Fb2 Notes from a Liar and Her Dog ePub

Grandson laughed constantly while reading this book.

The book was a really good book. My daughter loved it. The only problem was it was bent in two areas on the spine which went through half the book. It was brand new so it must have gotten damaged during shipping.

Fast and undamaged. What else could you ask for?

Satisfied!

Gennifer Choldenko's Notes from a Liar and Her Dog tells the story of a Ant, who is such a misfit in her family that she's certain the grown-ups she lives with are not her real parents. As the only brunette and the only troublemaker between two blonde sisters who know how to please their parents, she feels close to no one but her Chihuahua mix and her smelly, artistic classmate Harrison. As a result of her alienation, Ant hides her intelligence and good grades, lies indiscriminately, and hides her dog in her jacket pocket whenever she can.

I can't remember ever before reading fiction with such a convincingly frightful set of parents. Ant's mother betrays no patience or compassion for her unhappy child. Instead, she sees her middle daughter as almost an interloper in her otherwise happy, well-behaved family. But the veneer of family happiness is thin: all of them are tense and unsettled, waiting for their father to reject yet another job and uproot them to move to a new city once again.

Just Carol, Ant's art teacher, tries to intervene. But Ant's mother angrily rejects Carol's approaches, and when Ant is finally allowed to join Carol in volunteer work at the zoo, Ant blows her chance not once but twice.

What makes this book compelling is the strong voice of its unhappy narrator, a girl with a loving heart who makes herself as tough as she can on the outside while longing for approval and support on the inside. Despite Ant's propensity for lying, her narrative voice is frank and full of integrity. She's fighting to hold onto her sense of self among people who appear to scorn her.

The book is a masterful portrait of a warped family system, where one child has become the scapegoat for a host of family troubles. Despite the webs of deception and poor judgment Ant weaves around herself, Notes from a Liar and Her Dog suggests that people can change, and even the most painful relationships can become more rewarding with heroic effort on all sides.

This is a great book for a thoughtful kid, or even for a kid who sometimes feels maligned and misunderstood. And who doesn't feel that way sometimes? I highly recommend it for ages 9 to 14, and it might be a great conversation-starter for parents and children to read together.

Aidan B.
Book Bingo #2
NOTES FROM A LIAR is about a girl named Ant McPherson who often feels like a misfit in her own family. She's the middle child, one of three sisters. She doesn't feel appreciated by her mother, and her father. Her family has moved thirteen times, and Ant is hoping that where she will be staying at California as her father promised. She also worries about her pet dog named Pistachio, who is getting older.The setting is in a local zoo that she volunteered for, school, California, and her house. The problem in the story is Ant often finds herself lying to her parents, her sisters, and her favorite teacher who she calls Just Carol. More and more often her lies land her in deep trouble and when Ant's father announces that he's accepted a new job in Connecticut, Ant, her sisters, and her mother bind together to try to convince Mr. McPherson that they want to stay in California. The resolution in the story is that through volunteering at the local zoo, participating in a math competition at school, and gaining the trust of Just Carol, Ant begins to understand the value of telling the truth. and as a result Ant begins to feel a new connection to her family. I give this book a 4 out of 5 because it is a 8-12 year old book and has the "H" word and the "D" word but, besides that it is a very good book.

Antonia (Ant) MacPherson is coping with a highly disfunctional family. The second of three girls, she is the opposite of her older sister, Elizabeth, 14 and younger sister Kate, 8. Elizabeth looks down on Ant and Kate keeps a notebook of Ant's misdeeds and blackmails Ant out of her allowance. Ant looks nothing like her sisters who are pampered into ultra-indulgence by their mother. I admit I could not stand their mother at all and derived a wicked pleasure that Ant didn't like her either.

At the story's opening, Ant is called into the principal's office after she tells her art teacher she is adopted. Naturally Ant squirms at being called on the carpet, but even more so at having her mother present. I thought it served the mother right when Ant kept insisting she was adopted. I just loved the way Ant interpreted that tired, cliche story of the boy who cried wolf. Her principal told her to relate that story and asked her what lesson the boy learned. Ant's logical response was "Nothing. He's dead." I thought that was an excellent answer. When asked what the boy should have done, Ant said that he was stupid for expecting people to help in the first place and that had she been in his shoes, she would have handled that wolf by herself. Ant's interpretation of this shopworn story was logical and delightfully perceptive.

In fact, Ant does more than handle a wolf by herself. She saves her dog's life by sneaking him to a vet and lying about her address so as to dodge the bills; she, along with her art teacher and best friend Harrison (probably named for George Harrison) spend Saturdays at a local zoo as zookeepers' helpers where she bravely saves her chihuahua mix from becoming lion food.

I didn't like Ant's sisters or parents at all. When Ant's father, an errant insurance salesman who lies about where he has been working praised the oldest and youngest daughters for their ballet, he stumbles offering predictions of Ant's future. When one of the snotty sisters suggests Ant will become a juvenile delinquent, they all laugh at her. I didn't like that.

I loved it when Ant and her friend Harrison switch report cards because she wanted him to get better grades. A bright, artistic boy raised by a loving, widowed father, Harrison and Ant form a strong allegiance that includes their art teacher. When Ant's mother discovers the switch, it was hilarious because naturally she did not expect Ant to earn top grades.

Ant's mother is a real thorn in everybody's collective side. She makes it plain she'd rather attend one of Elizabeth's many dance recitals than Ant's Mathathon wherein Ant won the district trophy; she even tells Ant that she prefers the other girls and closes with "who wouldn't?" No wonder Ant could not abide her. I also didn't like the way Ant's father didn't even try to attend her Mathathon or even realize why it would be important to her to have somebody there regardless of what she said. I loved it when Ant challenged her mother when she told Ant she could not attend the Mathathon by saying that of course she could not be there and that she was "just agreeing" with her. After all, the mother said she had to attend Elizabeth's recital. I also loved the art teacher and thought she handled Ant's mother with grace and charm.

An excellent, tautly written work for all ages, this book will leave readers thinking for a long time. This is an author to watch for - I hope she'll be turning out more books.