Tall Tales (Paperback)

by Karen Day (Author)
Key Phrases: newspaper meeting, Aunt Jane, Uncle Terry, Beth Harrison (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 4–7—Meg Summers is once again entering school as the new kid, and sixth grade in Lake Haven, IN, makes her feel just as lonely as she did on the previous moves. She wants a friend so badly that she begins fabricating stories to sound exciting and interesting. When she does make friends with Grace Bennett, one of the "peppy blond girls," her stories continue, this time to cover up her family's secret. Meg's father is an alcoholic and his binges are becoming more frequent and violent, especially since her older brother is fighting back. When Grace's stepmom drives Meg home after one of her many visits, they witness an altercation between Mr. Summers and Teddy in the driveway. Day uses the friendship between the girls and the strong adult support of Grace's family and a favorite aunt to pave the path Meg follows to trust others enough to finally tell the truth about her dad. "I've been telling the biggest tall tale of my life to myself." The author's portrayal of a family in crisis is convincingly tragic: "…it's not until mom hands him coffee that I see in his eyes how it will be today and how I should feel." Although there is no fairy-tale ending, the story is realistic and hopeful with discussable issues appropriate for a wide audience.—D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
"Here we go again. New town. New school." When classmates ask Meg, 12, where she is from, she makes up wild stories ("from Australia. . . . My dad is a doctor."). She desperately wants to be friends with classmate Grace, whose family is "perfect," but she can't help wondering what will happen if Grace finds out that Dad is a drunk and that he abuses Meg's older brother. What if she finds out who Meg really is? Honest about what it is like to live with an alcoholic parent--the cover-ups, the fear of violence, the denial--Day's debut delivers much more than a standard problem novel; Meg's lies and secrets are funny and anguished, and readers will respond to the intense family drama and the quick, wild fantasies that Meg spins to cover up her shame. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Yearling; Reprint edition (November 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375837744
• ISBN-13: 978-0375837746
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #697,475 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Touching Story About A Not-So-Perfect Family, June 12, 2007

By	Mitali Perkins - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Tall Tales (Hardcover)

Using humor and strong characterization, Karen Day masters the fine line between realism and optimism in this page-turner about a girl whose Dad is an alcoholic. It's no accident that Meg's best friend is named Grace, as grace permeates the entire story. Tween readers will cheer for Meg as they journey with her, and leave equipped with a hope that isn't false, even as they face tough realities in their own families.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving story of what makes for friendship - and what's involved in lying - evolves., July 10, 2007

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tall Tales (Hardcover)

Karen Day's TALL TALES tells of Meg, starting sixth grade in yet another new school, and determined to find a best friend. When she meets Grace she believes she's finally found that friend - but Meg has family secrets, and must invent some big lies to hide them. A moving story of what makes for friendship - and what's involved in lying - evolves.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's a beautiful Day. Don't let it get away., July 9, 2007

By	E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Tall Tales (Hardcover)

"Tall Tales" isn't flashy. It doesn't leap off of the bookshelf and start screaming about how necessary it is for you to buy buy buy. There are no sparkles, flashy lights, or marauding dragons in evidence. It's slow. Soft. A book manages to tell its tale in a supremely careful fashion. I'll level with you here: It's good but it doesn't stick in your brain the way a gaudy Clique novel might. If you're looking for fireworks and lightshows, direct your attention elsewhere pronto. If, instead, you want a well-written title about friends, lies, and family secrets "Tall Tales" is a decent way to go. A good book.

Meg wants a friend. Badly. Desperately, you might say. When she and her family move to Lake Haven, Indiana it isn't the first move Meg's had to put up with. It's not even the second, third, or fourth. With a father that continually claims to have stopped drinking, Meg and her siblings learned long ago that having friends meant keeping them as far away from their home life as possible. Meg's gone one step further, though. She's come up with elaborate lies to fill in the unassuming or embarrassing gaps in her life. When she begins to grow close to a girl in her class by the name of Grace, it's like she's found her other half. But how long will Meg be able to cover for the fact that much of what she's been telling Grace is a lie? Soon enough she could learn that sometimes the most outrageous tales you come up with are the ones you tell to yourself.

It takes a while to figure out that Meg's a liar. When you first hear her spout off a whopper about her dad being a doctor from Tasmania, you go for it. I mean, it wasn't so crazy a lie that I didn't believe it myself. So convincing was the lie, in fact, that I thought that Chapter One was narrated by one girl and Chapter Two by another. I actually had to flip back and forth for a while to better determine what was going on. So maybe a little clarification would have helped the writing at the start. For example, the first time we meet Meg's little sister Abby she isn't necessarily introduced. It's one of those narrative techniques where a character just gradually comes into focus as the story continues. The fact that this book acknowledges the truly slow nature of change can either be seen as the story's strength or weakness. Nothing here happens too quickly. Make of that what you will.

With the veritable plethora of broken families in children's literature, it's funny that I can't come up with another children's title containing an alcoholic family member to compare to this book. I don't really have to, of course. Day has a good handle on the situation and presents it accurately here. You can watch the charm of the alcoholic and his heartfelt apologies post-abuse. Every antagonist should display multiple sides if a children's book is going to carry any weight at all. It's all the more effective, then, to have the father dancing giddily with the mom one moment and then shaking the daughter violently for dropping some hamburgers the next. The writing is nice as well. Certain descriptions will sometimes catch the eye unawares. Sentences like, "Her shoulders fill her sweaters until there doesn't seem to be one millimeter of space left."

By the way, as a former resident of Kalamazoo I was amused that the town was (in a sense) one of the final straws in finally deciding to try to get away from the dad in this story. All that aside, "Tall Tales" isn't necessarily forgettable, but it does demand a bit of hand selling and word-of-mouth. Consider it subdued and supremely readable.