Jake Semple is notorious. Word has it that he burned down his old school and then was kicked out of every school in his old state. Now there’s only one school left that will take him—a home school run by the most outrageous, forgetful, chaotic, quarrelsome family you’ll ever meet. Each and every Applewhite is an artist through and through—except E.D., the smart, scruffy girl with a deep longing for order and predictability. E.D. and Jake, so nearly the same age, are quickly paired in the family’s first experiment in “cooperative education.” The two clash immediately, of course. The only thing they have in common is the determination to survive the family’s eccentricities. In Stephanie S. Tolan’s humorous tale, a local production of The Sound of Music—directed, stagecrafted, choreographed, and costumed by Applewhites—brings the family together and shows E.D. and Jake the value of the special gifts they’ve had all along. With new cover art by Brett Helquist, this edition of Surviving the Applewhites will include a teaser to Applewhites at Wit’s End, the next uproarious novel about the eccentric family.