Lying in Children’s Fiction: Morality and the Imagination

Abstract

The telling of lies is significant in fiction written for children, and is often (though not in all cases) performed by child protagonists. Lying can be examined from at least three perspectives: philosophical, moral and aesthetic. The moral and the aesthetic are the most significant for children's literature. Morality has been subtly dealt with in Anne Fine's A Pack of Liars and Nina Bawden's Humbug. The aesthetic dimension involves consideration of lying's relation to imagination, fantasy and creativity; Richmal Crompton's William: the Showman and Geraldine McCaughrean's A Pack of Lies show this at a complex, metafictional, level.

Liar Like Me: Deception Frequency and Evaluation in Children's Television Programing

“…In this theory of cognitive development, Piaget identified four cognitive stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational), which shed light on how children at different stages of development interact with and are influenced by popular culture texts. Specifically relevant to this study, it is not until reaching the concrete operational stage, typically between ages seven and eleven, that children begin to develop logical thought both internally and externally to the physical world and are effectively able to separate the real world from fantasy worlds (Piaget; Ringrose). Despite this major turning point in cognitive development, the mature ability to think abstractly does not appear until the formal operational stage.…”

“…Media directed at an adolescent audience extend beyond the television screen: themes of lying and deception also permeate children's literature. Lying and liars populate children's literature, with untruths of both child and adult characters integral to the plotlines and “central to the moral dimension of the texts” (Ringrose 230–31). Deception in this particular medium is presented on different levels that include establishing philosophical concerns around the word “truth,” lying as a social act, and the artistic creativity of lying (Ringrose).…”

Den umulige kommunikasjonen i Lene Asks "Det du ikke sier, er sant"

“…Selv om romanen undersøker løgn, sannhet og det fundamentale med språket som medium, er Kamrans virkelighetsopplevelse ikke preget av den moderne mistroen til begrepene «løgn» og «sannhet» (jf. Ringrose 2006). I starten av romanen blir innholdet i konseptene «å lyve» eller «å snakke sant» lite problematisert.…”

Tell Me a Story

“…Ringrose (2006) highlights the presence of the moral conflict between truth and lies in children's stories such as "Pinocchio", and draws attention to the interest it manages to generate in children. In more recent years, the Zen Tails Collection (Whitfield, 2005) takes the wisdom of the ancient teachers and presents it in a colourful and enticing set of children's books designed to convey life lessons (Baker, 2008).…”