Reviewed by Amber Gibson for TeensReadToo.com

Everyone's told lies. Most lies aren't even that bad. They don't hurt anyone...they're just harmless.

One night, Mariah, Anna, and Emma are off at an older boy's house, instead of at the movies like they said they would be. But when their parents show up at the movies and can't find them anywhere, they are caught in their lie. They're okay, but they don't want to be grounded for life. Telling a little lie would be a lot easier than telling the truth, and nobody would get in trouble.

So for fear of getting in huge trouble with their parents, the girls concoct a simple story. They were on their way to the movie, walking along the river, when a man attacked Emma. They didn't get a chance to see his face, and they don't remember what he looked like because they were scared. Luckily for Emma, Mariah and Anna threw a rock at the man's head and they were able to get away. The three best friends vow to stick by this story, but they have no idea how much this one lie will envelop their lives.

They didn't count on their parents involving the police. They didn't count on everyone at school finding out. They didn't count on the entire community rallying around the girls and calling them "heroes." And they definitely didn't count on anyone being arrested for their imaginary crime. The girls are in too deep, buried in their lie. The lie that was supposed to be their savior now nags their conscious with every waking moment. But will they be able to find the courage to tell the truth?

I could really relate to the characters in this book, and see how under a pressure situation, I might have made the wrong decision, too. HARMLESS by Dana Renihardt is the story of how a seemingly small lie can take on a life of its own. But, more importantly, it shows how anyone can make a stupid mistake, and that everyone deserves forgiveness. ( )

Anna and Emma have been friends since Emma moved to the neighborhood right before they were to start the third grade. In their freshman year, cool new-kid Mariah gradually becomes their friend. Mariah is dating a senior at the local public school and she invites Anna and Emma to a party at his house; they tell their parents that they are going to a movie at the college.

When Emma's parents stop by the theater and discover that the girls are not there, the shit hits the fan. In order to stay out of trouble, the girls make up a story about being attacked. The lie quickly spirals out of control and gets bigger than they could ever have imagined.

A suspenseful story about how a simple lie can have serious and far-reaching consequences. Recommended for teen readers. ( )

I thought this book was a very good older young adult book. Its strengths were in the writing. The author did a great job when speaking from point of view. The characters were well written with great transistion between them. I had no problem following along the sequence of events with having three main characters. The only weakness that I saw was that of the style of writing where language was concerned. I feel that the language about sex in the story was a bit much for me to recommend to a younger high school age student. ( )

Richie's Picks: HARMLESS by Dana Reinhardt, Wendy Lamb Books, February 2007, ISBN: 0-385-74699-1; Libr.ISBN: 0-385-90941-9

What happens when the stakes suddenly grow so steep that it feels as if there is no turning back, that there is no real option other than to add a few new stories to a house of cards that is swiftly growing into a teetering high rise?

"White ones and red ones
And some you can't disguise
Twisted truth and half the news
Can't hide it in your eyes."
--The Thompson Twins, "Lies"

Anna:
"Mom and Dad always made this big deal all the time about what a perfect kid I was and that made it difficult for me to lie to them. They always told me that I was so smart and mature and that I know how to make the right decisions for myself. They tell me that the best part about being my parents is, no, not watching my bad karaoke, it's just sitting back and watching me figure out my way through the world. Well, that's what I was doing, wasn't I? Sometimes figuring your own way through the world means lying to your parents. Sometimes it means taking risks. Making new friends, Meeting new people from different neighborhoods and different backgrounds. Sometimes it means doing things that nobody would ever imagine Anna Banana would do."

Emma:
"Parents don't really want to know the truth. They just want to know that everything is perfect and that their children are smart and happy and popular and out of danger so they can concentrate on their own problems."

Mariah:
"Funny. I'd lied to my mother, stolen her money, spent the night with my boyfriend, and managed to get her to feel sorry for me. I was a genius."

HARMLESS is the story of three ninth-grade girls who attend a private school in Orsonville, a small town along the Hudson River. For years there have been Anna-and-Emma. When Mariah joins up with them, it appears as if there might be an opportunity for the duo to escape social invisibility. After all, Mariah's got a hot, older boyfriend with a car who attends the public school. And it doesn't take much for the girls to convince themselves that it is time to become the sort of adolescents who might engage in some of those reasonably common teen behaviors that parents wouldn't exactly approve of.

Emma:
"I wondered if Silas had ever been in my situation. I wondered if he ever lied about where he was spending the night. I'm not sure Mom and Dad would get so bent out of shape if Silas spent the night at some strange girl's house with no adult supervision. There's a clear double standard in our house and it's not just because Silas is older. It's because Silas is a boy, and I get the sense that Dad takes pride in knowing, or at least assuming, that Silas has a way with girls."

"The truth is like chasing a phantom
The truth is so seemingly random"
--Todd Rundgren, "Truth"

What happens when things get too out of control?

Emma:
"This was bad. We couldn't get caught."

Anna:
"I know what I saw. I may be inexperienced. I may never have kissed a boy or had his hand in my shirt, but I know what I saw."

Author Dana Reinhardt does a superb job of crafting the setting and then upping the ante as HARMLESS reveals itself to be a harrowing tale of three friends whose "harmless" lie leads to potential repercussions extending far beyond their ability to spend future Friday nights easily deceiving their parents.

My bet is that it will only take one or two readers to have a major chunk of the eighth and ninth graders lining up to read this one.

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com ( )

This book sucked me in from the start. I loved the plot of it and the characters were great as well. The way that the story was told through three different narrations made it that much better and the characters of Emma, Anna and Mariah were well-developed and ever-changing.

Emma was the one who came up with the story of "something bad" happening to her, as the victim. She had started out as a pretty confident, if isolated because of her best friend, young girl and ends up being the one who's remorseful and having the most trouble with the lies. From the start of each narration, all three girls say that they should/would have told the truth if they could do it again, but I believe that only Emma really would have done so, if not obvious by the way the story runs out.

Anna at the beginning seems sincere, but through the eyes of Emma and Mariah, you begin to realize just how dependent she was on her friends and how much popularity means to her. From being the timid and frantic girl, she gains confidence... but not in a good way. She starts to enjoy herself and even fancies condemning an innocent man because she's finally noticed. Although Anna proclaims throughout the entire novel that she would have came out with the truth, I don't believe it. Even when the truth unraveled, you get the feeling that she's going to be the one who'll miss it the most. She was the one who ultimately ran away, unlike Emma.

Mariah was a little harder to decide whether I liked her or not. But I like her complexity. She was a little poor girl, a little rich girl, and ultimately, a girl who's just confused. Although she was like Anna, enjoying the lies, she eventually gets too caught up in it and you get the feeling she wants out.

I hope I didn't exactly spoil it for readers who haven't read this novel yet. It's a great read with a sense of morals behind it. ( )