The Truth According to Arthur

‘Arthur and The Truth are NOT the best of friends right now…’  So begins the very funny book in which The Truth is actually a character.  In Tazzyman’s brilliant illustrations, The Truth is depicted as a tall, grey blobby character, and Arthur as a scruffy little boy.  The problem is that Arthur has done something wrong.  He has taken his older brother’s bike and smashed it into his mum’s car, breaking the bike as well as scratching the side of the car.  What to do?  Should he tell the truth, or bend it, stretch it, or cover the whole thing up?  As each of these possibilities come to mind, we see Arthur bending, stretching and covering up poor Truth while he imagines more and more unlikely scenarios.  His friends tell him his mum isn’t likely to accept any of his excuses, and in the end, he ‘fesses as we know he should, and mum forgives even though she isn’t happy at the result.   Using The Truth as a character is an excellent device and gives a good foil to the humour in the book.  Imbedded text with lots of different letter sizes for emphasis, as well as comic-style characters, make for a fun approach that will make the lesson easier to understand and profit by.