Morton Rhue: The Wave. Lektüreschlüssel für Schüler

by Kathleen Ellenrieder, Morton Rhue

The Wave is sweeping through the entire school -- and it's out of control...

It had begun as a simple history experiment to liven up their World War II studies but, before long, Laurie Saunders sees her classmates change into chanting, saluting fanatics, caught up in a new organization called The Wave.

Laurie is afraid, but realizes that she must do something to stop it before it's too late...

A compelling novel based on a true incident that occurred in a high school history class in California.

Genres: Fiction

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Ella Debrauwer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Korte samenvatting:

In de geschiedenisles van meneer Ross hebben ze een documentaire gekeken over WOII en het nazisme. Bijna alle leerlingen waren het er over eens dat het nooit nog eens opnieuw zou gebeuren. Meneer Ross besloot om een experiment te starten om te zien hoe een beweging kon leiden tot het nazisme. Hij noemde het de golf. Het was begonnen als klein klas experiment maar het leidde snel tot een veel grotere rage die buiten de klas groeide. De school werd overspoeld door leerlingen die gehersenspoeld leken door de golf. Ze riepen slogans, salueerden en zochten ruzie met niet-leden.


round character:

In dit verhaal is meneer Ross, ook wel Ben Ross genoemd, de hoofdpersonage. In het begin van het verhaal was hij van plan om een klein klas experimentje uit te voeren. Uiteindelijk bleek bijna heel de school lid van de golf. Alles was uit de hand gelopen omdat een aantal niet-leden in elkaar werden geslagen. Hij had door dat dit fout was en moest nu ook zorgen dat dit experiment stopt. Hij heeft er heel lang over nagedacht en uiteindelijk is het gelukt. Hij heeft er enorm veel uit geleerd en vond dat het experiment, ook al was het uit de hand gelopen, toch geslaagd is .

vertelperspectief:

Het verhaal wordt verteld vanuit verschillende perspectieven. Soms zie je Meneer Ross die nadenkt over het experiment en het uitvoert. Dan zie je ook Laurie ( een van zijn leerlingen) die het experiment wil stoppen. Maar allebei vertellen ze vanuit de ik-perspectief.


boodschap:

Het boek laat zien hoe makkelijk je bij een groep aansluit om ‘erbij te horen’ of om het gevoel te hebben dat iedereen gelijk is. Mensen stappen bijvoorbeeld heel snel bij de golf zonder echt na te denken en dat leidt vaak tot het verliezen van een eigen mening. Het geeft ook de boodschap dat de geschiedenis zich kan blijven herhalen en dat bijna iedereen gevoelig is voor fascisme.

Wat vond ik ervan?

Ik vond dit een leuk boek om te lezen, ik vind het onderwerp heel interessant. Het boek is ook makkelijk leesbaar. Er worden niet veel moeilijke woorden gebruikt en er wordt ook op chronologische wijze verteld. Het boek geeft een realistisch beeld van hoe alles verliep. Alles lijkt logisch. Ik kan geloven dat de populaire geschiedenisleerkracht veel invloed kan hebben op zijn leerlingen. Al bij al vond ik dit een leuk boek om te lezen, als persoon die niet graag leest.

ik geef het ***

[Amir · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was alright. It was based on a real life incident when the wave in the California high school takes over. The main character is Laurie. She has a boyfriend, who loves her, his name is David (he is also the school football team captain). Mr Ross a history teacher who started the wave by showing his students a film about the Nazi.

The people who were in the Wave were ok and they had nothing to worry about, but students who weren’t part of The Wave were forced to join, by bullying them. The people in The wave have a motto, first it was just “strength through discipline. Then it became “strength through disciplined, strength through community” and then finally the motto became“strength through discipline, strength through community, strength through action”.

Soon enough Laurie’s boyfriend David has joined the Wave. However Laurie disagreed with the concept of the Wave. David was in the Wave until he realized that he was hurting his girlfriend, who he loved, after that David quitted the Wave. At the end of the book David and Laurie were trying to stop the Wave because it has gone too far and people were getting hurt because of it.

This is why they teamed up with the teacher who started it (Mr Ross) and at the very end they managed to stop the Wave together.

I recommend this book to people who enjoy reading short books or like non-fiction books and to those who like political or historical books.

[Rebecca Buhler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short book super interesting, based on a true story of a teacher demonstrating how behaviours of the nazi party could occur within his group of high schoolers.

[Luke Shortland · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book fits under the "A book about the world's history" category on the reading bingo board. I decided to read it because it looked like a good book and because I am fascinated by Germany and World War II. What I liked about the book is that it kept me interested the whole time. What I didn't like about this book is that it finished too quickly as if the author was trying to abruptly finish the story. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Germany and Nazi's as it is based on the events that occurred in World War II.

[GSGS · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a true story, so I can't exactly complain about the plot, can I? XD
However the writing style DID get tedious from time to time (the viepoints swapped around like heck and it wasn't a smooth switch, either) and we never really got close enough to any of the characters to sympathise with them.
(I also found it annoying how the characters' last names were always given... I GET IT. HER NAME IS LAURIE SAUNDERS. YOU CAN JUST SAY 'LAURIE'. OR 'SAUNDERS'. WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT)
So yeah, a short read but a pretty good read, too.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

just finished reading this for my english class, and I actually found what happened quite disturbing, but if anyone is interested in true events, history (Especially Nazi Germany) and your interested in this kind of thing then yes, I think its a really good book. except the only thing is, ive also seen a couple of videos by the teacher himself and it looks like this book might have downplayed the real events a bit, but it still gives enough information to understand what happened, and why exactly this was such a big problem

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I thought it would be utterly boring but I was surprised at how caught up i got in it.
The messages in this book are so strong and it just goes to show the bad and good sides of human nature and how some things can start off as something so harmless but then turns into something so absolutely horrible and terrifying. I just hope that it doesn't happen again anything soon, especially because this book was based on a true story.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting and makes you think if you read this do have a look at the video which is available on the internet (it's free) as that is interesting too. There is a documentary I believe but have not seen that. Highly recommended I'd like to think I wouldn't be drawn in as these youngsters were never been one to play along and fit in but who knows you can't really say. Disturbing.

[Steph Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A disturbing read in many ways as we see how students get caught up in the fictional movement called 'The Wave' as part of a history lesson on Nazism. Something I think teachers, particularly History teachers, should read to see the power that they can have over their students. An interesting read, glad I have read it.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

i can say i truely hated this book with a passion. It reflected so much on the Nazis and i cannot believe people are so stuipd. How can a stuipd lesson turn into hatred and treating people wrongly.

When i read this a second time, i hated it more. i wanted to burn this book.

I say DONT READ IT!

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was simple but clear; it is a good easy read on a very important social topic.

[Tara Ballantyne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the idea that it's exploring, but it takes awhile to get into it! Thought provoking, but boring!

[Elisa]

Det er en interessant bog, selv omdet er engrenre jeg ikke normalt læser. Dog er den tyske "filmatisering" ved navn DIE WELLE mere fangende

[Candida · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quick read! Interesting, enjoyed the subject matter but would have liked more.

[Cinthya Cherres]

mmm.... is interesting