Surviving the Applewhites

by Stephanie S. Tolan

Book Overview

The side-splittingly funny Newbery Honor Book about a rebellious boy who is sent to a home-schooling program run by one family--the creative, kooky, loud, and loving Applewhites

Jake Semple is notorious. Rumor has it he managed to get kicked out of every school in Rhode Island, and actually burned the last one down to the ground.

Only one place will take him now, and that's a home school run by the Applewhites, a...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0064410447
• ISBN13: 9780064410441
• Release Date: April 2012
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

a GREAT book for all ages!

This is one of my favorite books I've read in a while! This book really made me think about myself and the others around me! It gives you a new way of thinking of life. In the story Jake Semple, a child who wasn't the best child and got into a lot of trouble. Jake finds a new way of looking at life when he goes to school at the Applewhites home. He realizes that his appearance doesn't matter to them and they look at him just as any other student. He realizes that he doesn't need his "bad boy" appearance anymore. He realizes that Theatre was what he enjoyed to do and wanted to do it his whole entire lifetime! He really turns himself around and becomes his true self! this is one of my favorite books of all time! I reccomend it to EVERYONE!

APPLEWHITE REVIEW

SURVIVING THE APPLEWHITES, BY STEPHANIE TOLAN, IS ONE OF THE BEST AND MOST INTESTING BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ. THIS BOOK IS UNIQUE AND FUNNY AT THE SAME TIME. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR 6TH GRADE AND UP. THE VOCABULARY IS NOT VERY STRONG BUT THE BOOK IS EASILY UNDERSTOOD. I WAS INTERESTED IN THE BOOK THE WHOLE TIME I WAS READING IT AND IT FELT AS IF I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN.THIS WAS A TREMENDOUS BOOK.

surviving

Surviving the Applewhites is among the most fabulous book I have ever read in my life so far. Jake is a juvenile delinquent, who gets kicked out of going to any school in Rhode Island. When his parents get thrown in jail for drugs, his grandpa lets him move in. The first day he is there he meets the Applewhites. They home school Jake. They try and teach him they way of life. After awhile he becomes a nice guy and doesn't do all the bad he had done before. Surviving the Applewhites means that you should never be a bad influence in life. You should always have a plan for the future, like becoming a writer. Never care about what other people think of you. You are what you are and you should live life to the fullest. "Applewhites, he said, shouldn't be required to do what other people did just because other people did it-Applewhites weren't like other people."(Tolan pg.17) If I was in Jake's spot I would kiss the old life goodbye and start acting better and never burning down another school. And I would have came up with my own plan for school because E.D.'s would have been regular hard school stuff and I would want my own to work up to. E.D. always needs a challenge t become the best she can be. This book is similar to my life because I tried to be the cool person and always getting into trouble and I'm into the hole eyebrow piercing thing and tattoos so I could relate to Jake in this story. I would recommend this book to everyone who thinks there is nothing for them in life and if they are always in trouble and don't think there is a way out. Believe me there is a way to be a good responsible teenager and for adults too. Everyone needs a chance or two.

"The show must go on"

Do you think you can change a 13 year old teenager whose parents are in jail for selling and growing marijuana in their own home? Change him into a hard working student instead of the kid who just burnt down his old school? Stephanie S. Tolan's book Surviving the Applewhites is a great book that shows that even the worst people have some good in them. Jake Semple is a scary kid. Word has it that he burned down his old school and then was kicked out of every school in his home state. Only a few weeks into September, the middle school in Traybridge, North Carolina, has thrown him out too. Now there's only one place left that will take him: a home school run by the weirdest, most outrageous, quarrelsome family you'll ever meet. Each and every Applewhite is an artist except E.D. the smart, scruffy girl E.D. and Jake, so close in age, are quickly paired in the family's first experiment in "cooperative education." The two clash immediately, of course. The only thing they have in common is the determination to survive the family's expectations. But when the Applewhite Father directs the Sound of Music it brings the family together and shows E.D. and Jake the value of the special gifts they've had all along. I thought this book was awesome, but I don't think Tolan explained the characters well enough. There were too many people in the story and I couldn't keep them straight. I think Tolan did a great job describing the setting of the story I could imagine what it was like there with Jake and the craziness of living with 4 kids and 3 adults who are all obsessed with being artistic and showing their natural talents. When the family gets crazy about the play (The Sound of Music) you can fell their enthusiasm and excitement. I really like the novel.

Surviving the Applewhites

Surviving the Applewhites is a very well written book. It's filled with comedy and good meaning. The story is about Jake Semple, a young man with a bad attitude. After being kicked out of all the available schools, he attends the Creative Academy which is run by the Applewhite family. There he discovers a new way of life. I would say this book is meant for people age 11 and up who like to laugh as well as read books about how people can change their lives.