8th Grade Novels‎ > ‎The Cheat‎ > ‎


August 5, 2009
The Cheat gets inside the minds of six, eighth-grade students caught up in a cheating scandal at their school. While some of the students actually participated in the cheating, some are simply linked to a cheater- unaware of the deception. The six students tell their story through first-person point of view, and therefore, it gives an interesting insight to how primary versus secondary events can directly affect people's lives. This perspective also shows what motivates characters to react the way they do, given the same set of circumstances. In the end, the conflict of who will take the blame for the cheating ring is resolved by unexpected characters "stepping up to the plate." 

I think many middle-school students, boys and girls, would enjoy this book. The idea of cheating is something that many students have either done or considered. This is a perfect format for students to think about it's ramifications, especially since they're given multiple characters' view on cheating. Beyond exploring the ethical issue of cheating, this book provides a good outlet for identifying and analyzing characters' motives.

July 23, 2013

"I wondered if Jake was sweating it out this weekend, waiting for Mr. Principal to get word of his role in our little play.

"How did it work, guilt-wise, I wondered. Was Jake as guilty as me? Was I more or less guilty than Dan and Rob? How much less guilty was Katie for not using the answers? Did that make her entirely innocent? Or did she at least get tiny black flecks on her soul for even considering cheating?

"And how about if I hadn't got caught?"

So asks Sarah on Saturday afternoon. She is an eighth-grader who still has a couple of midterms on Monday--that is, if she is allowed to attend school and take them. It all depends on how much she's willing to reveal to the principal.

One of the most significant aspects of this tale, told over a long weekend in the voices of six middle school students, is how the various parents respond (or are expected to respond) to the students being caught. How have the kids' attitudes been affected by that of their parents?

As she did with THE GIRLS, a thought-provoking story about the insidiousness of a middle school clique, Amy Goldman Koss' THE CHEAT provides us with totally believable characters and another all-too-familiar school situation for young adults to ponder. With the stakes so high and the opportunities ever increasing in the Internet age, this is a great book on a topic that all students will inevitably come in contact with. 

Richie Partington, MLIS

January 18, 2012
This is written in a different style. Each chapter is a different character in the story telling his or her view of the events. I liked it but it was hard to keep the characters separate, probably because I read this book so slowly during channel one time. **stop here for spoilers** A cute popular girl asks a not so popular boy to steal his sisters exam from last year so that they won't have to study. The book shows how getting caught effects different people, and families in different ways. The teacher gives a different exam, and so those who used the old exam are easily identified. It's interesting and some students should be required to read it, so that they will think again. But with that said, in the end the person who stole the test only gets suspended four days. Not much of a punishment really, and it makes him a celebrity and hero at school. What kind of a message did that send? I liked the parts that show sweating it, and worrying, but then they mostly get away with it. 

January 22, 2013
The book I read was called, "The Cheat" by Amy Goldman Koss. It is about a few students who get caught cheating on a geography midterm. When the students are called into the principal's office, they dont know what to do or think. They are paranoid of what is going to happen and what is going to happen when their parents hear what they did. Her purpose was to explain and try to create a picture to her audience on what goes through a student's mind when they are caught cheating. The Cheat is a great novel for students who need a quick and easy book to read. 

"The Cheat" is a excellent book for teenagers or young adults to read. It exposes them to an everyday situation that happens in many schools across the United States and around the world. Many people, especially teenagers, do not realize what happens in the back on a students mind when they experience getting caught with cheating. "The Cheat" has a great message on cheating in the life of a teenager. "And what about my father? Chen's probably going to call home, right? Aw, man, this is such a complete bummer!" (Koss 27). Dan is completely mind blown that his parents are going to get called.

The book was extremely enticing. The story of a couple teenagers experiences while in the midst of a cheating scandal is rather intriguing. "Mr. White gave me a squinty look when he handed out the geography exams. Now I feel his eyeballs rolling up and down my neck. Cold, clammy, suspicious eyeballs." (Koss 7). They felt that they were being watched the entire test, even though they still cheated on the test. The fact that they knew there teacher could have been potentially watching with his "cold, clammy, suspicious eyeballs" adds to the suspense. Mr. White later confronts the students in the office. 

The best part about the book was how real the situation portrayed in the book is to reality. Mainstream books like "The Hunger Games" and "Twilight" arent relating to cheating and the book is not as widely known. The book did not really have any weaknesses; it displayed the actualities in the real-world. The book tells the tale of the truth of students, high school aged, having struggles enough to cheat on tests. 

In conclusion, the book, "The Cheat" was very well written. It was a fiction book, based on true events in today's society. Cheating, among other things are the wrong way to go because in the end you dont know anything in the end. Cheating is very common in high school's across the America and no time soon will cheating end. Everyone and anyone can cheat, but it is always mounts down to someone getting caught. In the future, cheating will become easier to do, but for for right now, cheating is believed to be the future for many students.

October 31, 2011
My sister suggested this book; she was obsessed with the author Amy Goldman Koss. The title picture looked scary, so I hesitated for awhile. The summary of the book was really good so I started reading it. I really enjoyed this book, but I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite book.

I already knew that cheating was bad, but after reading this book I learned what actually happens. Usually teachers and parent always say that cheating leads to bad life, but they never explain what happens. In this book it explains the life of three middle school kids who cheated. It doesn't only affect them but the others around them.

Sarah got the midterm answer from a guy she didn't even know, Jake (A nerd). His sister took it last year and Jake thought that every year the questions were the same. Sarah didn't cheat by herself. She told three other kids in her school: her best friend, Katie, Rob (Katie's old best friend) and Dan (Sarah didn't even know him well). Katie got scared so she didn't cheat. Sarah, Dan and Rob cheated; during the test Rob realized that some answers were wrong. Rob didn't study so he didn't know what to do. The three cheaters got caught. They wrote exactly the same answers for last year’s midterm test. Sarah accused Katie of tattling on her. The big drama started. Rob doesn’t want to get in trouble so he runs away from home. Sarah needs to tell the secretary who gave her the answers before she could come back to school, but Sarah doesn’t like that idea. Dan’s girlfriend (Ruby) doesn’t think he is cute anymore because he cheated. While all this is happening Jake is regretting himself for telling Sarah the answers for the midterms. 

I like the fact that the author rotated the speaker of the story. Instead of telling the story only in Sarah's perspective, she also included Rob, Dan and other characters perspective. I think if she told the story in only one persons view it wouldn’t have been a great book. I tend to like stories that rotate the speaker. It tells me how each character feels. Some stories have 3 characters talk about one event. This makes the book very boring since it repeats the event. In this book, one character talked about one event. Then it went on to another event with another characters perspective. 

I would recommend this book to everyone. It has a wonderful message. This book has a lot of drama and less action. I have a feeling that most boys won’t love this book. I personally enjoyed this book and think that the author did a great job writing this story. My sister loved it too and I am glad that she recommended it to me.