Levy, E. (1993). Cheater, Cheater. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.
Summary
Cheater, Cheater is about a 13 year old girl named Lucy. Lucy has just started Grade 7 at a new school and on the first day she is given an invitation for her best friend Melanie's birthday party. Lucy is excited for the party but is also a little stressed as the invitation says couples only and it's a bowling party. The problem is Lucy doesn't have a date and she hates bowling. When Joey Rich, a popular boy in school shows interest in Lucy she asks him to be her date to the bowling party. At the party Lucy cheats at bowling to impress Joey and Albert sees her. Albert is another boy from school and he makes it his mission to tell everyone in school that Lucy is a cheater. Lucy is then labelled a cheater and she feels horrible about it.The problems escalate from there; Lucy's grades drop and not only is Joey not talking to her but she is fighting with Melanie as well. Being thought of as a cheater by her peers was bad enough so when her Science teacher suspects she may have cheated on a quiz she is determined to show him that she did not cheat. Lucy is given a chance to redeem herself and she then tries really hard to prove to herself, her friends, peers and teacher that she made a mistake cheating once, and it's a mistake she will never make again.
Response
This book details many issues faced in middle school, such as peer pressure, relationships, friendships, and decisions. It is very realistic and I often found myself thinking back to when I was Lucy's age and the mistakes I made. Also, it gives a great detailed account of what it's like to start a new grade at a new school with new teachers. I really liked all the interesting Science facts it gave throughout the book and began to really appreciate Mr.Vega the Science teacher. Mr.Vega was a tough but smart and caring teacher with the students’ best interests in mind. He definitely does not take the content he is teaching lightly and is very passionate about his work. This reminded me of some of the teachers I had as well as had me wishing now I had more teachers like them/him. I also found it neat how the incidents build on each other and kind of correlate to the topics being taught in Science, such as the chaos theory. I also like how the author kept the tone of the novel matched with Lucy's mood and how it could go from a light hearted conversation to ridicule, rejection and frustration in a heartbeat. I found this book does a great job portraying the temperament and issues raised during young adolescence. It shows its readers that mistakes happen and that they can be fixed, nothing is as bad as it seems but when bad decisions are made they should be prepared to face the consequences. Also it has a great lesson about friendship, peer pressure and morals. I think this would also be a great book to teach its readers a little bit about everyday life in middle school and about cheating. Children who have never cheated but have been tempted to will now think twice about it.
Awards received/Reader's advisory information
Cheater, Cheater has not won any awards. Children close to Lucy's age would really relate to this story and younger children would be able to get a sneak peak of what topics are studied and what issues could arise when they reach Grade 7. It is a pretty easy read for a middle school student and that is why I think this book would be most appropriate for children aged 9-14. Its themes are cheating, school, adolescent life, decisions and friendship.
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