The Wednesday Wars is a 2007 young adult historical fiction novel written by Gary D. Schmidt, the author of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy.

In his school, the student body is largely divided between Catholics and Jews, and every Wednesday both groups go to their separate churches for religious classes.

Holling ultimately finds an ally in his older sister, Heather, and eventually comes to understand that Mrs. Baker is also trying to help him learn to be his own person.

Other subplots in the story include: Holling entering cross country; running the big race for track; going on his first date with classmate Meryl Lee Kowalski, whose father is of the other architecture firm in town, Kowalski and Associates; his sister Heather running away to California with her boyfriend; and the ever-present shadow of the Vietnam War — as well as other historical events, such as the shootings of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

[1] Lucas Swieteck, Doug's older brother, appears as Jack and Joseph's gym coach in Orbiting Jupiter, set many years later.

[4] Susan Faust, reviewing for the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote it was a "graceful novel [...] full of goodwill, yearning and heart".

[5] In the New York Times, Tanya Lee Stone called The Wednesday Wars "one of my favorite books of the year" and compliments Schmidt on creating a novel that resonates with adults and children alike.