Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie Tolan

Surviving the Applewhites is a book about a juvenile delinquint who has been kicked out of every school in North Carolina, including one that was supposed to be IMPOSSIBLE to be expelled from. So he has been transfered to a certain 'Wit's End, Creative Academy', and as fancy and private-schoolish that might sound, what Wits End really is, is the Applewhite Family Homeschool. The Applewhite family is a creative family that has it's hold on many arts, except for (if you want to be technical) ED who is more organized and specific then the others. Will Jake Semple turn out to be just like the other Applewhites and pick up his own special artistic talent? I cannot answer that question, you will have to read the book. :)

Ok, so I have very mixed opinions about this book alltogether. I like the subject matter and the positive view on homeschooling, as well as the character development; specifically on Jake's part. I give this book... 3 stars. I think that might be the lowest I've ever given a book since I've started reviewing books here, but I could be wrong. You see, as much as I like the story, I would never probably read it over again, and the problems lie here; I will describe them. The book is absolutely chaotic. For me it was hard to realize which character was who, what relation. I didn't know Archie was older and was Lucille's husband until almost the end of the book. I thought Randolph was a child and Hal was the husband. I was kinda unsure as to who Sybil Jameson/Debbie Applewhite was at first.... It's just, everything is really not organized in my opinion, and I just couldn't keep track of what was going on.. to my surprise. The ending; well... It was sort of like... There was no ending? I mean Jake made his decision, but it didn't just even near end there you know... He can't just become part of the family or anything like that, but it was wrecklessly left there. But that is just my personal opinion, and heck, I could've been imagining it... But it just wasn't really my type of book. Anyway, still pretty good though :)

So anyway, keep reading Bookworms. :P -Cat!