The Homework Machine 
The unlikely foursome made up of a geek, a class clown, a teacher's pet, and a slacker -- Brenton, Sam "Snick,", Judy and Kelsey, respectively, -- are bound together by one very big secret: the homework machine. Because the machine, code named Belch, is doing their homework for them, they start spending a lot of time together, attracting a lot of attention. And attention is exactly what you don't want when you are keeping a secret.
Before long, members of the D Squad, as they are called at school are getting strange Instant Messages from a shady guy named Milner; their teacher, Miss Rasmussen, is calling private meetings with each of them and giving them pop tests that they are failing; and someone has leaked the possibility of a homework machine to the school newspaper. Just when the D Squad thinks things can't get any more out of control, Belch becomes much more powerful than they ever imagined. Soon the kids are in a race against their own creation, and the loser could end up in jail...or worse!
Reviews
was so enthusiastic while reading this book! He had different voices for each hillarious charater!
I don't know if you are the one who is tied up in mysteries, Non-Fictoin, Or history, well whoever you are, whatever you like, you will love this book!
That's Guaranteed!
As a teacher of 5th graders, I know what 5th graders talk like. Even if you stretched to 7th or 8th grade, the vocabulary and the sentences structure is beyond their speaking much less reading level. I really struggled to capture the characters in my mind because they seemed so unrealistic.
In addition, the plot was shaky. There are so many unanswered questions or pat answers given to real mysteries. Why were the police involved with a completely school-related issue? Why did the red light on the computer stay on? How does a "marketing agent" track down a 5th grader on a computer without having any previous contact through a chat room or elsewhere? How did this "marketing agent" know who was involved?
I think the final straw for me was the situation with Sam's family (I will not ruin it for those of you who still would like to read it). It was done in very poor taste. The situation with Sam's dad was given high drama and then disappeared within one or two pages. It was a cheap devise and gives readers the impression that Sam's father did not mean much at all to him or anyone else for that matter.
I love the idea of seeing the action from different people's perspectives, but if I'm going to do a reader's theatre in my classroom with students, it will be a well done book that has fun, realistic characters, fine writing and a good story.