Please give an example of a metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, and onomatopoeia in The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt.

Holling Hoodhood is only in seventh grade, but he has a
vivid imagination and an effective vocabulary. He is the narrator of The
Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt and he makes his story come alive for his
readers by using figurative language. 

Figurative language
is useful because it utilizes the senses to enhance the meaning and experience for the
readers. Your question mentions five specific kinds of figurative language, and I easily
found multiple examples of each in the novel.

A metaphor is
a comparison between two things, and in the following metaphor, Holling compares his
baseball hero, Mickey Mantle, to a god. When he finally meets his hero, he is horribly
hurt and disappointed. He describes it this way:

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When gods die, they die
hard.

The baseball legend was
held in high esteem by Holling before this incident, and it was difficult for Holling to
see him fall (figuratively, die).

A simile is also a
comparison between two things; however, it uses either like or
as to make the comparison. When Holling is being threatened every
day in class, even by his friends, to bring them some cream puffs, he compares his
experience to a character in The Merchant of Venice by William
Shakespeare:

I
remembered the death threats hanging over me like Shylock’s knife hanging over Antonio’s
chest.

Hyperbole is
exaggeration used for effect, and we should not be surprised that a seventh-grader
demonstrates plenty of this as he recounts his experiences. (The Antonio and Shylock is
a bit hyperbolic, as well, since Shylock was literally going to cut a pound of flesh out
of Antonio and the worst thing Holling's classmates did is hiss a few words at him.)
When he is trying to clean the rats' cages, Holling inadvertently traps Sycorax and
Caliban. He looks down at them and describes what he
sees:

They
both turned their little black eyes toward me--bulging with demonic delight--and clawed
hysterically at the bars that were hardly holding them from
escape.

Obviously this is a
frightening scenario for the boy; however, the rats are certainly not
demon-possessed.

Personification is giving human qualities
or characteristics to something non-human or non-living, and Holling often uses
personification to create an effective image.

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The day was still a perfect blue October day, as
if it had been waiting for me since I’d missed it at lunch
recess.

We know this is an
example of personification because days are not capable of waiting--much as we sometimes
wih they would. Waiting is a human characteristic which is given here to something
non-human.

Finally, Holling uses onomatopoeia to add a
sense of excitement and color to his writing, as it uses words to make sounds. Every
time he is anywhere near the two rats, Holling describes their “clacking their yellow
teeth.” Though it is perhaps unpleasant to imagine the sound, it is an effective use of
onomatopoeia.