Tolan, Stephanie. Surviving the Applewhites. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2002. 216 pages. (Fiction)The book, Surviving the Applewhites, is about a troubled boy named Jake Semple. Jake has scarlet colored hair that he gels into spikes, he always wears black, and he has a numerous amount of earrings on his face. He was originally from Rhode Island, but he either burned down the schools he went to or he did something just as terrible to the other ones. As you can already assume, he was kicked out of those schools. Jake had had many different foster families because his parents were in jail and his grandfather didn’t want to take care of him. Jake’s last option was to go to the Applewhite family who lived in North Carolina. When he got there, he met E.D., Destiny, Zedidiah, Archie, Lucille, Sible, Randolph, Cordelia, Hal, and their dog Winston. Although he didn’t like how the Applewhites did things, or how they always forgot to go grocery shopping, he had to live with them or go to Juvenile Hall. All of the kids, E.D., Destiny, Cordelia, and Hal, were home schooled. Their school at home was called the Creative Academy. Jake wanted to find his place in the Applewhite family, but he doesn’t know how. Until Randolf gives him a great opportunity.
I really liked this book because it’s very enjoyable to read about Jake and all of the troublesome things that happen to him. Once you get into the book more and more, you start to like Jake and feel sorry for him. I really liked how the author intertwined Jake’s and the Applewhite’s lives. Jake was so different from everyone else, but he found a way to fit in even though he thought that he didn’t want to.
Reviewed by: LESH
