Liar, Liar: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Deception

Gary Paulsen has a reputation of being an author for boys.  In fact, my brother is a big fan of Lawn Boy (even though he really doesn't like to read).  But, I do not like being told what is a boy book and what is a girl book, I am a feminist, as you probably guessed already.  The thing about Liar, Liar is that it is FUNNY, laugh out loud funny.  It is also a short, fast book to read (I plowed through it in under 2 hours), which makes it a great summer reading book.  Matthew (my brother, who is 13) is anxious to read this book because he heard me laughing last night when I was reading it (I will let him borrow it, after he returns the 3 other books of mine he is reading right now).  Kevin has common problems for middle school boys, but he has lots of them: a first crush, family problems, arrogance, lying (hence the title Liar, Liar), friendship troubles and many more.  His solution to these is automatically lying, but he finds that that is not the best strategy and has to work out how to apologize for his lies and make things right by telling the truth, something he doesn't know how to do.  This is a really good book for reluctant boy readers, but anyone could get a laugh out of it and have a good time reading it.

Rating:  *****