In what ways do Holling's parents, particularly his father, fail him repeatedly by neglecting him in Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars? What other...

One way in which Holling's father lets him down in Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars concerns breaking his promise to take Holling to the Yankee's baseball game on Opening Day. In fact, he practically lied about agreeing to take him.

Danny, Doug, and Holling had all been given Opening Day tickets by Joe Pepitone and Horace Clarke. In the chapter titled "April," Holling informs us that his father had promised to get Holling out of school early and drive him to the stadium so Holling can join Danny and Doug with their fathers to watch the game. Mr. Hoodhood was supposed to have written a note to Holling's cross-country coach requesting permission for Holling to be excused for practice that day. But, when Holling reminds Mr. Hoodhood the night before Opening Day, Mr. Hoodhood just shakes his head since he never wrote the note and says in reply, "Isn't there enough happening in the world that you shouldn't have to go into the city for a baseball game?" ("April"). In Mr. Hoodhood's mind, Holling's personal interests are trivial in comparison to the things going on in the world such as the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr. the world had just watched. The next morning, Mr. Hoodhood signs the note Holling writes for him and says "sure, sure" in reply to the reminder that he should pick Holling up at noon. But, when Mr. Hoodhood doesn't show, Holling phones Hoodhood and Associates, his father's architecture firm, only to be told that his father has an "important meeting with the Chamber of Commerce scheduled for four thirty" ("April"). News of the important meeting means that Mr. Hoodhood either forgot his important Chamber of Commerce obligation, which is highly unlikely considering how absorbed he is with his title, or he lied to Holling when giving his promise.

It is Mrs. Baker who comes to Holling's rescue. As Holling explains, once the class broke up to go to either temple or mass, five minutes before the game started, Mrs. Baker announced that she could drive Holling and get him there in time to see at least "some of the game."