Hacking Harvard

January 1, 2008
Gr 9 Up-High school seniors Max and Eric and their Harvard-freshman friend Schwarz challenge one another to find a candidate Harvard would never consider and hack through the admissions process to get him inall without accessing the university's computer system. The trio decides to transform their classmate Clay Porter from a non-achieving, pot-smoking bully to a brilliant, brooding artist, and to change his academic records. Max bets a gang of rival hackers a few hundred dollars on the scheme but gets his friends in over their heads when he involves them in blackmailing an admissions counselor, raising the ante to $25,000. While the action is largely dialogue-driven, there is enough substance here to keep readers engaged, especially when the high-tech gadgetry rigged to ace Clay through the admissions interview fails, and it is apparent that someone is sabotaging their efforts. In a dramatic climax, the hackers try to put the brakes on the plot when it looks as though they're about to be caught. Seemingly on the sidelines is gal pal Alexandra, who has college-admissions obsessions of her own. Narrator "Lex" tells the story in hindsight, slowly divulging her feelings toward Eric and speaking out about the pretentiousness of Ivy League schools, but holding back on her own key role in the story's outcome. Integrated details about Harvard's campus and admissions process are realistically underscored by chapter-heading quotes from college admissions guides."Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2008
Eric, Max, and Schwarzbest friends, brilliant teens, hackers extraordinaireplan their coup de grce hack: getting slacker Clay Porter, Erics third-grade nemesis, into Harvard. The boys intend their plan to take revenge upon the aging, white male admissions officers who determine every overachieving teens future financial and mental health. Then the perpetually money-hungry Max reveals that he has bet the threesomes archenemies, the Bums, thousands of dollars that Max and his friends can pull of their hack, and the stakes rise dramatically. Wasserman, author of the novels in the Seven Deadly Sins series and a Harvard alumna, writes a story that is harsh, funny, sophisticated, unpredictable, and edgy. The carefully crafted story line is full of twists and turns, concluding with a surprising ending, and the central characters are multidimensional and multitalented young people who speak in authentic, clever dialogue. The vivid Cambridge, Massachusetts, setting and an ironic dont-try-this-at-home introduction add to this memorable reading experience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)