Blundell,
Judy. What I Saw and How I Lied. Scholastic
Press, 2008. 284 pages, $16.99 ISBN: 9780439903462 (trade)
Plot
Summary:
World War II is over
and life is finally getting back to normal for Evie and her family. Her stepfather Joe is home and has opened
several successful appliance stores since returning home from the war. Everything is wonderful until one night when
Joe gets a mysterious phone call from a fellow GI. Joe suggests that the family take a vacation
down to Palm Beach where Evie, and her mother spend the days enjoying the warm
fall weather and the nearly deserted beaches, making friends with other hotel
guests. Soon Evie meets the handsome, charming
and slightly older Peter, who Evie is soon head over heels in love with. Coincidentally Peter served with Joe in
Europe and starts spending more and more time with Evie and her family. Joe, doesn’t trust Peter and inexplicably
forbids Evie and her mother from spending time with Peter. As lies and intrigue are revealed Evie will
find herself torn between her family and the man she loves.
Critical
Review:
Blundell creates a
enthralling mystery in her National Book Award winner What I Saw and How I Lied.
Blundell baits the readers with small tidbits of the larger story
building the suspense and keeping readers interested. Blundell cleverly stylizes her story to be
evocative of popular film noirs of the 1940’s, the decade in which What I Saw and How I Lied is set. Blundell also touches on issues of
anti-Semitism which were still very much present in the United States in the
1940’s, even after fighting a war against the tragic genocide of Jews in
Europe. It surprised me to learn that
segregation in the South also applied to Jews, which was evident when the
couple Evie and her parents befriend are kicked out of their hotel after the
administration discovered their religious beliefs.
Genre:
Historical Fiction
Mystery
Romance
Interest
Level:
Grade 8 to 12
Similar
Books:
Revolution
Jennifer
Donnelly
Guardian
Julius
Lester
Subjects/Themes:
WWII Veterans
Florida
Anti-Semitism
Murder
Awards/Honors:
Booklist Best Books for Young Adults 2009
Booklist Top 10 Crime Fiction for Youth 2009
Capitol Choices 2009
National Book Award Winner 2008
School Library Journal Best Books 2008
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults
Author’s
Website:
Annotation:
Evie is forced to choose between the man she loves
and her family when she becomes entangled in a suspenseful mystery.
Book
Talking Ideas:
What
I Saw and How I Lied is a suspenseful mystery evocative of
the glamorous and tantalizing film noirs of the 1940’s. The story finds 15 year old Evie in the
middle of the mystery in which she will be forced to choose where her loyalties
lay, with her family or with the man she loves, the charming and handsome
Peter. Evie must learn the truth before
something horrible happens to someone she loves.
Why
I chose to include this book:
I chose to include What I Saw and How I Lied because it was a well written, stylized
mystery.
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