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Libby on Wednesday
by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Yearling (1991-08-01)
ISBN: 0440404983
EAN: 9780440404989
Paperback: 208 pages
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: 1991-08-01
SKU: 6237
Condition: Good
Comments: Binding: Softcover. Condition: Good.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Libby is sent to public school to be "socialized" after years of being educated at home.
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Customer Reviews
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Libby on Wednesday
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-08-12
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
ISBN 0385299796 - One of the first things about this book to catch my attention was that it's a full-sized book for young adults. Not a flimsy little 100 page medium sized paperback - this is 196 pages, a full sized hardcover! Since I find those so rarely, I was already ready to like it.
Libby's the granddaughter of author Graham McCall, the daughter of unique parents of artistic temperaments. She has been homeschooled in what might possibly be the strangest set of circumstances, ever. But that's all about to change, when her mother decides that Libby ought to be socialized. That means going to school and going to school, right off the bat, isn't working for Libby. Still, when she wins a writing competition and becomes part of a writing workshop, Libby finds herself slowly drawn into the lives of other children her own age - and becoming socialized, purely accidentally. She brings home friends, opening her family situation to scrutiny and ridicule, and she finds that normal isn't just over-rated, it might not even exist.
I really liked Libby's family, even her almost totally absent mother. Mostly, I liked their support of Libby, in all things, at all times. Most kids, and even adults, benefit from finding out that they're not the only ones - whatever it is. You're not the only weird one, you're not the only one with divorced parents... it's comforting to find out that you're not alone. Libby on Wednesday sends that message in a nice way, with all the realistic picking on each other that kids do to each other.
- AnnaLovesBooks
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Silly premise, but not bad
Rating  (3)
Date: 2004-08-19
4 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
I have never met any homeschooling parent who sent a homeschooled child to school so she could be "socialized." The author buys into the socialization myth, a non-homeschooler's idea of homeschooling, rendering the better part of the book quite unrealistic. The old adage "write what you know" is a good rule. I suppose since most editors and publishers are also not homeschoolers, and believe all the rumors they hear about socialization, they could not be expected to catch this glaring mistake.
In other ways, the book is quite good. It clearly, though perhaps unintentionally, outlines the best reasons why normal socialization can never happen in an institution. Accepting abuse from other students is not normal.
Libby's struggles in school are quite real, and from that perspective, the book is enjoyable for those of us who have been there, and is an amusing, well written, and interesting (though skewed) treat for homeschooled kids who wonder what all the blather about "school" and "socialization" are really about.
And it begs the question...can a child coming from a brilliantly eccentric housefull of social misfits still fit in at home after attending institutional school? And while the author admits that a child who can read the NY Times will learn nothing in kindergarten, she leaves us to answer the question, "Can a child familiar with Socrates learn anything in middle school?"
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This is a cool book!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2002-07-24
1 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Libby on Wednesday is a really cool book. The characters are really cool and interesting. The plot is interesting, and a big scene at the end makes this book totally exciting. This is a really great book!
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This is a great book!
Rating (5)
Date: 2001-01-15
6 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a wonderful book! It has a great story, and once you get into it you can't put it down. The characters are all really likeable. This is a great book for anyone to read, not just elementary students (although elementary students will enjoy it, too). This is a totally awesome book!
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A Really Good Book
Rating (4)
Date: 2000-04-12
12 out of 12 customers found this reveiw helpful
I think that Libby On Wednesday is a really good book. Libby is a girl who is completely unsocialized and accidentally wins a writing contest. She and five other students that win, start a writing club. The other students are a bully named Gary Greene who everybody calls G.G. (Gary the Ghoul), Alex a geeky boy who is physically challenged, Wendy a popular cheerleader who thinks she's a queen, and Tierney a chunky girl who's into punk. The students start a writing club and read their stories to the other members and say what they liked and give constructive suggestions. Wendy likes to write about teens and their love life, Alex writes parodies, Tierney writes detective stories, G.G. writes gruesome stories about killing, ang Libby writes all kinds of stories that are so good that the other kids think that her famous grandfather wrote them for her. The students all dislike each other. They say mean things about stories that people share with each other. As you read on, you will find that each student has a secret. I recommend this book to anyone over the age of eight.
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