Laurel, reporter for the school paper, receives a tip about a cheating ring in the senior biology and math classes. Investigating, she discovers that people close to her are involved. Is being right more important than being kind? ( )

Cheat, by Kristin Butcher, is an Orca Currents novel, part of a Canadian publishing company that specializes in high-interest, low-level reading for teens. It centers on Laurel, a go-getter journalist for the school newspaper who, after landing one great story, wants to find her next one by investigating a massive cheating scandal that 90% of seniors are allegedly participating in. What she doesn’t know is that investigating the scam may reveal a lot of hidden sides of the people to whom she is close. Like her adored older brother, for instance.

Butcher does a great job of writing about a topic that is interesting to many students, and even making investigative journalism something reluctant readers might be interested in. The language is low vocabulary without being condescending, and the print is slightly larger than normal, but nothing so much that a high schooler might be embarrassed to be seen reading it.

Where she falters is in her character development and tying up her lose ends. Laurel never develops much personality, and the little she does have is rather unlikable. She goes after students she pretends to care about without stopping to think about how her articles might affect them. Like Inspector Javert, she fails to see the gray between the black and white of “well, cheating is wrong, so students who get caught deserve it.” This seems more like a plot point than character development, especially since she has a lengthy internal monologue at the end where she anvil-esquely realizes that exact point. (I’m not arguing that cheating is appropriate for students; I’m arguing that even books for reluctant readers deserve some subtlety.) Additionally, Laurel stumbles onto the story via an anonymous tip. The tipster plays a large part in the story, yet their identity is never revealed, in spite of the fact that there are a couple characters who might fit the bill and give the story a nice plot twist.
One other, minor, quibble: the Canadian slang might confuse some students who are the target audience for this book in the US. For example, grades are called “marks,” which might not register for kids and thus prove confusing. Not a huge thing, but teachers might want to point it out for students.

All in all, this book will hold kids attention, and then they’ll forget about it soon after finishing it. If you are looking to build your hi-lo collection, you could do worse than Cheat, but you could also do better. This novel is appropriate for reluctant readers ages 13 and up. ( )