The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

It's 1967, and the Vietnam War is raging. Holling Hood Hood thinks he has bigger things to worry about. Like the fact that his teacher Mrs. Baker is at war with him. She hates his guts because he's the only seventh grader that doesn't leave school early on Wednesdays, so she has to watch him. Every week she thinks up more and more dull and disgusting things for him to do, and each one seems to get him in trouble with his classmates, so now he's at war with everyone. The worst seems to be when she has him read Shakespeare, and that gets him into his most embarrassing moment ever - playing a fairy onstage wearing yellow tights with feathers - well, you don't want to know where the feathers are. But gradually, Holling begins to see that not everyone you seem to be at war with hates your guts, and that life can be as cool as a Shakespeare play. He's just not sure whether his life is going to be a tragedy, a comedy, or a little of both. ****October's book club pick.