Terrible Secrets of the Tell-All Club

By Catherine Stier

No one at school had ever thought up a club like this. All you had to do to be in it was answer some questions and share them with the rest of the club. Questions like: What is your favorite salad dressing? Who is your BFF? What was your most embarrassing moment? There were plenty of reasons to be in the Tell-All Club. Kiley, T.J., Josh, and Anne each had a different motivation: One of them wanted to fit in, one wanted revenge, one had something to hide, and one of them was dying to find out another’s secret. Told in four different viewpoints, this funny, touching novel explores friendship, social pressures, bullying, and other anxieties of tween girls and boys alike.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Albert Whitman Company
• Release date: Dec 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781480464025

Catherine Stier

Catherine Stier is the author of more than 20 children's books including the Science Makes it Work picture book series and the Kirkus star-reviewed A Dog's Day chapter book series. She holds a master’s degree in reading and literacy and has served as a magazine writer, newspaper columnist, and writing instructor. Stier resides in San Antonio, Texas.

Reviews for Terrible Secrets of the Tell-All Club

[librarybrandy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Kiley is starting a club at school, a club that no one's ever thought of before, and she wants Anne, Josh, and TJ to join it. Her club will be the Tell-All Club, and to join they'll all have to answer (truthfully!) 50 questions that cover everything from their favorite salad dressings to who they LIKE-like. Predictably, their answers to that last question all get passed around to the others, with the expected disastrous consequences.

This is a little short to develop all four of the characters we're following, so their individual background dramas are only briefly mentioned, and Josh's is only hinted at. To this reader, the cover looks like a "boy" book, and the inclusion of the boys' point-of-view tells me it's supposed to be a boy book (at least on some level), but the basic plot is a prolonged "does he like me-like me?"

5th grade characters; 4th grade appeal. Can't even really say this drives home the point about not spreading rumors, since it never even gets beyond this little quartet. An okay effort.