Assignment ? - Read a Newberry Award book

I just finished Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. It is the story of a seventh grade boy, Hollings, who must spend his Wednesday afternoons with his English teacher while the rest of the class goes off to Hebrew school or Catechism. He learns of Shakespeare during these times - but of much more too. There are some many things going on here, but a huge one is that of self discovery. In the beginning, he views the whole world against him - from his family to his teachers to the kids at school. He then starts to build himself a life within school and some friends and builds relationship with his teacher. He has a difficult father who is selfish and uncaring, and in the end, Hollings is able to voice his "meaning of life" to his father without lashing out. He has established himself as separate from his father and he is happy with that. One aspect of the literary quality of this book I enjoyed was the descriptions of different seasons - how they looked, smelled and felt. They were spot on and I completely identified with the author's observations of nature through the main character.

Now I must frantically read a challenged book. Still trying to stay caught up!