newbery honor author 

new york times bestseller

Gennifer Choldenko
Gennifer Choldenko
Notes from a Liar and Her Dog
Junior Literary Gold Gold Standard

Buy the Book 

Notes from a Liar and Her Dog

by Gen­nifer Chold­enko
ages 9 and up
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2001, ISBN 978–0‑399–23591‑7 (hard­cov­er)
Puf­fin, 2003, ISBN 978–0‑14–250068‑2 (paper­back)

Synopsis

Ant MacPherson’s Basic Rules of Life:

  1. Dogs are bet­ter than people.
  2. The more you say, the longer they ground you for.
  3. Lying only works if you keep it short.
  4. Nev­er be nice to peo­ple who make fun of you.
  5. It’s okay to keep a chick­en in your house, so long as he’s housebroken.
  6. Make sure school doesn’t get in the way of impor­tant things like your friends.
  7. Don’t waste the truth on peo­ple who won’t understand.

For Anto­nia MacPher­son, lying is a way of life. If it weren’t for her best friend, Har­ri­son, and a tiny ball of fluff named Pis­ta­chio, she would be mis­er­able. No mat­ter what she does, her moth­er thinks she’s wrong. Her younger sis­ter, Kather­ine the Great, takes notes on Ant’s mis­be­hav­iors, which she keeps in a spi­ral note­book for their par­ents. Her old­er sis­ter, Your High­ness Eliz­a­beth, says Ant is in train­ing to be a juve­nile delin­quent, Har­ri­son smells like a sala­mi sand­wich, and Pis­ta­chio should be put out of his mis­ery. With all those roy­al opin­ions, who’s going to lis­ten to an Ant?

But when a teacher takes Ant under her wing, Ant’s way of life may have to change. Just Car­ol likes the truth. And she won’t take any­thing less.

Resources

Awards and Recognition

  • ALA Notable Recording
  • Audiofile Ear­phones Award
  • Cal­i­for­nia Book Award
  • Cal­i­for­nia Col­lec­tion Book 2005 (Ele­men­tary and Mid­dle School)
  • Cen­ter for Children’s Books Best Books of 2001
  • IRA-CBC Children’s Choice Book
  • School Library Jour­nal Best Books of the Year
  • US Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion: Books That Can Sup­port Char­ac­ter Development
  • Chil­dren’s Choice Nominees:
  • Hawaii Nene Award
  • Maine Stu­dent Book Award
  • Mary­land Black-Eyed Susan Award
  • Michi­gan Read­ers’ Choice Award
  • Mis­souri Rec­om­mend­ed New Books
  • Penn­syl­va­nia Young Read­er’s Choice
  • Ver­mont Dorothy Can­field Fish­er Award
  • West Vir­ginia Chil­dren’s Book Award

International Editions

  • Cata­lan
  • French
  • Ger­man
  • Span­ish
  • Thai
  • Unit­ed Kingdom

Reviews

“This fun­ny, touch­ing sto­ry of 12-year-old Anto­nia MacPher­son her­alds the arrival of a fresh new voice in lit­er­a­ture for young peo­ple… For any kid who is a mid­dle child, for kids who have trou­ble get­ting along with their par­ents, for kids who are sure that their par­ents pre­fer their sib­lings, this book will bring delight and under­stand­ing.” (School Library Jour­nal, starred review)

“Chold­enko catch­es the prick­li­ness of ado­les­cence… Fun­ny, mov­ing and com­plete­ly believ­able, this is a fine first nov­el.” (Book­list, starred review)

“Chold­enko vivid­ly cap­tures the feel­ings of a mid­dle child torn between want­i­ng to be noticed and want­i­ng to be invis­i­ble … This fun­ny and touch­ing nov­el por­trays the tug-of-war with­in this strong hero­ine and taps into very real emo­tions.” (Pub­lish­ers Week­ly)

“A refresh­ing chil­dren’s sto­ry for any­one sick of being bossed around. Tele­vi­sion actress Ari­adne Mey­ers (“Kate and Alley”) reads with a sweet mix of exag­ger­at­ed youth­ful agony and clever com­ic tim­ing.” (Los Ange­les Times)

“The Amer­i­can writer Gen­nifer Chold­enko is not a famil­iar name, but her Notes from a Liar and her Dog should change that. There are many sto­ries around about being dis­liked and mis­un­der­stood when young, but few as sen­si­tive and ulti­mate­ly tri­umphant as this.” (Nicholas Tuck­er, Inde­pen­dent, Lon­don)

“Chold­enko’s writ­ing is snap­py and ten­der … Ant will win a fol­low­ing for her unusu­al can­dor in the process of lying and learn­ing to live with the truth.” (The Bul­letin of the Cen­ter for Chil­dren’s Books)

“A fun­ny sto­ry of self-dis­cov­ery that real­ly sparks the desire to think about your own life …” (VOYA)

“I love this book!” (Paula Danziger, beloved author of the Amber Brown series)