Book Review: Lying to Children
Lying to Children by Alex Shahla
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I wasn’t sure what I was getting into here, but I liked the title of the book – that probably says more than it should about me, but there it is.
I thoroughly enjoyed *most* of the book. The first two chapters were amusing. ‘It’s a cute book’, I thought. Then I read Chapter 4: If You Put A Tooth Under Your Pillow, a Magical Fairy Will Bring You Money. By the end of the chapter I was whooping with laughter and wondering if Dave Barry was feeling a twinge of insecurity. This guy was GOOD!
My second favorite chapter was If You Eat Too Much Candy, Your Teeth Will Fall Out. I enjoyed the author’s skill at taking a situation most people would understand and probably have experienced, and then blowing it up to gleeful levels of absurdity.
The author maintained this peak of comedy antics until the last 5 chapters. Chapter 10: Those Are Daddy’s Cookies was truly absurd, but somehow the spirit of the adventure had changed from that of the previous 9 chapters. The humor felt darker, the dad had slipped into serious, dark despair. I wasn’t laughing any longer. I continued reading, but the book never did get back to its earlier energy and style. Instead, we’d gone hyper-sentimental, maudlin, and spent too much time on unimportant details (especially in The Enemy Of Your Enemy Is Still Your Enemy).
I’m happy to have read the book, but if I knew then what I know now, I would have stopped after Chapter 9. Perhaps those last 5 chapters will resonate better with parents – I’m childless myself.
My thanks to the Author, Alex Shahla and Goodreads for gifting me with a free digital copy of the book. This review is my honest and unbiased opinion.
Lori Alden Holuta
Lori Alden Holuta lives between the cornfields of Mid-Michigan, where she grows vegetables and herbs when she’s not writing, editing, or playing games with a cat named Chives.
