TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES

After getting into trouble for telling a couple of lies in mini-crisis situations, sixth grader Kim vows never to lie again, but then she discovers that the troth has even more distressing consequences. For a while Kim's ""outspokenness"" draws only some grownup frowns and her mother's impatience, but then she loses her best friend by telling Alison that her new haircut looks ugly. In the end Kim has learned to steer the middle course of truth modified by tact. A less than momentous revelation, and the whole story is so lacking in dimension that you can see it coming from the start.