I Pearl Ruled this book at page 60. I don't like any of the characters, and even eccentric characters should be somewhat likable. The Penderwick and Blossoms (Betsy Byars) series have likable, 3 dimensional eccentric characters, so it can be done well. It wasn't here.

What really amazes me is this book won a Newbery. I don't see how. ( )

A cute story about an eccentric, creative family and their unschool.

I enjoyed reading about the kids' various curriculum choices, especially those of E.D. I liked her character and that her "special talent" was being organized.

I didn't care for Jake, one of the main characters. His development seemed a little unrealistic to me... then again, this is a children's book, so maybe I'm being too harsh.

The pet parrot who was always swearing was an undesirable (and totally unnecessary) addition to the story. Even though specific curse words were not shared, I think just mentioning profanity will get a kid's mind thinking about which curse words they know - and it's better to put good ideas into their minds. ( )

Award winning book. Very good. I would recommend this book. ( )

There is a boy that accidentally set a school on fire name Jake.He pretended he did it on purpose his parents get arrested for trying to drug a cop. He has two choices go live with the Apple white or Juvenile detention. That is where the real bad kids are. He decided to live with the Apple whites. The apple whites are doing a play of The Sound of Music.Jake decides to join the play. He gets rid of all his piercings and cut his red hair. He stopped smoking and Jake realized that was the the real me.
In my opinion this book was amazing but they had a lot of characters so I got some of Them confused ( )

This is a great book. good use of characters,settings,and such.It starts with Jake going to the unschool and not liking it but then liking it ( )