Surviving the Applewhites (Paperback)

~ (Author) "My name is not Edie. It's E.D. E period, D period..." (more)
Key Phrases: curriculum notebook, butterfly project, purple syrup, Jake Semple, Jeremy Bernstein, Wit's End (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Jake Semple is kicked out of yet another school, the Applewhites, an eccentric family of artists, offer to let him live with them and attend their unstructured Creative Academy. Twelve-year-old E.D., the only non-artistic (and organized) person in her family, feels like "the invisible Applewhite" and is wary of Jake. Through Jake and E.D's alternating perspectives, Tolan (The Face in the Mirror) introduces the outrageous titular clan. E.D.'s pompous father directs a local production of The Sound of Music, while her mother breaks from her popular mysteries to write the Great American Novel; her uncle carves a coffee table that her poet aunt defends to Jake, "Well, you couldn't put a cup of coffee on it, of course, but then who would want to? It's wonderfully soul-filling, don't you think?" Some of the plotting feels unfinished: E.D. and Jake don't formally make peace and the Applewhites never come to terms with their individual narcissism. Jake's transformation too seems unconvincing. But humor abounds in the ever-building chaos: a writer coming to interview E.D.'s mother stays to do a slew of projects on the famous family, including inviting a television crew to document their lives. In the end, it's the antics of the cast of characters that keep this show on the road. Ages 10-up. (Aug.)
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-In this laugh-out-loud novel, a young teen on the fast track to the juvenile detention center suddenly finds himself living in rural North Carolina with the outrageously eccentric Applewhite clan. Jake Semple, 13, has been expelled from a long line of schools before coming to the Applewhites to be homeschooled. This extended family forms what a visiting reporter christens an "artistic dynasty," with various creative endeavors absorbing the adults' time and attention. Jake is left largely to his own devices, since the family doesn't believe in telling their charges what or when to study. He develops a loyal following consisting of an active four-year-old and an overweight basset hound, and his transformation is complete once he becomes enmeshed in the family's production of The Sound of Music. Quirky characters, from the cub reporter to the visiting guru, add to the offbeat humor. The Applewhites' over-the-top personalities mark them as literary kin of Helen Cresswell's Bagthorpes. Running beneath the narrative that gently pokes fun at everything from sculpture to TV documentaries, though, is also the story of a boy allowing himself to belong and begin to discover his own potential. This has terrific booktalk and read-aloud potential, and will help fill the need for humorous contemporary fiction.
Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (December 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064410447
• ISBN-13: 978-0064410441
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (114 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #260,463 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Humor, with a human side, November 6, 2002

By	Laura Lynn Walsh "gt-teacher" (Fairbanks, AK USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Surviving the Applewhites (Library Binding)

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.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bagthorpes redux, August 3, 2005

By	E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Surviving the Applewhites (Newbery Honor Book) (Hardcover)

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book Ever!, January 3, 2005

A Kid's Review

In the book Surviving the Applewhites the book starts off with Jake Semple. He is shipped off to the Creative Academy and there he has to be schooled there and while he is there he also learned a valuable lesson. While he is there E.D Applewhite resents him and like always thinks that she does not belong with all of her family who lives on their estate at the Creative Academy. While Jake is staying there he also feels that he does not belong there and toward the end of the book he realizes that he does have talent in acting and singing when he plays the oldest child's lover boy in the Applewhites production of The Sound of Music. Jake was a very luck boy to go the Creative academy, because it saved him from moving to Juvenile Hall for boys. When Jake entered the academy he was a rebellious teenager with red spiked hair, piercing and a bad smoking habit. But, when he left no more red spikes hair, no more piercing and smoking was out too.
Jake Semple was a diamond in the rough in the begging of the book. As I said before he had red spike hair with beautiful blonde hair underneath the dye, piercing all up his ear and the only thing he wore thought the whole year was black tee shirts and black baggy pants. Smoking and having a bad attitude were two of the many things that is wrong with Jake and which he needs to fix. His personality is very mean and care free since he does not care about what he says and how he acts toward people. At the end of the book Jake makes a very big transformation and you will have to read this fabulous book to see what I mean. Jake has many bad traits in the begging, but turns them all around so I guess me and him do have some similar traits like being kind to others, sometimes, and also during the end being very responsible for people and things.
My opinion of on the book was very good. I loved it and the book became my all time favorite, because the plot was set up so well and described wonderfully. My favorite part was when Jake first met E.D's younger brother Destiny and how he always looked up to Jake and tried to do everything like Jake. I would recommend this book to everyone I know who has not read it. Stephanie S. Tolan did a wonderful job writing this book and I think whoever would read it would fall in love with it just like it did.