Test. by William Sleator

Sleator, William. Test.
Abrams, Harry, 2008, 298p, $16.95, 978-0-8109-9356-3.
Conflict

This story takes place in the not too far future of the 21st Century. American society is dystopian and divided into the rich and the poor. The rich live in luxury, traveling by helicopter from place to place with their children in private schools. The have nots of the country have to deal with unending traffic jams, polluted air and public schools that don’t educate. The schools just prepare the students to take the XCAS test that determine their future; even the teacher’s jobs are at stake (sound familiar?). When Ann befriends Lep, a very poor immigrant from Thailand, who had been given the answers to the test in return for doing dastardly things at the project he lives in to keep his job and housing for his family, she becomes aware of the secret connections between the government and the rich real estate/oil barons/businessmen. Her life becomes dangerous as she is chased by a strange man on a motorcycle while traveling to school and home, and she is even shot at. Her friendship with Lep blossoms into a relationship as they plan to show how the government is betraying its citizens, especially the young. This fast moving plot will engage high school readers as they identify the stresses of, and emphasis on testing and its affects on society. As the mystery unravels, readers will be on the edge of their seat. TW