Haley Braddock has never given the BSC much of a hassle before. But now she's out of control! After Claudia catches Haley in a lie — and Haley gets grounded for it — this formerly quiet BSC charge turns against Claudia in a big way. She tells everyone that Claudia and the other BSC members cannot be trusted...and makes up lies to prove it.
What can Claudia do? It's Haley's word against Claudia's...and the BSC can't be sure who the kids around going to believe.
Main Plot[]
Subplot[]
Claudia isn’t sure she’s attracted to Josh anymore, but she doesn’t know how to tell him. In the end, they break up but stay friends.
Charlotte has been previously known to be bad at sports and doesn't like gym such as in Jessi's Gold Medal, however, here she's playing basketball just fine.
Kristy invites Josh to watch a meeting of the BSC. But in Kristy and the Walking Disaster when Bart asked if he could attend a meeting to meet her friends, Kristy said no because he didn't want to be a babysitter and meetings are serious.
Claudia says that she’s known Haley for as long as she’s known Vanessa. But the Braddocks moved to the neighbourhood in Jessi's Secret Language, and Claudia babysat for the Pikes before the BSC was even around. So she’s known Vanessa longer.
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
In Claudia and the Little Liar, Claudia and her friends baby-sit for Haley, who’s having a difficult time in school and covers up by telling a lie. Before she knows it, the lie snowballs, and Haley and the baby-sitters are in big trouble. It’s amazing how many problems one little lie can cause. Most of the time when we lie, we’re trying to get ourselves out of trouble. But one lie often leads to more lies and more trouble. A lie is often tempting to tell because it seems like the easy way out of a difficult situation. Haley’s first lie seemed like a good idea to her at the time — it seemed easier to tell a lie than to confess she couldn’t do her homework. But that one little lie led to another ... then another ... and another.
Almost everyone lies once in a while. But a good rule of thumb is to remember that in the long run your lie is going to cause more trouble than telling the truth, as difficult as the truth might seem. If Haley had only told the truth and asked for help, she would have saved herself and the BSC a lot of trouble!
Trivia[]
This is the last Claudia book in the main series.
John and Rioko expect Janine to be in charge when they're out.
Claudia skims over describing both Mallory and Jessi in chapter 2.
Vanessa mentions that Haley is good at basketball.
Charlotte sometimes lets Stacey read her diary.
Shea Rodowsky has a model WWII airplane.
Mr. Brooke is brought up again on page 88.
Haley says that Vanessa is extremely smart.
Josh and Claudia officially break up.
There is only one sitting job besides the Braddocks in this book.