TRUE LIES

Recognizing a half-truth is one of life's harder lessons, but Shannon (Still More Stories to Solve, 1994, etc.) makes a sport of it in this collection of 18 stories that challenge readers to discover what is true and what is fabricated. Whether it's the story of the brothers digging for treasure in the vineyard their late father bequeathed them (when the treasure is the vineyard itself), or the tale of the brother and sister who promised their mother they'd each eat only one of the cookies they were baking, but were still too full to eat dinner (because the cookies they'd devoured were as big as a cake), there is a host of amusing and tricky folktales, biblical stories, and fables to test anyone's truth-telling skills. The procession of black-and-white drawings maintains a justifiably high-spirited pace, and although the tales offer a varying degree of complexity, every one ends with ``The Whole Truth,'' a section that reveals any deceptions or slippery omissions. A collection that confirms for children what they may have guessed already about life's many shades of gray. (notes) (Folklore. 8-11)