Heartless Lyn @ Great Imaginations

Not one of my favorite Newbery Winners, 'Surviving the Applewhites' tended to charm me about halfway through the book. The first part of the book focused on the spoiled family, causing the main characters to be unlikable. The bickering and negativity of the book really drug down the potential of the book, and the heroine of the story came off as mean, unkind, and snotty. However, Jake's transformation, the metaphor of the butterflies and the true spirit of art within the final chapters saved this overall haughty and lukewarm novel.