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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very good book!, March 1, 2001
The Wave by Morton Rhue"Morton Rhue" is a pseudonym and his real name is Todd Strasser . He was born in New York City in 1950 and he grew up on Long Island (N.Y.). Todd went to the I.U. Willets Elementary School. The he went to the Wheatly School for junior high an high school. He had trouble with spelling and grammar. Later he graduated from Beloit College. He was a reporter on the Middletown (N.Y.) Times-Herald Record and an adverting copywriter before his first novel for young people, Angel Dust Blues, was published 1979. For some years he supplemented his income as the owner of Toggle Inc., a small fortune-cookie company. He and his wife, Pamela, live not far from New York City with their daughter, son, and yellow Labrador retriever. "The Wave" was the first book he had published under his pseudonym "Morton Rhue". As Todd Strasser he published more than 100 books. He wrote movie novelizations, too, for example "Free Willy", "Jumanji" or "Home alone". He got many awards for some of his books. The book is called `The Wave', because the experiment, the teacher started is named like that. His intention is to create something, which symbolises movement, direction and impact. Then he gets the idea of calling it `The Wave' , because a wave has these characteristics. In order to give the `Wave members', his pupils, a feeling of community, he also introduces a special symbol and a special salute. The symbol is a circle with the outline of a wave inside it. The salute is to cup the right hand in the shape of a wave, then to tap it against the left shoulder and hold it upright. Ben Ross a history teacher at an American high school is discussing the horrors of the holocaust. The students ask how all this could happen. They ask if all the Germans were not Nazis, why they just stood by and watched. Mr. Ross can not answer their questions properly. He wants to start an experiment. He wants to recreate the situation of life in Nazi Germany. This experiment is called The Wave. The Wave is completely different to their normal lessons. There is a membership card and a special salute. The new Wave community is a kind of secret family, something special. Other students want to be involved and members recruit new members. So the Wave moves beyond the classroom. Later the Wave gets out of control. Anyone who says something against the Wave is an enemy, these people are threatened. After a while Mr. Ross realizes that the Wave gets out of control. He decides to end his experiment abruptly. He organizes a Wave rally. When the lights in the hall get out a film of Hitler and the holocaust appear on the TV-screens. The film stops with a picture of Hitler surrounded by soldiers. Finally Mr. Ross says: "Yes you all would have made good Nazis... Fascism isn't something those other people did, it's right here in all of us". The author of the book ‚The Wave' uses a limited omniscient narrator for the story. That means that it is told from the point of view of the most important characters (especially Laurie and Mr. Ross) He always uses the third person form. The relationship between descriptions and dialogues is balanced out. In my opinion it is a must to read "The Wave" if someone is interested in the historical and political facts of the Third Reich. The Wave is a modern novel, that tells you how Hitler was able to have such a great success and how he won the masses. In "The Wave" the classroom- experiment is compared to Hitler's raise to power. Ben Ross plays the role of a leader and finally this thing called "The Wave" gets out of control. The book makes clear, that something like the Third Reich is not past, it tells us that it can happen even in the present. It is interesting to read and also easy to understand. Because of these reasons the reader may be caught up while reading it. Sum: A book for young adults, told in a modern way. Everybody should read it and you will not regret it!
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by E. L. Konigsburg
by Frank Bonham
by John B. Severance
