Surviving the Applewhites

Surviving the Applewhites	Scholastic Inc.
Written by Stephanie S. Tolan	2002
Contemporary Realism	216 pages
Reading Level age 10-12	Newberry Honor

Summary

Jake Semple has been kicked out of every school he attended until he is enrolled in a creative home school program led by the Applewhites at their house Wit’s End. He meets the eccentric family who are all artisits: writers, dancers, sculptors and others. The only one of the family who wasn’t artistic was E.D. She was the only one who actually attended class and wrote her own lesson plans and schedules to stay on track. She thought that the idea of having Jake in her class was a horrible plan and expected him to ruin everything. Jake at first doesn’t care and does his best to be as fowl as possible and swear at everything, until he realizes that everyone is so busy that they don’t care that he is nasty and rude. E.D.’s younger brother was the only person who watched what Jake did. Destiny wanted to do everything Jake did and even tried to die his hair using purple Kool Aid. The other family member that noticed Jake was the dog, Winston. He would follow Jake around and howl nonstop until Jake returned. Mr. Applewhite was asked to direct the community play of The Sound of Music and did not cast the main members of the community but rather chose people who could actually sing, causing the prominent members to be outraged and shut down the production. The Applewhites decide to host the play in their barn and everyone pitches in with costumes, music, lighting and stage set up. E.D. was over the entire scheduling and as stage manager made sure everything ran smoothly. Jake, surprised to be cast as Rolf, practiced constantly having Destiny help with his lines. Jake found that he could be good at singing instead of being good at being bad and making others uncomfortable. He no longer wore his hair in tiny spikes or wore his choke chain or smoked. He was too busy to do any of that. Destiny was even in the play as Hansel, the youngest Von Trapp child, instead of Gretel. The family worked without stopping and sent out fliers and ordered chairs and built a stage for the barn. Finally, opening day arrived. In the middle the power went out because of the thunder storm, but E.D. thought fast and used the candles from the opening scene her father modified to light the rest of the play. Everyone loved it and praise from the local papers was tremendous. They all thought the candles were part of the act and loved the interesting twist the Applewhites played on the popular scenes. The Applewhites decide to keep the barn as a theater and Jake resolves to continue singing and acting on stage.

Reaction

I really enjoyed the characters. The family members were so interested in only themselves that no one know what everyone else was doing, until a crisis came that made them all have to work together and save the local play. Jake is the typical angry kid that learns to love the eccentricity of the Applewhite gang.

Potential Problems

Jake swore and smoked at the beginning of the book but grew to become better when he found something he was good at and loved doing. The Applewhite family isn’t a typical loving and caring family, they are self absorbed but pull together in the end. E.D. feels like she doesn’t belong because she loves structure when everyone goes with the flow.

Recommendations

I would recommend this book to older children, who have interesting families that can relate to the craziness of the Applewhite family.