Lies

by Nancy J. Hopper

Allison Witmer attracts the attention of a new boy in town by telling outrageous lies and entangles herself in a series of mix-ups.

119 pages, Hardcover

First published May 21, 1984

Reviews

[Evelin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. Picked up my old worn and torn copy at a library sale when I was 14. It’s got checkout stamps dating back to ‘86 and inside the sleeve, a handmade little purple-construction-paper-poster still sits, yelling “VOTE MEGAN” with those crafty puffballs glued on. Random words are underlined in pencil every once in a while. Somebody decided to practice spelling “GO” in bubble letters at the start of chapter 15. The aura my copy carries is ragged and, somehow, powerful. It’d smoke a pack a day if it had lungs, I think.
I think Hopper permanently grooved my psyche with this silly teen romance. 14 year old me was certainly the target audience. I come back to it every few years and my thoughts on the story has changed each time. At 14, I swooned, at 16, I think I still swooned, and at 18 it was already a nostalgic break from my heavier reads.
Now I see it’s a well done piece of genre fiction that uses its form to its benefit. It has a moral without being overly moralistic and feels like a classic 80s movie, right next to The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. It’s a calm but engaging story, and I’m sure I’ll be back in another few years to report any change in perspective. :)

[Morgan Lemke · Rating 5 out of 5]

lies catch up so use them with caution.