Customer Reviews

My Big Lie (A Little Bill Book for Beginning Readers)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Every year my students have a choice of choosing a book from the stack of 'Little Bill' books, and this one is always the first one they pick. The moral of this story is one that not only teachers wish to inflict, but parents, as well. It has a great way of introducing THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF story into the classroom. I also enjoyed how it introduced a way to discuss the definition of a "fib". This book was great for my students because we were able to explore in more detail the meaning of true "trust". I recommend this book to every teacher and every parent of elementary aged children.

I teach first grade. My students love this book because the children in this book are just like them! I like the book because it is easy for them to read, has great pictures, and is in the form of a short chapter book so they feel they are smart readers. I also like the morals and lessons in the book. This book and other Little Bill books are great!

The story starts off with Little Bill imagining he's the boy from The Boy Who Cried Wolf because his parents are making him copy it because he lied. He says how tending sheep is BORING, so he cries wolf to spice things up (and the rest of the story is told too). Then Little Bill tells you what he did (which I think is a little backwards. I would have told what he did, THEN talk about The Boy Who Cried Wolf as he makes connections between the two, but no connections are made until the end.)

The lie he tells is that he's late coming home because a man wanted directions so he GOT IN THE CAR with him to show him the way. OMG! That could be a conversation starter to talk about NOT doing that I suppose. However, he messes up in his story, so his parents KNOW he's lying the whole time.

Then Little Bill says that the boy in the story lost people's trust. He then asks them, do you still trust me? (Even though he never REALLY deceived them at all) and they INSTANTLY say, "Yes we trust you." The book doesn't say, trust takes time to mend and build. Nope, instantly they still trust him. That's taking The Boy Who Cried Wolf and totally ruining the message!

Just read The Boy Who Cried Wolf instead.

My Big Lie is a great book for character development. I chose this book when I taught the rules to my 2nd graders. They liked to read it by themselves too.

I was searching for a way to explain to my child why lying was "a big no-no." I hoped that a Little Bill book would be sure to hold my child's interest. This book was able to do both quite well. The story is interesting without being overly complicated. Both my children enjoyed it and the elder did seem to finally grasp what I'd been unsuccessful in explaining before.

My only complaint would be that I wished Cosby had had Little Bill's parents explain the danger in what he had supposedly been doing that caused him to be late for dinner (his lie), before having Bill come clean. But, it did allow for another important safety topic to be discussed.

Altogether, I'd give the book 4.5 stars.