Rating: 
Summary: Humor, with a human side
Review: This is a good hearted book that follows the transformation of Jake, incipient hoodlum, to Jake, possible actor/singer in a believable gradual series of extenuating circumstances. The humor rests on the interesting and very individualistic ways the various residents of the Creative Academy go about their daily lives, making Jake, with his spiked hair and many earrings seem almost normal. A sub-plot also follows E.D., one of the daughters of the family in her quest to organize her life and NOT be as hair-brained as the rest of her family. She, too, discovers that her talents are valued, even if they are not in the artistic domain.
Rating:
Summary: A great read!
Review: This is a great novel with vivid, real characters with whom youth can clearly relate. I have known many Jake Semples, but Tolan gives a fresh, new perspective on how to deal with "bad city kids". Refreshing and charming with a meaningful theme.
Rating: 
Summary: A great book READ IT!
Review: This is one book that i never put down. I was finished with it in aday and a half! It is about a boy named Jake who is known to burn down his school (roomer) and is sent to live with the unpredictable Applewhites. Jake is kind of a punk with spikey hair and a bad attitude.E.D. the most practical teenage Applewhite is forced to work with Jake, who if he doesnt stay he will go to Juvie Hall. When Randolph(Mr.Applewhite) is assigned to a play, Jake gets a part. you should read this book to find out the rest... But I wish Stephanie S. Tolan, would make a sequel!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Soooo much fun!
Review: This story about a dilinquient kid and the nutty family that take him in is all fun. The characters are wonderfull, and I fell head-over-heels in love with E.D., Destiney, and Jake. The only problem with this book is that it is too short!
and a note to all other drama nerds- you will particularley enjoy the production of the Sound of Music which is the center of the novel.
Rating: 
Summary: I guess it was alright
Review: This thing is utterly ridiculous crap. I must read this book for my reading class in school, so i have no other choice but to struggle reading this wretched junk. It is absolutely pointless; it is a CHILDREN'S BOOK about a DELINQUENT! It is retarded, thinking that children would enjoy a book like that without REAL things in it, instead of just saying "Jake Semple said his two favorite words" you could have actually wrote out the words. That would make it funnier and more interesting. And, I can already tell that it's about how in the end Jake will become a fabulous, good little boy who can sing, dance, act, blah blah blah....see, it isn't even worth reading. Since it's a friggin children's book, nothing REALISTIC could ever happen. What are the chances that a teenage delinquent starting fires and getting kicked out of schools would ever change to sing and act in musical theatre? The whole thing is pointless; my whole class agrees. Plus, my teacher even said that she was sorry she chose this particular book before she actually read it first. This book makes me want to kill myself, it's that horrid. Please, don't make your precious brain suffer through this crap.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing 45th Review
Review: Tolan's writing could have been more than just an average farce. The protagonist, a troubled youth, does not test for trust and acceptance with his arrival to the eccentric Applewhite household. She misses an opportunity to challenge the reader to wonder whether they could tolerate and overcome his past and form a bond.
Rating: 
Summary: Surviving The Applewhites
Review: Well, there's this punk kid-slash-juvenile delinquent who finds himself in the hands of one of the most peculiar families he's ever met (yeah, even weirder than he is). Just when he's about to say that being with this family is hell, he realizes that life's not at all about being obstinate and being a problem kid-it's about being yourself.
Meanwhile, ED, one of the family members the delinquent's gonna live with, has troubles of her own. She's used to doing things neatly; she's so...organized. When the teenage rebel comes, she immediately despises him. They're two opposites, two people repelling each other. And just when she's about to declare that sending the delinquent to live with them was the worst idea in the history of mankind, she discovers that there really IS something good 'bout everybody.
There you go...all about good discoveries about yourself and the world around you.
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