from :a big fat neormous lie

http://www.epinions.com/review/A_Big_Fat_Enormous_Lie_by_Marjorie_Weinman_Sharmat/content_178592910980

The premise of A Big Fat Enormous Lie is something typical to many little ones; a young boy gets into the cookie jar and eats all the cookies. Rather than confessing to his father, he claims to have no idea who could have eaten the cookies, knowing that his parents would be angry that he ate them. As he ponders his lie, it takes the physical form of a monster that gets bigger and bigger and won't leave him alone. When the big, fat, enormous lie monster finally sits on him, the little boy decides to tell his parents the truth, after which he imagines the lie any number of places but with him, while his parents decide what his punishment will be. He has come to the conclusion that anything is better than living with the huge lie.

The book's original copyright is 1978, and the illustrations are very typical of the period, and especially of Scholastic books from my recollection. All the illustrations are pen and ink drawings with green coloring in some areas for accents, like the monster and shrubs.

::: Big, Fat, Enormous Bore :::

Neither Beanie nor I were impressed with A Big Fat Enormous Lie. The plot is fairly simple and a bit too abstract for her to really process the symbolism of the monster lie, especially with her overly concrete way of viewing things. In addition, without and ending that includes the parents determining a fair punishment (which I can understand that the author left out so as to not conflict with what actual parents would come up with for a similar crime), Beanie wasn't able to determine that the punishment from the parents was more desirable than living with the lie monster.

In addition, the dated drawings don't hold much allure for her or my two younger boys. The simple drawings that I remember for my youth pale in comparison to the bright full-color illustrations that my children are used to, and the boys get bored when I try to read this book aloud to them.

A Big Fat Enormous Lie might actually have more value to older children who are able to process the symbolism of the lie monster, but for helping my daughter, and for entertaining my younger two when read aloud, it's a dud.