20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Humor, with a human side, November 6, 2002
This is a good hearted book that follows the transformation of Jake, incipient hoodlum, to Jake, possible actor/singer in a believable gradual series of extenuating circumstances. The humor rests on the interesting and very individualistic ways the various residents of the Creative Academy go about their daily lives, making Jake, with his spiked hair and many earrings seem almost normal.
A sub-plot also follows E.D., one of the daughters of the family in her quest to organize her life and NOT be as hair-brained as the rest of her family. She, too, discovers that her talents are valued, even if they are not in the artistic domain.
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21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bagthorpes redux, August 3, 2005
There's a whole genre of children's literature that can be best categorized as Crazy/Artistic Family books. Since the publication of Frank and Ernestine Gilbreth's, "Cheaper By the Dozen" (and possibly before that book as well) kids have enjoyed reading about large crazy families and their occasional sad sane members. "Surviving the Applewhites" bounds gleefully into the ring to grab a little of this genre-glory and it's done pretty well for itself. It garnered a 2003 Newbery Honor. It's on countless Summer Reading lists around the country each year. You'd never know that it was a knock-off, would you? The fact of the matter is, "Surviving the Applewhites" is just a slightly contemporized version of Helen Cresswell's 1977 classic children's book, "Ordinary Jack". Though it certainly has some nice ideas and nice moments, "Applewhites" is doomed to be remembered as the Newbery Honor winner that copied a better book, from its dog to its fire-loving preschooler.
Jake Semple is a mean kid. A mean spiked hair kid. A mean spiked hair, multiple earrings, swear at authority figures, wear black clothing kid. He's been kicked out of every school he's ever gone to until finally he's ended up on the Applewhites' farm. The Applewhites are neighbors of Jake's grandfather (the last person the boy was dumped into the care of) and they're a bit... well.... a bit peculiar. All the adults have amazing artistic talents, while the kids are developing their own particular styles in a kind of free-form classroom. In the midst of this chaos is E.D. Applewhite, Jake's peer and an overly organized kid. She doesn't trust Jake for one little moment, but the fact of the matter is that there are larger issues hanging over her head. E.D. can't stand the loosey-goosey nature of the family. She's not artistically talented so she feels left out of things. It's only when her father ropes the entire family into helping with his production of "The Sound of Music" (with Jake as a lead) that E.D. and company learn how to best utilize their talents in a way that the world can really enjoy.
There are nice things in the book. Author Stephanie Tolan does wonderful things with butterflies here. Throughout the story, E.D. and Jake work on projects involving butterflies, culminating with Jake's idea to hatch some black swallowtails in the home. The result are butterflies that live with no fear of humans and become sort of family pets (an adorable idea). It's a bit of a stretch to imagine that E.D.'s father's idea of colorblind casting "The Sound of Music" would be considered groundbreaking, but it works within the context of the story. Children's books love colorblind casting musicals anyway (as in "Amazing Grace" by Mary Hoffman which did the same thing with "Peter Pan").
The book is very nice if you haven't read any of the Bagthorpe books (like "Ordinary Jack"). If you have though, you're in trouble. Consider the similarities. In "Ordinary Jack", Jack is the only normal member of his crazy/artistic family and so he and his dog Zero interact with his demanding writer father, adorable blond firebug of a preschool cousin, and others to find out what makes him special. In "Surviving the Applewhites", E.D. is the only normal member of her crazy/artistic family and so she and the family dog Winston (who loves Jack) interact with her demanding director father, adorable blond firebug of a brother, and others to find out what makes her special. Oog.
Jake himself is an odd sort. He doesn't do anything even slightly delinquent aside from swearing once in a while and smoking cigarettes. High crimes indeed. His appearance is that of a punk, a fact that would have shocked other kids in 1977, perhaps. Here, it's rather quaint. He's like a throwback to an earlier innocent age. If he had tried to look like Marilyn Manson he probably would've ended up a far more believable character. After all, what kid today goes about spiking his hair anymore?
Also, the book commits one particular crime that I am loathe to forgive and forget. The aforementioned adorable preschooler is named Destiny (kill me now) and randomly speaks with an affected cuteness that is supposed to melt readers' hearts. Instead, it only succeeds in inspiring jaw-dropping disbelief that any author would stoop so low. Destiny is prone to sentences about his hair like, "Mine just growed. My hair's blond. Did you know they don't gots a blond crayon even in the sixty-four box?". Gots? The child is a menace who repeatedly annoys the characters, almost kills another kid, lights fires, and basically behaves in a manner that, in an attempt to be cute, ends up as sickeningly saccharine.
There's a lot to like in this book, no question. If you can get over the identical plot/characters and the awful blond child then the book reads rather nicely. It STILL did not deserve the Newbery Honor. Goodness me, no. But it's a nice title that should be interesting to many kids out there. I didn't personally take to it, but I can see how others might. An overly simple book that will garner a large following.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a GREAT book for all ages!, June 19, 2005
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!
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