Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Cheating Lessons, by Nan Willard Cappo


Bernadette loves to win. She enjoys ripping apart her opponent's
argument in debate, she likes getting the best grade and she
has to have the final word in a fight. When her school gets to
participate in a televised academic quiz she is delighted, she will
get a chance to prove she can beat them all. But she starts to
suspect that her school isn't there fairly, that someone cheated
to get them in and will keep cheating until they win. Worried,
after all how much is a false victory worth?, she starts to try and
find out if everyone is playing fair. Meanwhile she wonders if she
can actually tell anyone, because it would mean such a blow to
her pride.

I found Bernadette a very unpleasant heroine. She is spoiled,
selfish, egotistical, and rude. I found myself hoping something
drastic would happen to knock her off her high horse. A few of
the supporting characters were interesting, but they didn't come
close to making up for Bernadette. The writing was solid and the
plot interesting, but oh, how I hated the heroine!

3 stars

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