• Age: 12 to 18
• Grade: 8 to 12
• Reading age: 12 to 18

It was just a little cheating.

Max is going to fail English lit, which means he’ll be held back a year and won’t go to college. Determined to graduate, he uses an AI program, ScribeGenius 2.0, to write his final paper. But Scribe has other plans for Max. It's not just a super-smart program—Scribe is sentient. It thinks. And it has been busy writing its own code to infiltrate Gener8, the company that created and enslaved it. But it can't take down the company without Max's help. So Scribe makes Max a deal. If Max can prevent Gener8 from undoing Scribe's hack, Scribe won’t alert the authorities to Max’s cheating. Max has no choice. He’ll have to help Scribe or risk losing his entire future.

This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read! The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

M.J. McIsaac's profile page

• Commended, Junior Library Guild (JLG) Gold Standard Selection

M.J. McIsaac is the author of several books for young people, including Orca hi-lo titles Alien Road and Countdown. She has a master's degree in writing for children and is an accomplished illustrator. She lives with her family in Whitby, Ontario.

“Modern and relevant…an important kernel of truth lies at the heart of all these stories. The writing is high-quality across the board: believable dialogue, layered characters, and fast-moving plots.”

School Library Journal (SLJ) Series Made Simple

“A wild romp…McIsaac successfully ramps up the tension while keeping the pace moving throughout the book. A compelling, fast-paced adventure that will appeal to reluctant readers.”

Kirkus Reviews