The Wave School & Library Binding – September 1, 1981 PDF

The Wave (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) School & Library Binding – September 1, 1981
Author: Visit ‘s Todd Strasser Page ID: 0881039942

From the Publisher

The Wave is based on a true incident that occured in a high school history class in Palo Alto, California, in 1969.

The powerful forces of group pressure that pervaded many historic movements such as Nazism are recreated in the classroom when history teacher Burt Ross introduces a “new” system to his students. And before long “The Wave,” with its rules of “strength through discipline, community, and action, ” sweeps from the classroom through the entire school. And as most of the students join the movement, Laurie Saunders and David Collins recognize the frightening momentum of “The Wave” and realize they must stop it before it’s too late.

–This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

The Wave is based on a true incident that occured in a high school history class in Palo Alto, California, in 1969.

The powerful forces of group pressure that pervaded many historic movements such as Nazism are recreated in the classroom when history teacher Burt Ross introduces a “new” system to his students. And before long “The Wave,” with its rules of “strength through discipline, community, and action, ” sweeps from the classroom through the entire school. And as most of the students join the movement, Laurie Saunders and David Collins recognize the frightening momentum of “The Wave” and realize they must stop it before it’s too late.

–This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Age Range: 12 and up Grade Level: 7 and upSchool & Library Binding: 143 pagesPublisher: Turtleback (September 1, 1981)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 0881039942ISBN-13: 978-0881039948 Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.5 x 0.6 inches Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Best Sellers Rank: #2,083,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #8185 in Books > Children’s Books > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Friendship, Social Skills & School Life > School #8428 in Books > Teens > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure #16198 in Books > Teens > Literature & Fiction > Social & Family Issues
The Wave by Morton Rhue
"Morton Rhue" is a pseudonym and his real name is Todd Strasser . He was born in New York City in 1950 and he grew up on Long Island (N.Y.). Todd went to the I.U. Willets Elementary School. The he went to the Wheatly School for junior high an high school. He had trouble with spelling and grammar. Later he graduated from Beloit College. He was a reporter on the Middletown (N.Y.) Times-Herald Record and an adverting copywriter before his first novel for young people, Angel Dust Blues, was published 1979. For some years he supplemented his income as the owner of Toggle Inc., a small fortune-cookie company. He and his wife, Pamela, live not far from New York City with their daughter, son, and yellow Labrador retriever. "The Wave" was the first book he had published under his pseudonym "Morton Rhue". As Todd Strasser he published more than 100 books. He wrote movie novelizations, too, for example "Free Willy", "Jumanji" or "Home alone". He got many awards for some of his books.
The book is called `The Wave’, because the experiment, the teacher started is named like that. His intention is to create something, which symbolises movement, direction and impact. Then he gets the idea of calling it `The Wave’ , because a wave has these characteristics. In order to give the `Wave members’, his pupils, a feeling of community, he also introduces a special symbol and a special salute. The symbol is a circle with the outline of a wave inside it. The salute is to cup the right hand in the shape of a wave, then to tap it against the left shoulder and hold it upright.
Ben Ross a history teacher at an American high school is discussing the horrors of the holocaust. The students ask how all this could happen.
After having read the first couple of pages, I was absolutely unable to put the book down. The idea of the story, that fascism is still present everywhere, even in America, which resents it the most is quite interesting. It is true that the characters are not exactly the most complex ones I was ever confronted with in a novel, and also the idea that a high school class of such a rowdy nature is transformed into such a obedient and disciplined "machine" is quite ridiculous, but I believe that had the characters had more depth, or had the author spent more time on the transformation, it would have interfered with the story’s flow.

Now, the main reason why I enjoyed this book so much is that it confronts a theme that too many people are trying to forget, to ignore: the susceptibility of every single person on this planet to fascism. To prove this, a teacher at an American high school starts a very dubious experiment. He founds a "club", the Wave. They have their own greeting, and an own belief (power by discipline, power by community, power by action). But soon nobody sees the Wave as a school project anymore, but as real life. Students that refuse to join the Wave are threatened. The student newspaper releases an article which criticizes the Wave very strongly, and somebody sprays the word "ENEMY" on the author’s locker. Things escalate when a Jewish boy is beaten up. Even the teacher who founded the Wave cannot control it any longer. But then he shows the members of the Wave a picture of Adolf Hitler, and says that he is their leader. He shows how wrong the way that they were behaving was, and suddenly, everything goes back to normal.

The ending of this book is truly somewhat idiotic, and is obviously a result of lack of ideas.
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