Wishin’ and Hopin’ - Softcover

Lamb, Wally

3.59

17,626 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007351208 ISBN 13: 9780007351206

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2009

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It's 1964 and ten-year-old Felix is sure of a few things: the birds and the bees are puzzling, television is magical, and this is one Christmas he'll never forget...

The year is 1964. LBJ and Lady Bird are in the White House, Meet the Beatles is on everyone's turntables, and Felix Funicello is doing his best to navigate fifth grade - easier said than done when scary movies still give you nightmares.

Back in his beloved fictional town of Three Rivers, Connecticut, with a new cast of endearing characters, Wally Lamb takes his readers straight into the halls of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial School, where Mother Filomina's word is law. But grammar and arithmetic move to the back burner this holiday season with the sudden arrivals of substitute teacher Madame Frechette, straight from Qu�bec, and feisty Russian student Zhenya Kabakova. While Felix learns the meaning of French kissing and cultural misunderstanding, Wishin' and Hopin' barrels toward one outrageous Christmas.

From the Funicello family's bus-station lunch counter to the elementary school playground, Wishin' and Hopin' is a vivid slice of 1960s life, a wise and witty tale that celebrates where we've been, and how far we've come.

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From the Back Cover:

With his latest story, WISHIN′ AND HOPIN′, Wally Lamb takes a turn toward the lighthearted and laugh-provoking. In a vein similar to Jean Shepherd′s A Christmas Story and David Sedaris′s The Santaland Diaries, Lamb′s holiday tale focuses on a feisty parochial school fifth grader named Felix Funicello--a distant cousin of the iconic Annette! Both poignant and hilarious, WISHIN′ AND HOPIN′ transports us back to October, November, and December of 1964, when LBJ and Lady Bird were in the White House, Meet the Beatles was on everyone′s turntables, and Christmas meant mistletoe, mangers, and midnight mass. Then it propels us from the past to the present so that we might measure what we′ve gained and what we′ve lost.

About the Author:

Wally Lamb is the author of four previous novels, including the New York Times and national bestseller The Hour I First Believed and Wishin' and Hopin', a bestselling novella. His first two works of fiction, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, were both number-one New York Times bestsellers and Oprah's Book Club selections. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Christine. The Lambs are the parents of three sons.

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