Surviving the Applewhites
By Sally Engelfried,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Lighthearted tale of eccentric family's creative homeschool.
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What's the Story?
Twelve-year-old E.D Applewhite wasn't too happy when her father decided she and her siblings should be homeschooled at their own Creative Academy in rural North Carolina. She's even less happy when Jake, a troubled youth who's been kicked out of too many schools to count, shows up to join them. In alternating narratives, E.D. tells of her struggles to fit in with her own family while Jake tries to figure out how best to annoy the Applewhites. Despite their initial resistance, however, E.D. and Jake get drawn into the riotous family drama -- both emotional and literal -- as E.D.'s volatile father enlists everyone's help in his production of The Sound of Music.
Is It Any Good?
From the terminally optimistic poetess Aunt Lucille to E.D's brother Hal, Surviving the Applewhites is chock-full of delightful eccentric characters.
The banner in the Applewhites' schoolroom reads, "Education is an adventurous quest for the meaning of life, involving an ability to think things through." The rest of the Applewhites embrace this motto wholeheartedly as they pursue their many creative interests, but E.D. and new student Jake have their own reasons to be skeptical. E.D. and Jake serve as two more grounded lenses through which to view the creative commotion of the family, but the real fun occurs as they each gradually lose their objectivity and get sucked into the whirlwind on their own terms.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how everyone in this book has a passion, even E.D., although hers is not typical of the rest of the Applewhites'. What's your passion? Is it creative or something else?
The Applewhites' school life is unusual in that the children get to choose what they want to study. Do you think you would enjoy this, or would you miss the lack of structure, as E.D. does?
If you got to choose your own subjects to study in school, what would you choose?
Book Details
- Author: Stephanie S. Tolan
- Genre: Family Life
- Topics: Brothers and Sisters, Friendship, Music and Sing-Along
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
- Publication date: January 1, 2002
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 10 - 14
- Number of pages: 216
- Award: Newbery Medal and Honors
- Last updated: July 12, 2017
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