What quotes describe Meryl Lee in The Wednesday Wars?

The first quote to appear that gives the reader some insight into Meryl Lee's character is the following quote.  

So I asked Meryl Lee Kowalski, who has been in love with me since she first laid eyes on me in the third grade -- I'm just saying what she told me -- I asked her to open my desk first. 

The quote is important to the text, because it tells readers two things.  First, the quote explains that Meryl Lee and Holling have known each other for a fairly long time.  Second, the quote foreshadows the budding relationship between Holling and Meryl Lee that occurs as the book progresses.  

Despite being a seventh grade girl who is in love with a classmate of hers, Meryl Lee is no damsel in distress.  In fact, I would say that she is a bit of a bully toward Holling at times.  I'll call it inept junior high flirting, but it doesn't change the fact that Meryl Lee isn't afraid of physically threatening Holling.  Take the following quote for example which happens during choir.  

Meryl Lee moved her hand toward my throat.  

Meryl Lee is not making a romantic move.  She is attempting to force Holling to repeat his Shakespearean insult.  

I like this next quote about Meryl Lee.  In fact, it's her saying the quote too.  

"Who's Mickey Mantle?" 

It's a very short quote, but it clearly shows that she doesn't have a care in the world for professional baseball.  Not knowing who Mickey Mantle is to baseball is like saying you don't know who Einstein is to science or who Shakespeare is to literature. 

What is a trait of Meryl Lee in The Wednesday Wars, and an example of it?

Meryl Lee, in Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, is a truly caring person. Holling believes that Meryl Lee has been in love with him since the third grade. Regardless of the truth of this statement, Meryl Lee is very supportive of Holling as a person.

When Holling plays Ariel from Shakespeare's The Tempest in the Shakespeare Holiday Extravaganza at school, Meryl Lee and Holling's other friends are there to support him, though his parents do not attend.

An unexpected catastrophe arises when Meryl Lee and Holling go on a date to see Romeo and Juliet. They talk about the school that is to be built. Holling shares his father's plan for the school on a place-mat that Meryl Lee takes home as a memento. When there is a meeting about the school, Holling's father's plans appear in the hands of Meryl's dad, as if he had come up with them. It is clear that Meryl's father used the place-mat that Holling had written on, and Holling believes Meryl Lee gave the design to her dad.

Holling ignores Meryl Lee because he feels betrayed and is angry; and Meryl Lee comes to school wearing sunglasses. When Holling makes a comment regarding Romeo and Juliet and not "trusting others," he has finally pushed Meryl too far. She tries to explain that she had nothing to do with her father's actions. He does not believe her, so she removes the sunglasses in an attempt to throw them at Holling, and when she does, he sees that her eyes are red from crying—she has been devastated by what has happened, showing that she is trustworthy and really cares not only about Holling, but about how he sees her. Holling comes to his senses and goes to Meryl Lee's house to make peace.

Meryl Lee demonstrates her friendship and caring for Hollis by supporting him, and the suffering she experiences when they fight with one another indicates how deeply her regard for Holling goes.

What is a noteworthy trait of Meryl Lee in The Wednesday Wars?

Meryl, who has long had a serious crush on Holling, can be described as forgiving and loyal. When the boy she likes so well and so long blows up at her for what her father has unscrupulously done, then regrets and retracts, and she forgives him and without rancor re-embraces their romance, then she may be described as having the traits of forgiveness and loyalty.

In Gary D. Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, what is Meryl Lee's main character trait?

In Gary D. Schmidt’s novel for young readers titled The Wednesday Wars, Meryl Lee Kowalski is a seventh-grade girl who has long had a crush on Holling Hoodhood, the novel’s protagonist, also a member of the seventh grade. References to this relationship appear throughout the 2007 Sandpiper Books edition. Thus, at one point Holling, the narrator, suspects that a teacher, Mrs. Baker, whom he perceives as antagonistic, may have booby-trapped his desk, hiding something dangerous or disgusting in it. He then reports,

So I asked Meryl Lee Kowalski, who has been in love with me since she first laid eyes on me in the third grade – I’m just saying what she told me – I asked her to open my desk first. (p. 11)

This is a splendid sentence in several ways, including the following:

• Meryl Lee’s last name is already a bit comic (certainly more comic than if she had been named “Meryl Lee Smith” or “Meryl Lee Jones”).
• The claim that Meryl Lee has long been “in love” with Holling might seem egotistical, but he is very quick to assert that this is her claim, not his. The use of the word “love” to describe a childhood crush is itself comical because it is exaggerated.
• The phrase “since she first laid eyes on me” is comically overblown, like something from a bad romance novel.
• The phrase placed between dashes catches the rhythm of real speech, and indeed one of the most appealing aspects of Schmidt’s novel is the way he creates a highly credible voice for Holling.
• The phrase within dashes also suggests that Holling is modest, embarrassed, and eager to make sure that the reader knows that Meryl Lee’s attraction to him was her idea.
• Finally, it is only after revealing Meryl Lee’s love for him that he reveals that he asked her to open the potentially booby-trapped desk!

In one brief sentence, then, Schmidt manages, effectively and efficiently, to characterize two of his book’s main personalities, and he does so in language that is simultaneously funny, believable, and subtle.

Later indications of Meryl Lee’s interest in Holling occur later when

• she comes over to be his study partner (p. 27)
• Meryl Lee makes room for Holling, who is sitting next to her in music class, on her music stand (p. 57)
• Meryl Lee grabs and holds Holling’s arm (p. 57)
• Meryl Lee is accused by Miss Violet (a teacher) of flirting with Holling (p. 58)
• Meryl Lee puts her foot on top of Holling’s foot (p. 58)
• And so on.

Clearly Meryl Lee is interested in Holling and feels comfortable enough to manhandle (or maybe girl-handle) him. Holling, meanwhile, does not resist her attentions.