FIONA'S LITTLE LIE

How can you un-tell a lie?

Furry friends Felix and Fiona are back again, this time to learn more about friendship, telling the truth, and taking responsibility for mistakes. Fiona is supposed to be Felix’s birthday elf and bring cupcakes to school, but even though her teacher gives her a note, she completely forgets. Rather than disappoint her friend, she invents a tale in which she accuses the second-grade Terrible Three of snarfing down the cupcakes and gobbling them up like vampires. Miss B immediately goes to fetch the supposed perps. Felix isn’t angry though; he realizes that Fiona isn’t telling the truth and tries to figure out a way to help her out of the whole mess. Wells’ lovable guinea pigs are rendered in watercolor and pencil with just the right amount of detail, including a natty green suit for second-grade teacher Mr. Bumpershock. While perhaps not Wells’ most outstanding work, this selection is still notable for its subtlety, humor, and warmth as well as its pitch-perfect depiction of childhood hopes and fears. And though Fiona comes clean to the relief of all, it just may be Fiona’s mother (and her cooking skills) who saves the day in the end.

A gently humorous take on being honest and learning to admit when you’re wrong.