Cheating Lessons

By Nan Willard Cappo

Book Overview

Can honesty be the worst policy? Bernadette Terrell has always known the right thing to do. Not the most popular girl in school, her focus has always been on academic, not social, success. When her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068984378X
• ISBN13: 9780689843785
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Atheneum
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.6" x 0.8" x 5.3"
• Age Range: 11 to 15 years
• Grade Range: Grades 6 to 10

Customer Reviews

Great lesson for a complex issue

Nan Cappo does an inspiring job of writing the main character, Bernadette, or "BET" as her friends call her. In a story about what would you do to become the best at the expense of your greatest rival, BET and her Academic Bowl friends of Wickham HS have a seeming once in a lifetime chance to beat their crosstown rivals Pinehurst. While her friends and teammates celebrate, Bernadette cannot ignore the "strangeness" of coincidences that enables them to compete in a nationally televised competition against Pinehurst. Nan Cappo strings out the clues through this fast reading novel. While some may guess the truth, Bernadette's solution is both unexpected and entertaining. If you like teen fiction where the characters sound and act in realistic fashion, and the issues of trust, sacrifice, character, and moral values are treated with insight and humor, Cheating Lessons is a must read. A true test of a story is how easy you can set it down to get things done. I could not put this book down. Neither will you.

Ruthlessness 101

Bernadette is not only an academic shining star, she is also her debating team's shining star. The 12th-grader is under a lot of pressure - financial reversals cause her to spend her secondary years in the public instead of the Catholic school she had previously attended and her college fund had been severely depleted to meet the family's financial needs. Undaunted, Bernadette has scholarships and is ruthlessly driven to remain in the top academic stratum of her school. Her best friend, Nadine is also a high achiever, but lacks the ruthless self-discipline drive that Bernadette has. The girls become friends in 8th grade after Bernadette is snubbed by a girl from a clique. The girls share a common romantic interest in their new English teacher, Mr. Frank Malory. Newly arrived from England, he lends a touch of the exotic to their Michigan high school; his love for classic literature and flair for expression ignite a spark of academic interest among his pupils. His main interest is to see Wickham High School win the academic quiz. Each year, Michigan high schools vie to qualify for eligibility in the competition. Once he teaches at Wickham, the school's average jumps to an impressive 92%, thus qualifying them for the competition. Or does it? Bernadette fears that foul play is afoot and is determined to get to the bottom of it. She applies deductive reasoning to conclude that only by some deceptive reporting could Wickham have even become eligible for the academic quiz. She, with some unlikely help works hard to unravel this possible mystery...and, at the end of it all, it is Bernadette who has earned that A+ honestly. This is an excellent, tautly written novel that provides a hard, objective look at cliques; social dynamics; school politics; administrative politics and the unfortunate results of same. This is definitely an author to watch out for!

Cheating is Terrible!

This book is mainly about a girl named Bernadette who is on the debate team. She goes to school at Wickham High School. There enemy is Pinehurst, a private school. When Wickham scores higher on a test then Pinehurst they are invited to a Classics Bowl. It's a contest between the top two schools about literature. Pinehurst always wins so Bernadette gets suspicious. She thinks someone might have cheated to get them into the Classics Bowl, but has no idea who. She and four others are made onto the team and they study hard for it. While all of this is going on they are also not the most popular kids in school so they are having peer pressure put on them all the time. I liked this book a lot because of how it really relates to lots of peoples life. It's possible to do whatever you want is one of the best things I got out of it. This book has 262 pages and it's a really easy read because it gets you caught up in it fast. The best part of the book was when Bernadette goes into her favorite teacher's house and spies on him. I just thought that was really interesting to read about. I recommend this book to any teenager in ninth to eleventh grade. It helps you realize some things about school and it also is just a great book. It's sort of a mystery, but it could really happen. I liked it a lot and I think almost anyone else would too.

A great book for anyone!

Cheating Lessons is an awesome book. I've read it three times, and the third time was as exciting and enjoyable as the first. The heroine, Bernadette, is smart, witty, and very funny. The supporting characters really do have character. The plot is gripping, and you never know what's coming next, right down to the harrowing final scenes. The ending is both surprising and satisfying. This book deals with a moral conflict, but does so without being boring or preachy and the result is a thoroughly refreshing and just lovely book. Cheating Lessons is well written and funny, exciting and suspenseful, and its characters are believable and entertaining. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a truly great read.

Not that cheating's funny, but....

I borrowed this book from my daughter because I'm a quiz show addict but I kept reading because Bernadette made me laugh. I couldn't wait to see how she'd solve her cheating problem without losing her friends or her standards. I teach college English, and I'll give this to all those non-majors who think there's nothing funny about reading the classics. (I'd worry about them adopting B's shortcuts if I didn't know they'd thought of them and then some.) Also--if those mysteries about Sarah Sloan, Librarian Detective, don't exist, somebody ought to write them.