Doug-Dennis and the Flyaway Fib

by Darren Farrell

When best friends Doug-Dennis and Ben-Bobby go to the circus, something terrible happens. Doug-Dennis eats all of his friend's popcorn, and then tells a fib (It wasn't me!), which grows and grows (Maybe monsters ate it!), carrying Doug-Dennis away. As the lie gets bigger, Doug-Dennis flies higher, until he's floating in a land of lies: some of them big, some small, and some just downright weird. Doug-Dennis misses his best friend, and realizes there's only one way to come back down: by finally telling the truth. Darren Farrell, a bright new talent in picture books, has created a cautionary tale that's chock-full of hilarity. This charming sheep is sure to become a favorite. (And that's the truth.)

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Friendship, Animals, Humor, Fiction, Lie

40 pages, Hardcover

First published March 4, 2010

About the author

Darren Farrell is an award-winning author and illustrator. His “sophisticated urban style” has been praised by the New York Times, called “insanely detailed” and “a modern-day toddler classic” by NPR, received a coveted star from Kirkus and won the Marion Vannett Ridgway Honor. His books have been featured in the Imagination Library, praised in newspapers around the country and one book (Dandelion Magic) is up for the 2024 North Carolina Children's Book Award.

Mr Farrell lives in North Carolina.

Reviews

[Jenny]

A humorous and fun approach to teach about honesty. Doug-Dennis and his friend Ben-Bobby are bored so they go to the circus. Ben-Bobby's popcorn vanishes and he asks if Doug-Dennis knows where it is. He fibs and then his fib grows and grows...landing him in a scary (to him) and funny (to the reader) predicament.

[Miss Sarah]

A sheep eats his best friend elephants popcorn and lies about it. His lie gets bigger and bigger will eh ever tell the truth. Preschool and up fro speech bubbles and concept.

[Eliana]

This is a cute story, and a neat way to teach the lesson that fits can get out of control.

[Christine L. Henderson]

I was immediately intrigued by this book when I opened it to find a dozen mini posters on the first two pages of circus acts. Who doesn’t love the circus and it’s unique and amazing cast of characters! Of course there are those who are afraid of clowns…but no fear, no clowns here.

This story begins with two friends sitting on a teeter-totter trying to decide what to do. The pair is an unlikely combo of a sheep in sneakers and an elephant in a ball cap. They decide to go to the circus to see the amazing acts. What’s one of the best parts in going to a circus or a fair? It’s the sweet and salty treats! So they get a candy bar and a tub of popcorn. Doug-Dennis is in charge of the treats and does the unthinkable. He eats the popcorn that was for his friend and then lies about it.

And like Pinocchio’s nose got bigger and bigger, so does the lie Doug-Dennis tells as he keeps embellishing it until it is totally out of control. It’s no longer a little fib but a big fat lie! It goes out into the atmosphere with Doug-Dennis where he finds all other big lies are still floating about. The book then goes into three pages of lies we’ve all heard that will delight both child and adult. It may even bring to mind some other lies you might have heard that you’d want to include in his list. Finally Doug-Dennis sees the error of telling a lie and falls back to earth and with his friend. He tells the truth and says he will never lie again. But we all know that’s not the truth!

Darren Farrell was also very gracious and agreed to do an interview with me which was lots of fun. Here's the link to the interview
http://thewritechris.blogspot.com/201...

[McCall Donnelly]

Doug-Dennis and the Flyaway Fib tells the story of a sheep, Doug-Dennis, who tells a small fib that quickly escalates into a big, fat lie. After blurting out the fib, Doug-Dennis can feel it growing, it grows and grows, and lifts him to a place where everyone is telling big, fat lies. Soon enough, he wishes he would have told the truth about eating his friend's popcorn. After his lie had come full circle, he told the truth. His friend was not even upset, Doug-Dennis never wanted to lie again.

This book obviously has the moral of lying never fixes things. It is a way to teach kids that one lie will surely lead to another lie and another and another until they are caught it this big stream of lies and they do not know what to do. Doug-Dennis even says "I don't know what to do" after he has lied and lied. This book will teach children not to put themselves in that position. The way his friend reacted shows that it is better to tell the truth because most likely you will have to in the end and it doesn't feel good to lie to the people you care about.

This book also has a variety of different illustrating styles. There are some full page pictures and some in panels. The illustrations show the lies of everyone in word bubbles that are carrying them away. There is one illustration where you can see Doug-Dennis's lie carrying him away as it gets bigger and bigger. Each word bubble is connected to another word bubble that contains more lies and each time it goes higher and higher on the page. This is a visual representation of Doug-Dennis getting carried away in his lies.

[Kylee Myers]

This funny little story about a lamb name Dougy who told a fib that turned into a lie is a story that teaches about the danger of fibbing. Dougy ate his friends popcorn and fibbed and said he didn't do it. He continued to fib and then it grew into a big bubble of lies. This bubble of lies floated him off to space and before he knew it, he was in a atmosphere full of babbling fibbers. Dougy had to tell the truth if he wanted to come back down to earth. So that he did, and he never fibbed again.

I would use this to teach about voice. Not everyone hears voice when they read something, but this book to me has a great voice. When I hear myself reading it in my head, it is almost like the little lamb, Dougy, is reading the story to me. Students would love this book and I'm sure they would have many different voices in their head reading it just the way that they imagined. Students could use this as a reference to writing with voice. If students can hear voice in this piece, then they can try to implement voice into their own writing.

[Amy Cramer]

I have to admit that I am biased for two reasons: 1) I know Darren personally and he handed a signed book to my son at church. 2) I prefer children's books to have a moral, rather than purposeless fantasy. That being said, my 5y/o son loves this book. He can relate to it 100%, because even at age 4 when we read it together, he knew what a lie was and he knew he could be quite the liar! The resolve at the end of the book is nice, because it was humble and showed how we can be separated from humanity when we have character issues (such as lying).

Overall, it's a tough concept to tackle, but was handled creatively. I found the illustrations to be very charming. Only thing is it does require some adult discussion with the child while going through this book. It is definitely not Dr. Seuss.

[Shelby Everitt]

"Doug-Dennis and the Flyaway Fib" is a really cute story about two friends who spend their day at a circus, but one lies about eating all the popcorn. The lie bubble floats him off into space and he becomes lonely and misses his friend. He realizes that the only way to get his friend back is to tell the truth so he does. The story would be great to read to 2nd or 3rd graders because it is a cute way to show how lies can mess up and break apart friendships. The book really illustrates how friendships can be torn apart from lies.

[Kristen]

Darren Farrell, you had me at "Doug-Dennis" and "Ben-Bobby". The best buds go to the circus, and Doug-Dennis eats all of Ben-Bobby's popcorn. When confronted, Doug-Dennis fibs. And he literally gets carried away by his lie, as it grows bigger and bigger ("Monsters ate your popcorn!") But high in the air, carried by his lie, Doug-Dennis sees others carried away by their lies and decides that telling the truth is best. Didactic, yes, but still more fun than a three-ring circus. Really.

[The Styling Librarian]

Doug-Dennis and the Flyaway Fib by Darren Farrell – I picked up this book because last week I read an early chapter book that had to do with exaggerating/lying and I wanted to find a partner book. I found one about a few characters that were bored and decided to go to the circus. Hilarious when one of the characters tells a fib and people were flying in outer space still telling the fibs… I loved how there was a “big bold truth” that helped resolve the issue. Thrilled with this find…

[Kathryn]

The concept is great and the illustrations are totally unique, but the execution is a little lacking. It's a difficult book to read aloud, and a lot of the content would go over children's heads.

That being said, I see great potential in Darren Farrell. His humor is priceless, and his message is sound without being preachy. I look forward to seeing more from him.

[Erin Reilly-Sanders]

While seemingly just another moralistic tale, Doug-Dennis incorporates fun art in a loose folksy feel with an entertaining ride about telling a fib. It manages to not preach by making the consequences unrealistic while still telling a decent story. It has a couple nice one liners at the end out round out a fun read.

[Hye Eun]

I really liked this book! You can use it to teach children about the importance of telling the truth and not lie, or fib in this case. The book has a lot of humor so I am not really sure if children will understand but it has a good central message. The term got carried away really made the character get carried away to other places. Pretty neat I think. Grade 2-3

[Sung Baick]

This was a funny story overall about Doug-Dennis telling an out of this world fib. It was funny, but a lot of the pages were slightly hard to follow because of the way it was set up... so many speech bubbles and sections. This could be a pro or con, depending on the way you look at it. However, for me, it was too distracting. It'd be a fun book though for kids in grade K-2.

[Becky B]

A humorous picture book with a lesson about telling the truth. Doug-Dennis' fib grows and grows until it is a big fat lie and he finds himself floating in orbit with several other big fat liars (some of whom are quite humorous). Only by telling the truth is he able to return to earth and his friend.

[Kristine Hall]

Farrell uses colorful, comical illustrations and some rhyming to show how quickly a little fib can get carried away into a big lie. The visual depiction of the lie stretching and growing will be one children will remember, and there are plenty of little laughs along the way so that it's not too scary.

[Cipe]

Doug-Dennis and the Flyaway Fib is one supercool book. A great moral, lively illustrations and totally hilarious dialogue. Parents will love this cautionary tale about telling the truth as much as their kids will.

[Susan]

I enjoyed this book and the illustrations were fun. I think that although children would ultimately get the message that it's best to tell the truth, they would find parts of the story to be confusing.

[Sarah Kiesche]

Doug-Dennis goes to the zoo with his friend Ben-Bobby. Doug-Dennis eats all of the popcorn and tells a little fib. Then the fib takes him on a journey where Doug-Dennis learns a lesson. Great book to use to discuss lying. PreK-2

[Matthew Mealer]

A book about how fibbing and lying about something can quickly get out of hand and grow really big. This would be a good book to read if you notice children lying about little things that they need to just be honest about. It's better to tell the truth before it gets out of hand.

[Marcie]

I just read this as the first book I've read on Wegivebooks.com. It made me definitely want to find the print book and see if I liked it even better in print. I'm sure I will as the bubbles were a little difficult on the screen. Would love to pair this with Sharmat's Big Fat Enormous Lie.

[Tara]

Very strange illustrations. Some friends go to the circus and one of them tells a fib. He feels bad and then tells the truth.

[Susan]

What an odd book. It was mildly amusing to me as an adult, but I'm not sure kids would like or "get" it.

[Jami]

Great fun especially if you can do lots of funny voices. The big long fib was really hilarious.

[Tina B]

lying, circus animals, sheep, honesty

[Megan]

Doug - Dennis eats his friend's popcorn and his fib grows and grows.

[Shannon]

So entertaining and silly.

[Heather]

Cute.

[Lesley Looper]

This was a pretty cute story with quirky illustrations.

[Jess Brown]

Cute, imaginative story about what happens when people fib--especially to those they really care about. Sweet little humor in there, too.