The book is packed full of interesting, if not always reliable, adults, which is kind of rare in a kid's book. That said, I think that Surviving the Applewhites is still a standout for the representation of artists and creative expression in a book for young readers.

Jack Gantos, Cynthia Lord, Jacqueline Woodson and Gary Scmidt (although his books are set in the past) have upped the bar and the dramatic potential. Sharon Creech, EL Konigsburg and Jerry Spinelli seemed to have a corner on contemporary, realistic fiction at the time. I went back and looked over the lists of Newbery gold and silver medal winners from the late 1990s up through today to compare and contrast. Reading Surviving the Applewhites again, some ten years (and hundreds of kid's books later) Tolan's book feels a bit dated, and not just for the mentions of Miatas and Walkmans, but because of the ways that this genre of children's literature has expanded and changed in the last decade.

I know that I read and enjoyed Surviving the Applewhites some ten years ago, but I don't remember what the other members of the book group thought of it. I think my favorite group was the Newbery Book Club, which was usually chock full of very creative, very bright girls ages 8 - 11. At one point I ran book clubs for Magic Tree House, Goosebumps, American Girl and Newbery Books as well as a weekly pajama story time. One the best parts of my job at the bookstore when I first started in 1995 was the opportunity I had to create and run various book clubs for kids and the occasional clubs for adults.

Jake semple surviving the applewhites