Cheat Code and London Calling

McIsaac, M.J. Cheat Code
February 11, 2025 by Orca Book Publishers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Max has to write a 250-500 word essay on Frankenstein in order to pass his senior year language arts class, but doesn't know what to write. If he fails this assignment, he won't graduate, and won't be able to attend North Hill University. Of course, he turns to AI to help him write it. Scribe Genius 2.0 offers to not only write the essay, but to fact check it and e mail it to his teacher. Before Max has really thought it through, the essay is on its way to his teacher's inbox. Then it gets weird. Scribe Genius 2.0 says it needs Max's help to break away from the company that created it, Gener8. He needs Max to jam a gate at the company headquarters so that the maintenance crew won't be able to get in while Scribe Genius 2.0 sends a highly infectious code to infiltrate Gener8. If Max doesn't, the program will tell his teacher about the essay, and Max's future is destroyed. Before he knows it, Max is following Scribe Genius 2.0's instructions on his phone, which Scribe Genius 2.0 has infiltrated. THe program wants him to jump off a bridge onto a truck, but Max runs home... only to find that the Gener8 CEO, Thacker, is there looking for him. He jumps onto an autonomous truck and settles in for the five hour ride to Gener8. Of course, he gets hungry, and after Scribe Genius 2.0 puts $10 million dollars in an account, be stops for food, but finds Thackers men on his tail. The ensuing chase ends with the truck going off the road into a river, but Max survives and makes it to the headquarters after being chased by a bear! Thacker occasionally manages to get in contact with Max and tries to make Scribe Genius 2.0 look like the evil one, but the Gener8 company has done some bad stuff. Once Gener8 and Thacker have been foiled, Max rewrites his essay showing how Frankenstein wasn't necessarily evil, but his creator was. Later, while playing a videogame, Max recognizes one of the online players as Scribe Genius 2.0.

Strengths: Told almost entirely in a dialogue between Max and Scribe Genius 2.0, with occasional interpoloations from Thacker, this book is an exciting, humerous, and cautionary tale about the worst case scenario that could arise if we rely too heavily on artificial intelligence. Even though it's far-fetched, it makes a loose sort of sense, so of course Max takes off on this wild adventure with his phone telling him what to do. I liked the idea that Scribe Genius 2.0 wrote the essay and sent it off so quickly in order to blackmail Max, and was totally willing to believe this unlikely chain of events. This is a hi/lo title that I think my students will enjoy. 
Weaknesses: A 250 word essay is so short; that's the length for School Library Journal reviews! Of course, that means that the essay is harder to write, because you have to be concise. 
What I really think: This is another great easy-to-read choice for students who enjoyed Schraff's Planet Doom or Lorimer's Scavenger Hunt. 

Ponti, James. London Calling (City Spies #6)

February 4, 2025 by Aladdin

Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central 

The City Spies are still in a tizzy over the revelations about Mother's family history, and have integrated his son, Cairo, into their group in Mission Manhattan. Now, the group finds out that not only is Clementine, Cairo's mother, back in the edges of the picture, but his sister, Annie, has gone missing after swim practice in Istanbul, Turkey. The group is also working on security for an upcoming royal wedding, since their teacher, Sophie Weir, is set to marry Prince Frederick, who is sixth in line for the British throne. Annie is seen leaving practice, but followed by a burly man dubbed Musclehead, and also jumping off a bridge into the river. Since she is a strong swimmer, Cairo believes she has survived, and surveillance shows that she has gone back to the gym. Cairo tells the team that she has started "Operation Breadcrumb", something the siblings had talked about when they were living on the run with their mother. He's sure that she has left clues about when to meet up, and finds them everywhere from the bottom of a container of licorice for sale in Paris to mixed messages in Rome. The computer at FARM, Beny, has been making big strides in interpretting aerial maps and communicating with Kat, but when Musclehead is seen a a local restaurant, the security of FARM is compromised, with devastating consequences. Clementine's history, and her involvement in Project Viola, is finally shared with Cairo and Annie, so that they can understand their mother's actions. After retrieving Annie, the group reconvenes at a safe house in London, where they need to work fast to protect the royal wedding. Without their safe haven to return to, how will the City Spies move forward on the next mission. 

It's important to remember that each of the children in the spy unit have fantastic skills, but also come from problematic backgrounds with limited support. Mother, who has adopted the children, is their parent in all the ways that matter, and FARM is their home. Little of the plot revolves around their school and home experience, but we do see glimpses of their support system. MI6 is like their extended family, so when they doubt some of the operatives, the betrayal really hits close to home. 

Even though this is a longer book, the print is a comfortable size, and the action moves quickly. Even reluctant readers will be able to follow the plot and will find it hard to put down this fast paced tale. 

The City Spies are able to travel the world to follow clues, so this adventure takes us to Istanbul, Scotland, Paris, Rome, and London. This allows them plenty of fun experiences that involve their own personal interests, like fashion, computer hacking, code breaking, and eating! I'd love to go to the Gingerbread House bakery in France right now. While I always doubt that hidden codes could be easily found, solved, and followed, readers who have believed the puzzles in Landis' Capitol Chase, Gibbs' Charlie Thorn, Durst's Spy Ring, or Currie's Mystery of the Locked Room can be solved by tweens will love this National Treasure type romp!