Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

poorly written, but interesting concept	Customer Rating:
It's a quick and easy read but it is hard to believe that it is based on facts. After a bit of research on the internet it appears that there was indeed a class experiment like this, but it did not happen the way it is portrayed in the book. Reality is more complicated.

All Older Children and Young Teens Should Read This Book	Customer Rating:
This book is a fascinating effort to bring home the horrors of the Holocaust and the pernicious effects of branding people as the "other." A must-read for our divisive, soulless times, I read this with my two older children and we all learned something from it. You will, too.

this book is so great	Customer Rating:
THE FIRST CHAPTER WAS NOT ALL THAT GOOD.IT WAS REALLY ABOUT LAURIE AND HER CLASS MATES.IT STARTED TO GET INTERSING WHEN BEN ROSS THE HISTORY TEACHER SHOWED THE CLASS THE NAZI MOVIE.THEN THATS WHEN THE WAVE STARTED TO COMETOGETHER.THINGS STARTED TO GET STRANGE.CHILDREN STARTED TO GET HURT AND THREATED BY THE WAVE MEMBERS FOR NOT JOINING.DAVID AND LAURIE KNEW THEY MUST END IT BEFORE IT GOES TO FAR.

THE WAVE

Customer Rating:

Based on a true story, THE WAVE tells of how a History teacher taught his students about the Nazis after they didn't really understand how it could be possible for so many Germans to let it happen under their noses. Its intriguing premise is, indeed, fascinating. A novelization of the TV movie based on the actual events, Todd Strasser has unfortunately created a novel caught in a time warp -- stilted language caught in the '50s, '60s, or '70s (it's all cheesy!); a writing style reminiscent of a high school senior project more than a novel -- lacking in a strong, natural flow of situations, character motivations or language; exaggerated emotional content that equates to bad acting on film. This is weak writing, among the weakest I have read in a while. A strong premise delivered with little muscle, this WAVE belongs in the kiddie pool.

The Wave in a nutshell

Customer Rating:

The Wave is a book about a High School history teacher who is asked a question about the Nazis, which he can not answer. Later that day, he studies up about the Nazi's education policies and develops a "social experiment" witch he enacts on his students, and basically brain washes many of them within quite a small period of time. As many of you know, The Wave was based on a true story. The first time you hear the story its interesting and you just want to know more, but the times after that it just becomes too generic and repetitive. Also, the book places itself for a "big bang" at the ending, which is surprising the first time, but unfortionatly soon after the book ends with a weak, abrupt ending. My final verdict is that the book is not that bad, and i would advise you to read it; however, try to find the book used or on a bargan shelf because you will not find yourself reading it again and again.