True Lies: Eighteen Tales for
   You to Judge

Illustrated by John O’Brien.
Greenwillow/HarperCollins, 1997.
Paperback:HarperTropy, 1998.

“…short, lively folk stories are used to challenge the reader to untangle the truth from situations in which characters make snap judgements or are cleverly misled…Kids will certainly have fun using this on their own; teachers will like it, too, as a way to enliven a lesson or as a means of getting students to think about the meaning of truth or alerting them to the power of words and the ease with which their meanings can be manipulated.” ALA BOOKLIST

“This title takes a different approach from the author’s Stories to Solve series—offering both entertainment and food for thought. When, by telling part of the truth, someone implies something that is not true, has that person told a lie? …The tales are all concretely documents and, abetted by John O’Brien’s whimsical pen sketches, sufficiently simple to be accessible to fledgling readers.” HORN BOOK.

“With True Lies, Shannon adds another thoughtfully selected and well-written folkloric-puzzle book to his body of work.” SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

“Recognizing a half-truth is one of life’s harder lessons, but Shannon makes a sport of it in this collection of 18 stories that challenge readers to discover what is true and what is fabricated…
A collection that confirms for children what they may have guessed already about life’s many shades of gray.” KIRKUS