Surviving the Applewhites Book

I read this in my quest to read every children's book featuring modern homeschooled characters (there are shockingly few out there). It's a fun story about a homeschooling family that takes in a rebellious boy who has been expelled from school for getting into too much trouble. The story is about how the boy relaxes into his new situation and finds the freedom to discover himself in the midst of it.

The book relies on the stereotype of homeschoolers as eccentric, artsy types, but they're not too off-the-wall for my tastes. Non-artsy talents are definitely recognized and valued through the plot of the book, which I found very important.

The story is very well-written. In particular, I was impressed by the way things that seemed upon introduction to be random colorful details--such as the angry goat, E.D.'s butterfly project, and Govindaswami--turned out to be crucial to the plot. Almost nothing here was extraneous, and it all tied together very nicely.

I do worry about Jake, the rebellious kid, though. He was sent away from home partly for his behavior but also because his parents had been sent to prison on nonviolent drug charges. He barely thought about his parents for the whole story after that. What kind of relationship does he have with them, and what will happen when they're out of prison and it's time for him to go back home? Maybe this is addressed in the sequel--which I plan to read sometime later, when my kids are old enough for this book.