Applewhites Coast to Coast

August 15, 2017
The Applewhites take their untraditional, ramshackle educational show on the road. In this third in the Applewhites saga, Jake Semple, cured of his rebel ways at their home-school ranch called Wit's End, remains with the Applewhites. The entire brood embarks on a cross-country competition to prove their brand of experiential, self-driven learning is the best. If they win, there's both money and reality TV fame to be had. E.D. and Jake's first kiss hasn't quite gone as expected, so when trouble arrives in the form of a gorgeous bad-girl named Melody Aiko Bernstein, Jake is struck dumb and E.D. is simmeringly jealous. Jake's and E.D.'s thoughts are revealed in alternating, third-person-limited chapters, while the rest of the quirky cast play out their roles in the background. The Art Bus goes from assigned stop to assigned stop per the competition's directive, amid myriad mishaps such as wayward crushes, stolen cars, embarrassing theater performances, minimakeovers, and cockroach infestations. Through sarcastic wit and sweet charm by turns, Melody manipulates the Applewhites, begging the question of everyone's integrity. This road trip is long and, despite its jumble of events, often tedious. Jake and the Applewhites are white; diversity is mostly conveyed by naming convention, as with Melody's Japanese middle name and yoga teacher/family cook Govindaswami's Indian one. A humdrum adventure that muddily tries to convey the notion that all of life's students are also teachers. (Fiction. 8-13)

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from September 1, 2017
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* A hearty welcome back to the Applewhites, that family of self-proclaimed artistic geniuses, whose Creative Academy is now about to win public acclaimor infamy. The family has been selected to participate in the wealthy Rutherford family's Education Expedition, which pits similarly inclined homeschoolers in a cross-country road trip to bring educational prowess to the masses (and money to the winners). But once the TV people get a hold of the expedition, it turns into a reality show. A new addition to the greater Applewhite family, savvy teen Melody knows what to do to make winners of them all, but how far will the clan let themselves be pushed? With the same madcap shenanigans that made the previous two books big winners, this volume gets the gang moving across the country in their reconstituted school buses, and the laughs are plentiful at every stop along the way. But the Tolans offer more than high jinks. Told in alternating viewpoints, E. D., the practical Applewhite, must reconcile her down-to-earthiness with the reality that schemers like Melody often win the dayand in this case, might also win E. D.'s crush, Jake. Jake's chapters, meanwhile, feature introspection about the problemproblems!with girls. There's not much else like the Applewhites in kidlit, so enjoy the ride!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)