14 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491873334 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491877295 In the text, in April, it talked about the assassination of Martin Luther King Junior and it talks about how a lot of things changed everything. Also, it shows how the  whole Holling family became down and was sad right after his death. After the quote it shows that most of the Holling family would sit in their room being depressed. This is similar to the reactions of the people in the real world. A lot of people were super sad because a really big political and famous person died. He was the root cause for a lot of change and he helped the US be what it is today. I know a bunch of people who are sad about his death and my personally, I wish I could meet him. 
"'Nothing will ever be the same,' said Mr. Kowalski.
Meryl Lee squeezed my hand. Hard."

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dr-king-is-assassinated

]]> 2023-02-23 00:49:39 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2491877295 asreelesh https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2493193544 In the book "The Wednesday Wars", Holling thought Mrs. Baker hated him completely and he also hated her. Later on in the book however, as time went by, Holling started liking Mrs. Baker and saw her as a mentor. She helped Holling grow. Just like that, in a TV shows call "Lab Rats", one of the main characters, Leo, went to a high school where the principal didn't really like him. The principal hated him if I am being honest. Then later on, the principal started liking him and his family and genuinely started like spending time with him. Same thing with Leo. Leo spent a lot of time with the principal and eventually they sorted out their differences. By the end of the book, both have grown from each other. 
https://lab-rats.fandom.com/wiki/Terry_Perry  
On page 1 of the book, it say "Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillio Junior High, there was one kid that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun." This shows that Holling really thought Mrs. Baker hated him and he also disliked her. ]]> 2023-02-23 22:27:37 UTC https://padlet.com/asreelesh/2hmk0944mhqnsub7/wish/2493193544