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Two Truths and a Lie

It's Alive!

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

"Considering the fresh attention being paid to teaching a skeptical approach to information evaluation, this series opener couldn't be better timed. A brief but savvy guide to responsible research methods adds further luster to this crowd pleaser." —ALA Booklist (starred review)

Two Truths and a Lie is the first book in a fascinating new series that presents some of the most crazy-but-true stories about the living world as well as a handful of stories that are too crazy to be true—and asks readers to separate facts from fakes!

Did you know that there is a fungus that can control the mind of an ant and make it do its bidding? Would you believe there is such a thing as a corpse flower—a ten-foot-tall plant with a blossom that smells like a zombie? How about a species of octopus that doesn't live in water but rather lurks in trees in the Pacific Northwest?

Every story in this book is strange and astounding. But not all of them are real. Just like the old game in this book's title, two out of every three stories are completely true and one is an outright lie. Can you guess which? It's not going to be easy. Some false stories are based on truth, and some of the true stories are just plain unbelievable. And they're all accompanied by dozens of photos, maps, and illustrations. Amaze yourself and trick your friends as you sort out the fakes from the facts!

Acclaimed authors Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson have teamed up to create a series of sneaky stories about the natural world designed to amaze, disgust, and occasionally bamboozle you.

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  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 22, 2017
      Each chapter of this highly entertaining volume, first in a series, recounts three hard-to-believe stories that revolve around plants, animals, or humans. But only two of them are true, leaving it to readers to identify the invented one. In one example, the choices include a tree-dwelling octopus, a headless chicken, or tiny, cave-dwelling dragons. Spoiler alert: there’s no such thing as a tree octopus, though the authors’ description of it is persuasive (“In the early 2000s, the tree octopus was on the verge of extinction, but a strong grassroots campaign by dedicated Pacific Northwest communities helped reverse that”). Color infographics and photographs—some real, others fabricated—blur the truth further (one photo in the aforementioned chapter shows a bald eagle in flight, with an octopus in its talons). Readers can also have fun finding the false entries in 10-item lists of dinosaur names, diseases, body parts, and more. The authors’ casual tone should easily draw readers in, and activities at the end of each chapter underscore a key goal underneath all the fun: developing critical thinking skills. Ages 8–12. Authors’ agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary.

    • Kirkus

      March 15, 2017
      With -fake news- now such a prominent topic of conversation, a book that asks readers to separate bizarre but true stories about nature from fake ones is quite timely. This is the first of a series that presents Ripley's Believe It or Not-type true stories about the natural world alongside Barnum-esque fabrications and challenges readers to discern the real from the fake. Two out of every three stories are completely true, and one is an outright lie. Some false stories are based on fact, and others are complete imagination. All the stories are accompanied by color photos, maps, and illustrations. Some of the strange but true subjects include fungus-infected zombie ants, book scorpions, and a chicken named Mike that lived for several years after being beheaded. The fabrications include a walking moss that feeds off decomposing animals, the worm-size African threadsnake that lives in the ears of wild dogs and consumes earwax, and the Amazon -megaconda.- Unlike the bogus tree octopuses that supposedly inhabit trees in the Pacific Northwest, most of these invented phenomena are convincing and difficult to separate from the real. It is up to readers to sort out the fakes from the facts. Sound advice is given on how to seek and evaluate information online, and, for the impatient, the fakes are revealed in an appendix. An engaging, entertaining compendium that will inform and confound. (photos, maps, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

      COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • School Library Journal

      May 1, 2017

      Gr 4-7-The authors have essentially created a kid's version of the popular NPR program Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me (in which adults compete to determine which news story is false); however, in this case, the emphasis is on science rather than current events. There are nine chapters in total, each devoted to quirky stories related to a different topic (e.g., plants, animals, humans). Each chapter contains three tales: two true and one false. Readers are instructed to use their research skills in order to differentiate between fact and fiction, and to that end a "Research Guide" is included, offering tips such as how to evaluate Internet sources for authority, accuracy, and reliability. An "Answer Guide" explains which of the three stories in each chapter is false and why, and an extensive bibliography cites sources. Kid-friendly text and colorful sidebars and images combine to create an overall attention-grabbing effect. VERDICT Providing a framework from which to develop the tools necessary to think critically about information, this title is a fun and potentially useful curricular tool for teachers and librarians, as well as an entertaining read for tween science fans.-Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's School, Brooklyn

      Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      Starred review from May 1, 2017
      Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Considering the fresh attention being paid to teaching a skeptical approach to information evaluation, this series opener couldn't be better timed. Inspired by a parlor game, the authors mix two facts about an aspect of the natural world (plants, animals, and even humans) with one untruth, and invite readers to pick out the bogus entry from each trio. Which is fake: human head transplants, fecal transplantation, or pee-powered fuel cells? A dinosaur dubbed Bambiraptor, an 82-foot megaconda, or oceanic siphonophores ( living snot ) longer than blue whales? Well, readers will have to check the book to know for sure. Each entry includes specific (or at least plausible) scientific details, names of actual researchers, and, along with colorful graphic images, often even photographs (doctored or otherwise). Each group of three also features sidebar definitions, projects to try, or thorny scientific issues to ponder, and a secondary list of hard-to-credit facts, body parts, medical procedures, or other itemseach with an embedded ringer. Readers can check their guesses at the back, where generous source notes for all the nonspurious content offered leads to further study. A brief but savvy guide to responsible research methods adds further luster to this crowd-pleaser.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

    • The Horn Book

      January 1, 2018
      In each of nine chapters, the authors present three fascinating, hard-to-believe scientific reports about plants, animals, or people and then challenge readers to figure out which is a hoax. Answers are appended, but a "Research Guide" encourages appropriate use of resources for kids to judge validity on their own; throughout, sidebars provide discussion topics and extension ideas that foster critical thinking. Bib., ind.

      (Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Formats

  • Kindle Book
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  • EPUB ebook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:1010
  • Text Difficulty:6-8

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