The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place
Caution. Age: 11+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
A clever Victorian farce about seven girls who love each other and stick together. The comedy runs on lies: the girls bury two bodies in the garden and fool a whole town. The book does show that lies pile up and put people in danger. Still, a child needs a parent to say that the dead deserve honor and the truth deserves telling.
For parents
Read aloud from 10. A child can read it alone from about 11, the Common Sense Media age. Ask what the girls should have done when Mrs. Plackett died. Ask how each lie forced the next one. Talk about why the Church calls burying the dead a work of mercy.