ALEX AND THE WEDNESDAY CHESS CLUB

Author: Janet S. Wong (her website: www.janetwong.com )

Illustrated by Stacey Schuett

Simon & Schuster (2004)

Hardcover

$16.95

For ages 4-8

Reviewed by Jeremy Silman

From the inside cover:

“Alex first learned to play chess when he was four years old He loved it. He loved the pieces, the challenge, and the sweet taste that winning left in his mouth. He loved it until he played a chess game with moldy old Uncle Hooya … and lost. Then Alex decided to give up chess for good.

“Now in third grade, Alex wants to give chess another try.”

For ages four to eight!? My experience with young children is nil, as is my exposure to the literature that kids of this age read. So, I have to admit that when I received a copy of ALEX AND THE WEDNESDAY CHESS CLUB I didn’t know what to make of it. Would such young children respond to the story and characters? Does every child eventually run into one form or another of “moldy old Uncle Hooya?” Even worse, would I be seen as an Uncle Hooya as I delighted in crushing any kid over the board that dared sit down and challenge me?

From an adult’s perspective (an insane adult, but still an adult!), I enjoyed the sheer delight that Alex felt when he won, and understood him leaving the game when evil Uncle Silman … errr … I mean, Uncle Hooya, nuked him over the board. Hooya’s egomania introduced the innocent Alex to the grownup desire to dominate, destroy, humiliate, and castrate the opposition (at least, that’s why I played the game).

Turning his back on chess, Alex immersed himself in school and physical sport, until a football mishap made him realize that chess might be safer than having your face pushed into mud. And so the circle is complete, with Alex once more giving our beloved intellectual sport one more try.

There is much to like about ALEX AND THE WEDNESDAY CHESS CLUB. The illustrations are excellent and clearly show the emotions that the text describes. But, more importantly, the real message is that chess can be fun – a chess club doesn’t have to be nerd city, as shown by the following paragraph (as Alex made his first visit to the club):

“Olaf and Fred were in the corner. Olaf had a headlock on Fred. Olaf was stuffing Fred’s face with cheese puffs.”

Now that’s MY kind of club! In fact, it brought me back to a chess club I used to frequent in San Diego when I was twelve – lots of chess, but lots of eraser hockey too!

I remember coaching several World Youth gigs in Slovakia, Germany, Spain, and Brazil. The kids almost always had a great time if the coach was attentive to his needs. However, the one negative was the attack of crazed chess parents. In one episode, I tried to explain to a rather pushy mother that the goal of this competition was not to preach victory at all costs, but rather to make sure every child had a great experience, made new friends, soaked up a different culture, and had lots of fun. She cursed at me, told me I was out of my mind, and said, “Winning is everything. If you don’t win, you’re a loser!”

This kind of demented, self-absorbed bitch is the reason I pulled away from scholastic chess, and parents of this ilk continue to turn chess – which should be filled with life lessons and competitive joy – into a living nightmare for a few unfortunate children.

ALEX AND THE WEDNESDAY CHESS CLUB shows all of these things in a kinder way, with Uncle Hooya being an example of what the game doesn’t need. In the end, childhood innocence wins out over the Uncle Hooya’s of this world (as shown by the final sentence in the book: “Play! And don’t worry about those Hooyas!”) which, of course, is as it should be.

If you have a young child that loves to read and might be ready to take up chess (or any competitive sport/game), this sweet book is highly recommended.