LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE

Zoe, worried that she is not special, has the bad habit of making up outrageous stories and trying to pass them off as the truth in order to make herself appear more interesting. Her constant lying has made her classmates, teacher, and parents suspicious of anything she says. Even when Zoe tells the truth, no one believes her except her devoted younger brother, Joey, and her kind friend, Michael, and even they are getting fed up. The didactic intent is hammered home with such force by Korman (Why Did the Underwear Cross the Road, 1994, etc.) that even readers who aren't paying attention will know they are being lectured. The messages—lying is bad, imagination is good, everyone is special—are both cloying and obvious. In her odd and childlike black-and-white illustrations, Adinolfi is behind the most imaginative aspects of the book; Korman displays little affection for his main character and even less for the readers for whom this story is intended. (Fiction. 7-9)