Liar and Spy

Title: Liar and Spy

Author: Rebecca Stead

Number of pages: 208

Started: 28 September 2012

Finished: 29 September 2012

Opening words:

There’s this totally false map of the human tongue. It’s sup-posed to show where we taste different things, like salty on the side of the tongue, sweet in the front, bitter in the back.  Some guy drew it a hundred years ago, and people have been forcing kids to memorize it ever since.

Read a longer extract here.

Plot summary:

Georges (the s is silent) has a lot going on. He's having trouble with some boys at school, his dad lost his job and so his mum has started working all the time - and they had to sell their house and move into an apartment.

But moving into the apartment block does bring one good thing - Safer, an unusual boy who lives on the top floor. He runs a spy club, and is determined to teach Georges everything he knows. Their current case is to spy on the mysterious Mr X in the apartment above Georges.But as Georges and Safer go deeper into their Mr X plan, the line between games, lies, and reality begin to blur.

What I thought:

Let me be clear, this is a children’s book.  Aimed at nine to twelve year olds.  I read it because I needed to review not for something.  Despite those disclaimers (and actually they are an explanation rather than a disclaimer), I did actually really enjoy it.  It was a nicely written book and had a good sense of humour to it.  It was a good plot about school life and friendship and the complications of family life.  Very enjoyable.