Snoop by Gordan Korman
Carter has broken both of his legs in a skiing accident. Now he is stuck at home with nothing to do! I do feel sort of bad for him. Not just because he has two broken legs, but also because it is so hard for him to get anything done. There was one part about him trying to make lunch, where he knocked over a jar of mayo. As he was trying to eat and clean up before his next online class, he rolled through the mayo with his wheelchair. He’s like those Roomba vacuum cleaners that roll over something gross and just drag it all over the house. Ugh. Poor kid. I feel a little bad for his mom as well.
Well, Carter hears about his crush, Lacey, going out with one of the most popular boys, Maddox, at school. Is it true? Or is this just rumors? Are they really walking home holding hands? How will Carter find out!?!?! Oh, the middle school drama! Anyway, Carter discovers there are a lot of security cameras around his town that anyone can watch online.
Okay, I would be all over this in my town. I would absolutely be a snoop. I would have these camera feeds bookmarked and all. Heck, I would probably keep a notebook near my computer to track my people-watching. Carter is not so different. He realizes he can keep an eye out for Lacey, but also what other kids at school are up to around town.
As the weeks go by, Carter’s schedule is all over the place. He is sometimes up in the middle of the night. Whatever shall he do? Cameras. Look at the cameras. He is looking at this town at all hours of the day and night now. Again, I would love this. He sees all sorts of things. He is no longer just watching his classmates; he is watching the whole town! He gets really into this. I would say even more than I would, and I can be really nosy. He learns how to find not only the community safety cameras, but also the cameras of local businesses. He hacks into others’ feeds to spy even more! Granted, all he has to do is guess the password, and most stores use pretty simple ones. Like the yogurt shop’s password is ‘yogurt’.
It starts to take on a Rear Window feel as Carter begins tracking people in his town. He is keeping tabs on a lot of people after a while. But what happens when those people find out they are being watched? I admitted that I would love to watch these cameras all day, but I would also hate to think someone is watching me all day. Hypocritical, I know, I am fully aware. It probably won’t stop me from looking at those cameras.
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