Lucy the Lie-Detector, by Marianne Musgrove

‘How about that one?’ said Lucy, pointing at a car parked in their street.
She looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was watching.
Her best friend, Harriet, took out a ruler and held it up against the tyre. ‘Just as I thought. More than thirty centimetres away from the kerb.’ She shook her head disapprovingly. ‘Some people have no respect for the law.’

Lucy and her best friend, Harriet, are playing outside the house when disaster strikes. She scratches Dad’s new car with her bike. Lucy decides to fix the car herself and thereby avoid any trouble. Harriet is not convinced this will work, but Lucy is sure. But when Dad sees the scratch, not only does he notice it, he’s furious. On a whim, Lucy blames her brother, and that’s where the trouble really begins. Every time she opens her mouth, Lucy digs herself a deeper hole, a hole of lies and half-truths that ties her up in knots. Black and white illustrations are scattered throughout, and help break up the text for younger readers.

Lucy is a forthright, adventurous girl, who surges forward into everything, full of confidence and enthusiasm. Unfortunately that wonderful energy sometimes lands her in places she’d rather not be. Her friend Harriet acts a bit like a moral compass, one that Lucy doesn’t always read well. Along the way, Lucy learns about honesty and lies. She also learns a little more about discretion and diplomacy. Lucy is bright and funny and very real. She’s trying hard to do the right thing, but there seems to be a whole pile of unwritten rules about telling the truth that no one has told her about. Funny and real. Recommended for independent readers to mid-primary.

Lucy the Lie Detector

Lucy the Lie Detector, Marianne Musgrove
Random House 2010
ISBN: 9781741664553