Stories for Growing
Cover of The Honest-to-Goodness TruthAges 4 to 8
HonestyEmpathyMaking things right

The Honest-to-Goodness Truth

Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Giselle Potter

Ages 4 to 8
About this age guidance

Publishers Weekly: 4–8; Amazon reading age: 5–8

The age tag follows Publishers Weekly review. Other sources may suggest different ages. This is audience guidance, not an independent reading level.

On a parent honesty booklist for ages 4 to 8. A full post by the blogger calls it a gem about the fine line between honesty and kindness.

After her mother catches her fibbing, Libby Louise vows to tell only the truth. She points out a friend’s holey sock in public, tells the teacher a classmate has not done his homework, and critiques a neighbor’s garden, and people get upset. Her mother explains truth can be told at the wrong time or for the wrong reasons. When a neighbor tells Libby a hard truth, she understands and makes amends.

Good forTeaching honestyApologizing

Recommended by Children’s Lit Love

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What children see in the story

Libby gives up fibbing and holds herself to the truth, then learns to tell it with care about when, how and why. Libby’s blunt truths leave friends hurt, and only when someone does the same to her does she feel it. Once she understands, Libby apologizes and makes amends with the friends and neighbors she upset.

Why it’s on these shelves

Honesty
Libby fibs to her mother about feeding the horse, feels the shame, and vows to tell only the truth from now on. She keeps the vow even when it costs her friends, and learns to say hard things with care.
Empathy
Libby points out a friend’s holey sock and tells the teacher a classmate skipped his homework, and people get upset. Only when a neighbor gives Libby a hard truth of her own does she feel what her words did.
Making things right
Once Libby sees how her blunt truths landed, she makes amends with the friends and neighbors she upset. Her mother has explained that the truth can hurt when it is told at the wrong time or in the wrong way.

Why pick it up?

Libby makes amends with her friends and neighbors and learns to tell the truth with care.

A note for parents

Replaces the older held record. Checked the paperback ISBN: the older record’s 0689853951 was a wrong ISBN-10 (bad check digit); the Aladdin paperback is 0689853955 / 9780689853951 and has an amazon.com listing (4.7 stars, 149 ratings, shared with the hardcover 9780689826689 listing). PW is for the hardcover ISBN. Privacy question (Libby reporting a classmate): the story treats telling the teacher on a classmate as one of her over-literal blunders, with PW naming it as part of what alienates people, and the Prindle guide leaves open when telling on someone is right. It is not framed as admirable. I recorded it as a low boundary-violation flag. The sources do not say what happens to the classmate. Repair ending: the parent post says Libby makes amends with friends and neighbors and that the last neighbor adds one more lesson; the Prindle guide asks whether her apology is for the truth or for how she said it. The exact apology scenes and page locations are not available. Mama’s explanation is the one explicit moral of the book. PW calls the book thorough and accessible rather than moralizing; it is story-driven by Libby’s blunders.

Where this recommendation comes from

Children’s Lit Love

On a parent honesty booklist for ages 4 to 8. A full post by the blogger calls it a gem about the fine line between honesty and kindness.

Read Mary Costello’s recommendation
Sources and review status

We have checked source descriptions and drafted the value mapping. We have not personally reviewed the full book. The value labels, situation assignments, and parent notes remain provisional.

Publisher or literacy resource · Original recommendation

Our explanation of the value fit is separate from the original reviewer’s judgment. Their inclusion here does not imply an endorsement of Stories for Growing.

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