The Wave

By Todd Strasser

This novel dramatizes an incident that took place in a California school in 1969. A teacher creates an experimental movement in his class to help students understand how people could have followed Hitler. The results are astounding. The highly disciplined group, modeled on the principles of the Hilter Youth, has its own salute, chants, and special ways of acting as a unit and sweeps beyond the class and throughout the school, evolving into a society willing to give up freedom for regimentation and blind obedience to their leader. All will learn a lesson that will never be forgotten.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9780307979131

Todd Strasser

Todd Strasser, author of Give a Boy a Gun, Boot Camp, If I Grow Up, and the Help, I’m Trapped . . . series, has written wildly popular middle-grade and teen books of all genres. When he's not speaking at schools and conferences, he makes his home in a suburb of New York City. Todd is active in a number of sports but enjoys surfing most of all. Visit him online at www.toddstrasser.com.

Reviews for The Wave

[vhartpowers · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Set in a California Palo Alto high school in 1969, a high school history class is watching a film on Nazi's and the images of the monstrocities they did. A student asks why the Germans didn't do anything to stop the Nazi's from doing all of the horrific things they did.
The teacher couldn't answer this question.
This student was very disturbed by the images she saw on the film shown in class and at lunch her boyfriend told her to let it go, it was so long ago and it couldn't happen again.
The teacher did a lot of reading that night and decided to try an experiment to just last one class period. "The movement" took on a life of its own. Even the class creep/loser took on a new persona and cleaned up his act and got involved. Then a symbol was created and mottos were created that the group chanted. At first it started out positive, but then people started to be bullies and force people others into group. It was supposed to eradicate the cliques and make everyone equal, but then “The Wave” as the group was named started to feel more special than the students not involved.
As things started to get dangerous the parents were contacting the principal and the teacher had to end it immediately. He had his own adjustments of sudden obedience from the students and letting that go.
Phenomenal story and scary too!

[soniaandree_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the novelization of a true story about a History teacher's social experiment and its consequences. Taking nazi Germany's authoritarian regime as the ground in which to base his experiment, the teacher leads the students from uniformity (and the people's natural tendency to follow and be part of a group) to the extremes of segregation of the ones who do not belong. The movement's name is called the 'Wave'. The main question being 'how could people in Germany have followed and encouraged Hitler's regime?', there is no straight answer but that the sociological peer pressures and wanting to be part of a selected community are enough to lead to extremes. Some students are excluded from the Wave, aggressivity grows and incidents are proving the teacher right and his position at the school is in jeopardy. Without giving any spoilers, the book should be part of any school's curriculum, if only to get students to reflect on the evils of social apathy in the face of an authoritarian regime and that to blindly follow doesn't require much efforts - the damages are the exclusion of 'others', or worse. The face of evil can indeed be found among us, family or neighbours, people we think are our friends too. The roots of exclusion could be simple jealousy or wanting to dominate with a sense of entitlement. This is a great read, especially for high school students and as an introduction to the study of peer pressure.

[singerforlife22 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very good book!

[plaeski-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm not quite sure why I've heard good things about this one. It does tell an important story about the dangers of mindless group-think but it could have been written much better. It's not good when you are reading something and it reminds you of stories you wrote during your own school days.

One things that really bothers me about books written for teens is that some, including this one, write in a style that is too simplistic. Thankfully the assumption that teens aren't able to understand more sophisticated styles is slowly being overturned. Much like Ally Condie (please don't flame me saying that her series is awful, it's definitely better written than this) did a retelling of The Giver, I hope that someone can one day take this idea and retell it with with more compelling characters and hopefully a bit more dramatic tension.

[ddanibell98 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was an easy read considering the size. I feel that it took a while to get interesting and as I read it was almost like a roller-coaster, going from fascinating to dull. I did learn quite a lot from it though so I'm glad that I read it. And when I was at an interesting part, I couldn't put the book down. I was stuck between 3 and 4 stars but just decided to put three, probably because I wasn't crazy about the ending and the endings are my favorite parts.

[goldengrove_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Powerful true story that shows what happens when a school teacher tries to help his history class understand the power of 'belonging'. From learning about the Third Reich the teenagers go to establishing a movement that will take on a life of its own and fight back against anyone who dares to threaten it. Scary - especially as it's based on fact.

[missboyer3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[iluvvideo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fictionalized account of real life events.A high school teacher dismayed by his students laid back, disinterest to his lesson about Hitler and the Holocaust decides to try an experiment. What if, a society could be invented, stressing group conformity vs. individual thought; social equality for all members; and rigid adherence to discipline? And so began the Wave. At first all seemed well. More attentive students, more material covered, increased group and individual pride and most of all a sense of belonging. Sounds good, huh? But at what cost? If in fact I did not know that this in fact DID happen (Ron Jones 1967), with disastrous results I would not have believed it still possible. However, such groups offer some gains, but can also invite mindless conformity, violence and even mob rule. Hopefully this book helps teach a very important lesson to us all. Be yourself, whatever that may be. And even more importantly, think for yourself. We'll all be better off if you do!

[wiremonkey · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure if it as because it was written 30 years ago, or if it just a case where the author was interested only in the story he had to tell and not very much in the craft of the telling, but this book is atrociously written. It is based on a true story of a history class experiment in a California High School in 1969. Learning about WWII and the Nazis, the students can't understand how all of Germany let the genocide happen.Intrigued by this question, the teacher begins his own movement in his classroom, beginning with a couple of mottos. The students learn how it feels to be a part of a single unit, the power of the group. They take The Wave, the name they have given their movement, outside the class and soon the whole school is feeling the impact of the Wave. People who do not want to join are harrassed. Others are afraid to say anything against it. Soon, the atmosphere in the school is just like that of Nazi Germany.As an experiment, it is intriguing and horrifying. As a novel, it sucks. I just read on Wikipedia that it is based on an essay written by the teacher in question, Ron Jones. Better to read the essay me thinks...

[phillipkerger · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great book with an interesting plot based on a true story. It shows how much power a group can have.

[erebus53 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I haven't read a lot of fiction lately and this book was short and punchy. It tells the story of a highschool teacher who, as an experiment, sets up a fascist movement in his school (and is based on a real life event in Palo Alto, CA in 1969). I remember seeing the ABC made for TV movie as a young person and I always liked the story. It has been a pleasure to re-visit it as an adult and find that it's still pretty much the same.The target audience is clearly 12-17 year olds and the style is conversational and character driven. I found it an easy read and a fun and fairly simple study in human nature.In looking up this title I see that there is a German film "Die Welle" (2008) based on this work and this more moderna nd slightly darker retelling involves a boy taking his own life. This one is probably better for a slightly older audience.

[farfromkansas · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I first heard about The Wave when I was a grad student at Stanford University: one of our professors spent half a class session talking about a “classroom experiment” that had happened in Palo Alto, and what the students (as well as the community) learned from the experience. That teacher, Ron Jones, was a celebrated instructor at a Palo Alto high school and his attempt to teach the students about Nazi Germany resulted in a truly singular life lesson that cannot be replicated. In an attempt to recreate the experience of Jones’s students, Todd Strasser has written The Wave, a thinly-veiled fictionalization of the event; however, while this is novel is a valiant attempt to retell the events of that Palo Alto classroom, the power of the novel comes primarily from the retelling of Jones’s teaching and lesson, not from the novel’s prose.In Strasser’s novel, a young teacher named Ben Ross creates a culture of “discipline, community, and action” (called “The Wave”) within his classroom in order to teach his students about the creation of a fascist society. Much to the surprise of Ross and some of his students, The Wave quickly takes on a life of its own… and threatens to spiral out of control. Although the novel might seem to veer off into unrealistic fiction (calling to mind echoes of George Orwell’s dystopian societies), the text never deviates from the events that actually occurred in the classroom of Ron Jones in the late 1960’s. Nevertheless, young students today might find kindred souls within Strasser’s believable (albeit two-dimensional) characters, even though the author never fully fleshes out the characters. The biggest weakness of the novel is actually Strasser, himself: the quality of his writing never fully matches the strength of the story: while the prose often feels artless and clunky, it is the plot itself that carries the novel through to its powerful conclusion.Like Ben Ross’s 12th-graders in the novel, many students today might wonder how Hitler managed to enthrall so many young people with the Nazi movement; The Wave allows adolescent students the opportunity to see firsthand how such a movement is capable of building up so much momentum. While the prose of The Wave might seem too stilted and unnatural for a high school audience, the book could be very successfully taught in a middle school classroom; in this way, a teacher might be able to make the distant horrors of the Holocaust and World War II come to life for students in a very realistic, believable fashion.

[thecrow2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A little bit short and simplistic adaptaiton of a well known psychological experiment. On the whole it's not a bad book (I haven't seen the film yet...)

[gavin_c_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The wave is a great novel written by Morton Rhue. This novel is based upon the Nazi regeim during world war 2. It tells the story of Laurie Saunders, editor of the school magazine ‘The Grapevine’. Laurie goes through troubles and hardships like any normal teenager would whether it would be relationship problems, friend troubles or teacher issues.Morton Rhue uses many ideas in the book to appeal to readers, as the book includes many teenage issues which are faced by teenagers everyday. Morton Rhue uses the book to highlight the ‘ crazes and bandwagons’ in which teenagers usually have interests in, being the wave.He does this with the use of words ‘Strength through’ which is repeated any times throughout the novel. Through these words the novel may also appeal to adults who enjoy reminiscing through times as a teenager, where strength would be used to gain things. Yet Morton Rhue uses discipline which may also appeal to teachers.This book is a great novel to read to past the time and also to get an understanding to a normal teenagers life, through school without having the normal school day.In conclusion the novel is a great experience to read and would be mainly aimed at young adults/ teenagers.

[keristars_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Apparently this book is highly recommended for adolescents because of its lessons about peer pressure and bullying, or somesuch. It was an assigned book in my adolescent literature class, which seemed odd: it purports to be either a novelization of a movie based on a true story, or a novel based on a true story - I haven't been able to find out which. Either way, it reads like a novelization of a movie, as though someone were translating a movie script to more regular prose, complete with product placement advertising. Perhaps it has some good lessons for adolescents that a book like "Lord of the Flies" doesn't, but I couldn't get past the feeling that I was reading a made-for-tv movie.

[heike6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is short, and it seemed to be on everyone's reading list this past summer. It also sounded interesting, despite the fact that it is a "novelization of a teleplay [...] based on a short story." It is about a high school history class experiment in 1969 that a teacher started in order to help the students understand how the Nazis rose to power. The experiment got a little out of control, but the book ended well with a solid lesson. I couldn't think of a better way for kids to learn this lesson, and I highly recommend the book. It is very realistic and is written in a manner that any middle or high school student would understand as a modern high school experience.

[jensha_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting and short read about a high school teachers experiment with group conformity. How quickly young minds can be swayed, making it all to obvious how the Hitler Youth movement existed and how "thousands watched and did nothing". Really powerful for a group discussion ... maybe as a read-aloud in class. Now quite dated -- technology and the lives of high schoolers and their teachers.