Tell a lie and your butt will grow

Name: Tell a lie and your butt will grow
Author: Dan Greenburg
ISBN: 044842682X

Age Rating, Reading Level & Content Guide

by Dan Greenburg

Reading Level 3 LE · Mild · Emotional Ages 5-8 Matched

The text is written at a 3rd grade reading level, the subject matter is intended for younger children (ages 5–8), and the content is mild with minimal sensitive material. Its HootRating code, LE, means mild content, mostly emotional.

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About This Book

Zack's science fair partner tells one little fib, and suddenly his butt starts growing, bigger with every boast he makes. Can Zack figure out how to stop the swelling before their project is ruined? The only cure might be the one thing this bragging boy has never tried: the truth.

Themes

Friendship Humor Science & Nature

Quick Assessment

A silly early reader in which a boastful science fair partner discovers that each lie makes his backside grow, and Zack has to help before their project falls apart. It gives young readers a playful way to talk about honesty and why telling the truth matters. Content is light and humorous, with only mild deception and nothing frightening, so it works well for read-alouds and early reading practice.

Why we rated Tell a lie and your butt will grow LE (Mild)

Tell a lie and your butt will grow is written at a Level 3 reading level across 58 pages. Reading-wise, most kids in grade 4 and up can manage Tell a lie and your butt will grow on their own; younger readers can enjoy it with a parent or teacher reading along.

We rate Tell a lie and your butt will grow as LE (Mild, mostly emotional) because the content sits in the "Mild" range — mild conflict — the kind a child encounters in normal play and sibling life. Across our four dimensions (emotional, physical, social, thematic) the book reads as evenly mild; no single dimension stands out as a concern.

Specific content flags noted by reviewers: Mild Deception.

Thematically, Tell a lie and your butt will grow explores friendship, humor, and science & nature — these threads give the book room to mean different things to different readers.

Good fit for

✓ Children in the Ages 5-8 range — the maturity and attention span match the story's pacing.
✓ Kids drawn to stories about friendship, humor, science & nature.

Maybe not for

! Readers looking for something heavier — this is a gentle, low-stakes story by design.

For Parents

Content Intensity

LE · Mild · Emotional

Emotional

Mild ←

Physical

Gentle

Social

Gentle

Thematic

Gentle

Reading the HootRating code: the first letter is the content intensity (C = Gentle · L = Mild · M = Moderate · I = Intense · V = Very Intense); the second, when there is one, is the kind of content that drives it (E = Emotional · P = Physical · S = Social · T = Thematic). Reading level and age range are rated separately. How we rate

Light conflict or tension. Mild peril resolved quickly.