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When her mother catches her in a lie, Libby is punished and vowed “From now on, only the truth.” Libby begins to blatantly tell the truth about everything and everyone, and soon enough, Libby’s friends become angry with her. But since she thinks that she’s doing the right thing, Libby finds it hard to understand why her truth-telling turned out to be a bad thing. It takes Libby being on the receiving end of truth-telling for her to understand how the truth can be hurtful, and she proceeds to make amends with her friends. By the end, Libby learns that while she should not lie, it is not always necessary to blurt out the whole truth either and there is a right and wrong way to tell people the truth.

莉莉因为对妈妈说了谎而受到惩罚，于是她决定从此只说实话，却因此伤害了最好朋友的心，又得罪了班上的同学，她相信说实话是没有错的，但是她的感受却像是说谎的时候一样难过。莉莉不明白问题出在哪里，直到妈妈告诉她︰「有时候，说实话的时机不对，方法不对，或者说的理由不对，可能会让人伤心的，但是用爱心说的实话，永远不会错。」莉莉终于知道问题不在于说实话，而是在于说实话时的态度。

原本实话是用以表达自己对生活的诚意、对别人的真心，借着实话推动诚恳亲蜜的人际关系，但是如果实话变成了取笑别人、揭人疮疤的工具，那么实话就是破坏人际关系的元凶了。对于该不该说实话这个问题，的确很可能造成孩子的困扰，就连大人都不见得懂得怎么说实话，但是作者派翠西亚麦基撒克却运用简单的故事、机智的文笔提醒我们如何说实话。