Honestly, Mallory!

My 10 year old daughter loved reading this book. She would recommend to girls her age.

My daughter loves all her Mallory books. She enjoys reading them so much that we purchased the entire series. We believe this series is her favorite thus far.

Kids love these series!

As advertised

This is the second and last Mallory book my son and I will read. I usually get an even selection of books featuring boys and girls to expose my son to the ways of the world. Books starring boys tend to be emotionally deprived - things happen without thinking or talking about what characters are thinking and feeling. So my hope was to get books with female leads to fill the gap. Incidentally, gender equality is a core personal value and professional interest for me. I think, write, and talk a lot about underrepresentation of women in STEM fields. Yesterday Intel announced their plan to devote funds to rectify the gap. Yet, my hope for the future fades when I read book after book of women wanting to be fashion designers...Yes, it is a legitimate choice. The world needs fashion... But when a non-trivial number of books feature girls who think of fashion design as the only thing to be (plus spend pages and pages on description of their clothes), it is easy to lose hope.Here is what is happening in this book - spoiler alert.It is careers day at the elementary school. The 3rd grader Mallory does not know what to be. Everyone else seems to have already figured it out... Look at all the others who know what they want to be... (My son at this point comments: Why is she so worried about what other people think? Good question, I think. I want him to learn to consider other people, but being paralyzed because other people are watching is a different animal).She spends about 50 pages worrying and thinking: Options the girls in the book consider: a flight attendant. a teacher. a gym coach. A nurse. a chef. gardener. Ok, nothing relating to STEM? How about some professions where women are underrepresented just for the heck of it? (my son's comment: Why does she not want to be a doctor? Does she think that women can't be doctors?) Among her friends, all except one go the exact same route of the caring professions: There is a girl who will be a surgeon because her dad is a surgeon, and she will borrow some clothes from him for the presentation. I am guessing, in this fashion obsessed school, wearing your dad's clothes is not a great statement to make.Ok, the drama ends after about 50 pages when she finally reveals that she wants to be a fashion designer. Then, her "friends" decide that this is high school after all, and not 3rd grade. They start asking her why she thinks that she can be a fashion designer. Where is the proof that she has any talent in this area? At this point I am flabbergasted, my son does not understand what is going on and he asks me if this is bullying. Yes, it is. A bit too soon for this level of sass (3rd grade), but maybe we are too sheltered in my part of the world and this is what happens in elementary school?Then, to defend her choice, she makes up a lie: She actually won a fashion contest on tv... She will go to New York to get the award... Wow, when she lies, she lies big... At this point my son is screaming under the table, asking what is wrong with her. And it goes... until the end of the book.At the very end of the book we see the class picture, with boys who are soccer players, firefighter, a doctor and maybe a businessman (he is wearing a tie?) The girls are wearing tutus, one is wearing a chef's head, and all is right with the world...I know I am unkind. Everyone means well. Most people are decent and they say they want an equal world. At the same time, little girls everywhere grow up worried about what everyone thinks, and the career options of tomorrow seem as gendered as those of the last century... Then we have the statistics about glass ceilings, and how many cents women earn... This is not helping. Maybe they should not help? Maybe books are just for fun? But if that is the case, reading a book about how a character's lie gets into trouble seems more like shaudenfreude than entertainment.My new year's resolution is to stick with boys' books for my son. No one worries about what anyone else thinks. People can try and fail without losing sleep about what everyone else thinks. The world is full of possibilities. I bet he will be fine.

Have you ever lied about something? Well, Mallory did! It was career day at Mallory's school. Mallory couldn't decide what to be, but everyone else knew what they wanted to be. Her best friend, Mary Ann, helps her decide to be a fashion designer because she loves to watch, "Fashion Fran," which is a fashion designing show. When she got to school and told everyone, some people laughed at her. They asked her why she decided to be a fashion designer. She didn't want to say that she liked fashion designing, so she lied and said she had won the Kids Fashion Fran Contest. The Kids Fashion Fran Contest is a contest where you can create your own design. If you win you get to go to New York City and meet Fashion Fran, who is fashion designer. When the people who were making fun of her heard the news, they were so excited and so surprised! They told everyone! Soon, the teacher heard about the news! The teacher had a party to celebrate Mallory's victory! Mallory felt awful that she lied, but now she couldn't tell the truth after everything they had done for her! Mallory's parents soon found out, and she got in huge trouble for lying. Her parents made her tell the teacher and her whole class what she had done. Will all the friends forgive her or will they be mad at her for the rest of their lives? There are many great main characters in the story. Mallory is the main character. Mallory lies in the story and causes a big problem. Another main character is Mary Ann. Mary Ann is Mallory's best friend. Mary Ann helps Mallory to decide that she should be a fashion designer for career day. Mallory's classmates are other characters in the story. Her classmates make her lie about winning the contest. Those are the three main characters in the story. The theme of this story is not to lie. Mallory made a mistake and lied, but then figured out being honest is what you should do instead of lying. I know this is the theme because Mallory learned a good lesson in the story not to lie. Mallory feels horrible when she has to tell the class that she lied and did not really win the contest. She knew lying was wrong and she told the truth instead. I really like this book. I think many different ages will enjoy it. This book is really fun and is not boring. This book is especially great because it teaches a great lesson. Kids that read this book will see the punishment of lying and that it is not right to lie. The author makes the reader not want to lie but to tell the truth instead. The author teaches a great lesson in a fun and interesting way! I think that is really cool!

Very good book on telling the truth after you have told so many lies. I like how pretty much every book in this series always tells a lesson at somepoint in the book

My daughter loved this book. She told me that it's about Mallory who tells a small lie that ends up getting bigger & bigger until she gets in trouble & has to apologize in front of everyone. She was smiling when she told me the story. I recommend it to all 3rd graders.