Yes, sometimes lies grease the wheels—“society would collapse if we told the truth all the time,” say some experts. You...
We all lie. We can’t help it.
It is a wide, wide, wide, wide world of fibbery out there. “It’s central to human nature,” writes Vermond in this intuitively clear survey of the good, bad, and ugly manifestations of lying. A lie is a falsity with the intent to deceive. The thing is, and this is the beauty of Vermond’s approach, there really is no gray area: we know bad lies when we speak them, and there are many kinds. There are cheating, plagiarism, forgery, and wild exaggeration, but there are also instances of lying to be kind or polite, or to be outrageous all in fun, and “most people agree that lying is justified if something terrible would happen otherwise.” (Yes, sir, Anne Frank is up in the attic.) So, clearly, not all lies are immoral or unethical, quite the opposite. Don’t rely on body language or polygraphs to out a lie, both of which are often mistaken. A society relies on trust, writes Vermond, a generalized trust, because most people are honest most of the time. Hammer’s comic-strip–style artwork aptly conveys a kind of agelessness to the proceedings, making it clear that lying is a timeless phenomenon.
Yes, sometimes lies grease the wheels—“society would collapse if we told the truth all the time,” say some experts. You wouldn’t want that to happen, so let Vermond be your guide. (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: April 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77147-146-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
Twelve-year-old Derek—a notoriously reluctant reader of everything but Calvin and Hobbes—would rather set the grass on fire with his sister’s old sunlamp than tackle his summer reading list. More than that, though, he wants to figure out why his mom’s acting so weird about the ten-year-old article he found from a Martha’s Vineyard newspaper entitled “LOCAL GIRL FOUND DEAD ON BEACH.” That mystery threads throughout this engaging middle-grade novel, told in a dryly hilarious first-person voice. Words like “impulse” and “discipline” are illustrated Pictionary-style by the author’s teenage son, mirroring Derek’s vocabulary-building technique: “My parents insist I use this system all the time, so I usually pretend I’m a spy being tortured by Super Evildoers who force me to practice ‘active reading’ or be killed by a foreign assassin.” When he’s not making avocado grenades, the smart-alecky Derek reveals himself as an endearing softy who loves his friends, family and dog and is even capable, in time, of befriending—horrors!—the class goody-goody. A kinder, gentler Wimpy Kid with all the fun and more plot. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: July 6, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8050-8903-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lyrical, heartfelt account of personal growth and endurance.
Bidania distills her family’s experiences as refugees into resonant historical fiction.
It’s 1975, and Gao Sheng lives “in a sunny mountain town” in Pao Kao, Laos, in a house with plenty of room for her extended family: nine adults and 11 kids. Eleven-year-old Gao Sheng silently, obediently helps with cooking, shopping, and child care: “This is what’s expected / of the oldest daughter.” When the communists take over, her father’s army service alongside Americans puts the family at risk, forcing them to flee. The scattered clan members endure separation, survive two Thai refugee camps, and start new lives in America. Gao Sheng is an insightful witness, keenly aware of her 8-year-old brother’s elevated status just because he’s male, while she’s overlooked: “My arms drop to my sides, / limp and wilted.” Despite disappointments, she’s steadfast in fulfilling her mature responsibilities. But when she finally refuses to keep quiet—“Today / I will be loud / I will show my strength”—her family sees and eventually acknowledges and proudly appreciates her. An epilogue describes Gao Sheng’s arrival in Wisconsin with her parents and siblings. The candid verse deftly grounds precious experiences in tangible reminders—peach seeds that Gao Sheng saves to plant “someday, / when the country is at peace,” and soft buns that taste “like sugar and happiness.” With inviting vulnerability, Bidania transforms her war-torn past into a rallying cry to “build empathy, curiosity, and awareness.”
A lyrical, heartfelt account of personal growth and endurance. (author’s note, photos) (Verse historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9780593697207
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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