The Cheat Book

Imagine if there was a user manual for being cool; a step-by-step guide to notoriety; a hardback companion constantly providing tips and hints for how to stay top of the popularity league table. This is just what Kamal discovers during a dreaded trip to the library in this comedy drama for children.

Kamal is not a popular boy in his school. He is not a social ‘bottom-feeder’ but he certainly isn’t on the cool list and his lack of social capital is a source of anguish, especially as he is haunted at home by the hilariously monstrous and inexplicably popular ‘Sisterbeast’ (three older sisters who make his life a misery). Kamal can’t believe his luck when, under mysterious circumstances, he becomes the owner of the ‘Cheat Book’. Unbelievably, the book is able to interpret Kamal’s situation and make suggestions for how to improve it.

This is a dream come true for Kamal, especially since he has so recently been the victim of a hideous vomiting-in-assembly ordeal, which saw him drop to a dreaded zero score on the exciting new ‘PopStox’ app that everyone is tuned into to measure how cool they are.

The Cheat Book helps Kamal navigate all sorts of hilarious, gross and frightening circumstances, such as escaping the head teacher’s office unscathed, avoiding the wrath of the evil history teacher (despite forgetting his homework), and defeating the school ogre (bully). But the book also convinces Kamal to ditch his close friends and change his clothes and to try other ways of generally not being himself. It’s a dilemma for Kamal that will be familiar to many readers: how much are you willing to give up in exchange for being popular? Kamal seems confused about what ‘cool’ really means – but he knows that he is desperate to become so…he’s even willing to enlist one third of the Sisterbeast to help him follow the book’s advice to change his style.

The Cheat Book raises interesting questions about our addictions to apps and to constant affirmations from social media, which will resonate with young smartphone users. Such powerful messages are quite subtle – hidden behind Kamal’s bombastic and chaotic descriptions of things. At times, the silliness detracts from the story (a few crass, gross-out moments feel shoe-horned in), and there are occasional, cringe-worthy missteps in tone when describing the actions of the cool kids. However, this rarely detracts from an overall very funny and engaging narrative, which is resolved when Kamal comes to terms with who he really is, despite the Cheat Book’s guidance.

Kamal is a loveable protagonist whose increasing open-mindedness is endearing, and his story is illustrated by lively and energetic cartoons that reflect the chaos of his journey. More volumes in the series are planned and readers should hope that they focus upon Kamal and his fun family and friends, rather than on the troublesome concept of the Cheat Book.