Dead Wednesday

Written by Jerry Spinelli

Narrated by Kirby Heyborne

Can playing dead bring you back to life? Maybe on Dead Wednesday… On this day the worlds of a shy boy and a gone girl collide, and the connection they make will change them both forever. A brilliant new novel from the Newbery Medal winner and author of the New York Times bestseller Stargirl.
 
"Jerry Spinelli has created another middle grade masterpiece." —BookPage, starred review
 
On Dead Wednesday, every eighth grader in Amber Springs is assigned the name and identity of a teenager who died a preventable death in the past year. The kids don black shirts and for the whole day everyone in town pretends they're invisible—as if they weren't even there. The adults think it will make them contemplate their mortality. The kids know it's a free pass to get away with anything.
 
Worm Tarnauer feels invisible every day. He's perfectly happy being the unnoticed sidekick of his friend Eddie. So he's not expecting Dead Wednesday to feel that different. But he didn't count on being assigned Becca Finch (17, car crash). And he certainly didn't count on Becca showing up to boss him around! Letting this girl into his head is about to change everything.
 
This is the story of the unexpected, heartbreaking, hilarious, truly epic day when Worm Tarnauer discovers his own life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9780593398715

Jerry Spinelli

Jerry Spinelli received the Newbery Medal for Maniac Magee and a Newbery Honor for Wringer. His other books include Stargirl; Love, Stargirl; Smiles to Go; Loser; Jake and Lily; Hokey Pokey; and The Warden’s Daughter. His novels are recognized for their humor and poignancy, and his characters and situations are often drawn from his real-life experience as a father of six children. Jerry lives with his wife, Eileen, also a writer, in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

Reviews for Dead Wednesday

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ok, there are def. things to object to in this (see other reviews).

But Worm's feelings are so well mastered, and the idea of the lesson of Dead Wednesday is so important & interesting, I felt moved. What was especially interesting to me here is that the experience did not teach Worm to be less reckless and impulsive (after all, he's not much anyway); it made him better understand & value himself (which will, after all, help him make better decisions). I agree with my library that it should be shelved with YA simply because I don't think a 7-9 "Juvenile" audience will get much out of it; in a school library which can support more granularity it should be in Middle School or Junior High.

Now I want to reread Spinelli's oeuvre.

[sweetiegherkin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Robbie aka "Worm" is a shy, quiet guy who likes to recede into the background of his middle school, preferring to keep to just a few friends and keeping somewhat tightlipped around them as well. When Dead Wednesday comes around, Worm like all other eighth graders must participate in his small town's unusual practice: the students are each given the name of a Pennsylvania teen who died in a preventable way (e.g., car accident) and must go through the day being ignored as though they themselves were the deceased ones. But Worm didn't bargain on 17-year-old Becca, the name he was given, coming to haunt him throughout the day!

This was an interesting book with a rather clever albeit unusual premise. While a lot of Worm's issues are familiar school story ones (e.g., not feeling like he fits in, worried about seeming cool, interested in girls who don't pay attention to him, etc.), being able to talk about them to a ghost of sorts is a different hook. Rather than having a parent or a teacher give the 'rah-rah, you can do better' speech, Worm sees how life needs to be lived fully through Becca's lively and bubbly spirit lamenting her short time on Earth.

That all being said, I felt like the end kind of fizzled out a bit. Worm and Becca in particular were such interesting characters and their dynamic was perfect. But I thought/hoped Worm would get more out of the encounter than asking a girl out. There's some glimmers that he's coming out of his shell more in general and more open to being himself, but it's not quite there. On the whole, I enjoyed the book and found the brief chapters to be page turners. But I wanted a more satisfying conclusion to it all.

[salsabrarian · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This came with such promise but in the end I could not get into it and I don't know any kids who would either. Dead Wednesday is an annual event when the the 8th graders are assigned the name of a teen who died in the past year. It's meant for the kids to appreciate their mortality and be more careful, but they see it mainly as a free day for fun and mayhem. But the ghost of Becca Finch, Worm's assigned dead teenager, appears to him and they spend the day together. A dead girl shows him how to live boldly. Okay.