{"product_id":"how-to-tell-a-true-story-isbn-9780823458486","title":"How to Tell a True Story","description":"\u003cb\u003eAfter seventh grader Amber’s secretive older brother rescues her from a devastating house fire, the community’s response proves that kindness is as complicated as family in this novel for younger YA readers.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere's nothing very special about Amber Price. She's not a star student, athlete or artist, and definitely not one of the popular kids. Her crush hardly knows she exists. At least, that's her life before. Before a fire destroys her home, before her older teenage brother Gage saves her life, before her classmates rally to stage a fundraiser, The Price of Kindness, for her family. Suddenly, Gage who was hurt in the fire is a famous hero and Amber is the center of attention at school. Everyone wants to help, everyone wants to be kind, everyone wants to tell her story. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs Amber enjoys her new popularity, she keeps her worries to herself. Her parents are arguing more than ever, and her father has moved into an apartment while the rest of them stay with Amber’s aunt. And why, after he risked his life for her, is Gage keeping secrets from her? Then just days before her family will be honored in a special Price of Kindness presentation at school, she discovers how the fire started and faces huge moral question: Is it wrong to tell lies to save yourself and those you love? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Most Perfect Thing in the Universe\u003c\/i\u003e author Tricia Springstubb poignantly explores the way disasters impact family and community, painting a tender portrait of resilience and empathy in this young YA novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection\u003c\/b\u003eA sincere and humane narrative that probes human complexity.\u003cbr\u003e—Kirkus Reviews\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis thoughtful portrayal of a preteen navigating postcatastrophe life by Springstubb offers a quietly suspenseful exploration of morality.\u003cbr\u003e—Publishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLate middle-school and early high-school readers will devour this quickly and, possibly, learn something about the value of telling the truth.\u003cbr\u003e—Booklist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmber and her friends are portrayed realistically as teens with typical cliques, social anxieties, and dynamics of middle school groups. Her family is well defined and instantly relatable. The theme that everyone deserves kindness is not heavy-handed but develops through the ­interactions of students, ­family, and teachers, reminding readers that ­everyone ­carries their own unseen struggles.\u003cbr\u003e—School Library Journal\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is a lovely and nuanced reality to how Amber and the people in her life deal with the tragedy, which causes some relationships to become closer and some to fall apart as she learns the difficult lesson that truth is often “as confusing as people, who could be good and bad, kind and selfish, brave and weak, familiar and changing, all rolled into one.”\u003cbr\u003e—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom middle-school angst to big moral questions, this fast-moving story covers much territory without crowding the narrative.\u003cbr\u003e—The Horn Book\u003cb\u003eTricia Springstubb\u003c\/b\u003e has written many well-reviewed books for young readers, including \u003ci\u003eLooking for True\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Most Perfect Thing in the Universe\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eWhat Happened on Fox Street\u003c\/i\u003e, which was an Indie Pick. She also wrote \u003ci\u003eEvery Single Second\u003c\/i\u003e which received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. She lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.","brand":"Margaret Ferguson Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304363708645,"sku":"NP9780823458486","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780823458486.jpg?v=1767729480","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/how-to-tell-a-true-story-isbn-9780823458486","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}