Kaavya Viswanathan, 2006 News

college student, admitted in April that she copied several passages from two books by Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings, for her own novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life. The Harvard sophomore received wide attention when she was paid $500,000 in a two-book deal with publisher Little, Brown. But her star dimmed quickly, and Little, Brown recalled all copies of the book. Viswanathan, who said she had read McCafferty's books as a high school student, said the plagiarism was “unintentional and unconscious.”