True Lies

In this collection of “lies” from many nations, the challenge is to find the slippery truth. By reading with care and not jumping to conclusions, readers will delight in discovering how these characters lie while at the same time they tell the truth.

The Greatest Liar on Earth: A True Story

There is not a whisper when Louis de Rougemont steps onto the stage to recount his astonishing experiences on the sea and in lands far away. It is a breathtaking tale of catastrophe and miraculous events. A monster with enormous tentacles! A sea turtle big enough to ride! Fish raining from the sky! Cannibals! But critics say he is an imposter with a gift for spinning yarns. Are Louis’s tales true? Or is he the greatest liar on Earth? Bold, whimsical artwork brings to life the tale of an early-twentieth-century man who held audiences rapt while his critics dubbed him a hoaxer of the highest degree. A fun slice of history sure to inspire a lively discussion of truth, fabrication, and the gray areas in-between.

Magnus Fin and the Moonlight Mission

On his eleventh birthday, Magnus Fin found out that he was half selkie―part human and part seal. Although he looks like a boy and lives on land, he can breathe underwater.

When Magnus Fin discovers his initials scratched into the rocks by the shore and finds dead seals washed up on the beach, he knows his selkie family needs his help, and he dives down beneath the waves to find out more.

This is the sequel to Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest.

The Emperor’s New Clothes

In this version of Andersen’s tale by John A. Rowe, the emperor loves shopping and new clothes, but he is still tricked by two rascals.

Traveling Tom and the Leprechaun

Like many before him, Tom, a traveling minstrel, has fallen in love at first sight with the beautiful princess Kathleen. But Kathleen has vowed only to marry the man who can win a leprechaun’s pot of gold. Tom sets out with a clever plan to fool a leprechaun into giving up his fortune. Upon meeting one of the fair folk, Tom charms him with songs and stories. As it turns out, however, Tom’s tales hold more truth than trick.

The Boy In The Burning House

Two years after his father’s mysterious disappearance, Jim Hawkins is coping — barely. Underneath, he’s frozen in uncertainty and grief. What did happen to his father? Is he dead or just gone? Then Jim meets Ruth Rose. Moody, provocative, she’s the bad-girl stepdaughter of Father Fisher, Jim’s father’s childhood friend and the town pastor, and she shocks Jim out of his stupor when she tells him her stepfather is a murderer. “Don’t you want to know who he murdered?” she asks. Jim doesn’t. Ruth Rose is clearly crazy — a sixteen-year-old misfit. Yet something about her fierce conviction pierces Jim’s shell. He begins to burn with a desire for the truth, until it becomes clear that it may be more unsettling than he can bear. What is the real meaning of the strange prayers Father Fisher intones behind the door of his private sanctuary? Why does Ruth Rose suddenly disappear? And what really happened thirty years ago when a boy died in a burning house?

The Anne Frank Case: Simon Wiesenthal’s Search For The Truth

Determined to find definitive proof that Anne Frank’s diary was authentic, Simon Wiesenthal began a five-year-long search for the Gestapo officer who arrested the Frank family. This inspiring and suspenseful account testifies to the difference that one person’s dedication can make.

The Book of Lies

The newest boy at Mrs. Timmins’s Home for Orphans and Foundlings awakes at first light with no name and no memory. But a strange girl who hides among the shadows of the orphanage tells him that a mysterious wizard’s creation, the Book of Lies, holds the answers, and then gives him one clue: “Your name is Marcel.” With that knowledge, and the help of three new friends, Marcel begins a quest to find the truth about his real identity—a truth that is hidden in the Book of Lies. As Marcel learns more about his past, he realizes that truth can change at any moment and can be manipulated by anyone, and he begins to wonder if the old book’s so-called magical truth might be the greatest lie of all.