The novel, The Wednesday Wars, is set in the decade of the 1960s. Many important historical events and social as well as political movements occurred during during this turbulent time. Go online and research two or more of the following topics. Your blog this week should include a discussion about what you learned and how your topics are discussed in the novel.
Topics:
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Robert Kennedy
Civil Rights movement
hippies
space program
atomic bomb
Vietnam War
Mickey Mantle
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I searched the Vietnam War and I think it affected the story because this story is going on at the same time as the war. And as this story continues we find out that Mrs. Baker's husband is missing in action and she is very upset and doesn't know what to do about it. As they are in the middle of a school day Mrs. Baker receives a yellow telegram that is from the war and says he is missing in action and runs out of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI also searched Mickey Mantle and found that he is a center fielder for the New York Yankees. He affected the story, and Holling learned something from his appearance, by coming to Holling's town and signing baseballs for the opening for the new baseball emporium. His appearance showed Holling that Danny is a great friend and Mickey wasn't the idol Holling would have wanted and even though Holling went through all that trouble to get to the emporium before he left.
Well as far as this book goes for now, it is really good and I will have to read more to find out what happens.
I searched hippies, in the book The Wednesday Wars Holling's sister puts a flower on her cheek and says she is a flower girl (a hippie). Holling thinks it is a stupid idea, but she doesn't care what he thinks. Her father does not approve and tells her to go take the paint off of her face and come back to the real world. She is irritated but does it anyway. What I learned from my search is that a peace sign was developed in the UK as a logo for a campaign. Also most hippies decorate their vehicles themselves and live in them. Most hippies are drug users and make their own clothing. They tye die shirts and put lots of peace signs on their clothing.
ReplyDeleteI also searched Mickey Mantle. In the book Mickey Mantle was a famous baseball player in the 1960's. Holling looked up to Mickey Mantle because he loved baseball and seemed like he was a nice person. When Holling met him he realized he wasn't as nice and he was very rude actually. From my search I learned that his nickname was ''the Mick''. He was the greatest power and switch hitter in baseball history. His middle name was CHarles and he was an outfielder and first baseman at age 18.
The Vietnam war was a very fierce battle faught between the US military and the NVA. The US over powered the NVA with tremendous force, but the NVA was at home and was trained for the surroundings, where the US was not at all. In the Wednesday Wars many people in the book were fighting in Vietnam. Holling's sister however was against the war, she called herself a flower girl and painted a big flower on her face.
ReplyDeleteHippies are mentioned in the book too but they are known as Flower Girls. Holling's sister painted a big yellow flower on her face showing that she was against the war in Vietnam. Her father later made her wash it off but she is obviously a huge hippy. Hippies have a big reputation for wearing tyedye shirts and doing a lot of drugs, but this is mostly true. I am very glad i was not alive when the Vietnam war was happening because i would likely be in the war and would probably not be alive right now.
Hippies:Hippies were protesters originating in the 60s against the Vietman War. Flower Children, like Holling's older sister, were peaceful protesters as well. people would also wear black bands on thier wrists. Hippies usually listened to psychedelic rock, embraced sexual revolution and did drugs like cannabis, LSD, and magic mushrooms. Hippies could be found all over the world including New Zealand, the UK, and Mexico. hippie fashon especially had a major effect on culture in many different ways such as art, music, televison, and even literature. one of the more famous protests is when the yippies (a type of hippie) surrounded the pentagon trying to levitate it saying "rise up and abandon the creeping meatball!"
ReplyDeleteVietnam War:Vietnam was a depressing during the 1960s. during this time many of the hippies came to protest. it was hard to get good news out of the war. In the wednesday wars, many of the people had relatives in the war although many did die or were left behind. many people spoke against this but one of the more famous ones sayings was "no one wins in war" 200,000 to 300,000 cambodians were killed. 20,000 to 200,000 laotians were killed. vietanmese casualties vary from a little less than one million to 3 million and 58,220 US soldiers were killed.
I am learning alot about the 60's in the book. One thing I have learned about is Mickey Mantle. Mickey was a professional baseball player. He is known as the greatest switch hitter of all time. Mantle was inducted to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. He won the Triple Crown in 1956, leading the American League in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in. He is also the career leader in walk-off home runs. Since Mickey Mantle was a baseball celebrity of Holling's time it was the chance of a lifetime for Holling to meet him at Baker Sporting Emporium. The only thing I could tell you about Mickey is that so far he was a snob to Holling. He wouldn't sign Holling's ball because he was wearing yellow tights and it was past 9:30. Hopefully Holling will see Mickey again and maybe Mickey will be nicer to Holling.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that is mentioned in the book is Hippies. The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The hippy movement attempted to bring change and its fashion, music and lifestyle moved around the world. Holling's sister had a flower on her face one day at dinner (she was a flower child), but Mr. Hoodhood did not like it so he made her go wash it off.
In The Wednesday Wars Holling Hood is a big fan of the New York Yankees and especially Mickey Mantle. Mickey Mantle had extraordinary hitting abilites, both for average and power. His career in the MLB lasted for eighteen years. He played both outfielder and first baseman. Mickey played in twelve world series!
ReplyDeleteHolling's idea of Mickey is changed when he comes to sign baseballs at the new sporting emporium. Even though Holling put so much work into getting to the emporium Mickey wouldn't sign his baseball.
In the story Holling's sister wants to be a flower child also refered to as hippies. A hippy was a youth movement across the U.S.A during the 1960s. Holling's sister painted a flower on her face to represent being a flower child and her father did not approve and made her wash it off. When most people think of hippies they think of drug users which is actually true adn they tie dies their own t-shirts!