Princess K.I.M. and the Lie That Grew

By Maryann Cocca-Leffler

Kim wants the kids at her new school to like her, so she tells a teeny, tiny, bitty lie. She says her name is really “K.I.M.”—for “Katherine Isabella Marguerite”—and that she comes from a royal family! Pretty soon all the students know there is a princess in the school. Kim wears her golden tiara from dance class and a big fancy ring she won at the arcade. Her little lie grows and grows. When a classmate invites her to a birthday party, Kim says she can’t go because her grandmother is coming to visit. But she had told the kids her grandmother was a queen. Now they all want to meet the queen. Kim is in a real bind; her lie has grown too big and it’s about ready to explode!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
• Release date: Feb 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9780807593097

Maryann Cocca-Leffler

Maryann Cocca-Leffler has been a passionate disability rights advocate since the birth of her daughter Janine. Maryann is also an award-winning author and illustrator of over sixty books for children, including We Want to Go to School!, Same Way Ben, and Theo's Mood. She lives and works on the coast of Maine.

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Reviews for Princess K.I.M. and the Lie That Grew

[jbaile14 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Summary: In this book a little girl named Kim moved to a new town and was nervous about starting her first day in a new school. As her dad was dropping her off, he called her "Princess", which made her decide to tell the entire class that her family came from royalty. She wanted everyone in the class to like her, so each day she continued to tell the class that she was a Princess, and they believed her. The children in the class started doing things for her, like carrying her books or opening doors for her. Then one day, Kim told them that she couldn't hang out with anyone because her Grandmother was coming into town. The children thought the queen was coming and told Kim they all wanted to meet her. However, after the weekend Kim spent with her Grandmother, she decided to come clean and tell everyone that she was actually not a princess. All of the students were upset with her for lying and ignored her for the rest of the day. However, Jason, the only person who didn't believe her lie when she first told it, accepted her for telling the truth and asked her to play with him. Review: I thought this book was a great moral lesson about telling the truth and accepting others for who they are. This book pointed out how easy it is for a small lie to get progressively bigger, without someone even meaning for it to. It also displays the importance of coming clean to a lie, even when you're scared of what others might think of you because of it. However, when Jason accepted Kim for who she was, it shows how one should like people because of their personality. I think this is an important message to teach children who are learning how to make friends and that friends should accept you for who you are. Thus, it really ties in the importance of not lying to friends or anyone.

[bookratmisty · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When Kim moves to a new school, she is anxious that she won't make any friends. And when her teacher introduces her to the class, another girl, also named Kim, seems dismayed to find there is another 'Kim.' So Kim lies. She wants so badly to be liked that her lie just grows and grows until it is out of her control and her whole class thinks she is a princess and her grandmother is a queen. Circumstances work out well for Kim, seeming to confirm her lie, until her grandmother comes to visit. This story is very cute with charming illustrations which reminded me of Fancy Nancy. The moral is there, but the reader isn't beaten over the head with it, which is nice, and Kim's plight is relatable.