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    The Skull of Truth: A Magic Shop Book
    The Skull of Truth: A Magic Shop Book
    The Skull of Truth: A Magic Shop Book
    Audiobook3 hours

    The Skull of Truth: A Magic Shop Book

    Written by Bruce Coville

    Narrated by Bruce Coville

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    When Charlie Eggleston stumbles out of Mr. Elives' Magic Shop clutching the skull of truth, he has no idea the grisly object will force him to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth.

    That would be trouble enough for a kid who has been a chronic liar since second grade. Stir in a pair of talking rats, the fact that the skull itself is a real chatterbox, and the appalling discovery that the truth curse is infecting his entire family, and you can see why Charlie's life is getting more complicated by the minute.

    Before his adventures are over Charlie will discover the skull's startling identity, learn painful truths about people he loves, and come face-to-face with the strangest truth of all.

    ©1997 Bruce Coville (P)2016 Full Cast Audio

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFull Cast Audio
    Release dateApr 1, 2016
    ISBN9781936223565
    The Skull of Truth: A Magic Shop Book
    Author

    Bruce Coville

    BRUCE COVILLE is the author of over 100 books for children and young adults, including the international bestseller My Teacher is an Alien, the Unicorn Chronicles series, and the much-beloved Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher. His work has appeared in a dozen languages and won children's choice awards in a dozen states. Before becoming a full time writer Bruce was a teacher, a toymaker, a magazine editor, a gravedigger, and a cookware salesman. He is also the creator of Full Cast Audio, an audiobook company devoted to producing full cast, unabridged recordings of material for family listening and has produced over a hundred audiobooks, directing and/or acting in most of them. Bruce lives in Syracuse, New York, with his wife, illustrator and author Katherine Coville.

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    Reviews for The Skull of Truth

    3.5/5

    80 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This book is a bit heavier than others in the series but everything is handled well and its a damn good read. made me cry tho.
    • 3/5
      Made me stop and wonder what life would be like if everyone told the truth all the time!
    • 3/5
      After coming across the skull of truth a boy is unable to lie.Upper elementaryTHEMES- lying, truth, friendship, right vs. wrong
    • 4/5
      I liked this book because it had some odd characters. The new librarian and the man who owned the magic shop. I like quirky. The skull was funny too.
    • 4/5
      The Skull of Truth is part of the Magic Shop series of books featuring the mysterious magic shop of the mercurial Mr. Elives. As usual, the protagonist, a young man named Charlie, is beset with troubles - mostly involving his efforts to save the local swamp from development, and as a result he has been telling lies about the developer, who is the father of one Mark, of his classmates. In general, Charlie seems to have a hard time telling the truth, and as a result, nobody believes him.As usual for these books, after a run in with Mark, serving as the antagonist for this installment of the series, and his assorted gang members, Charlie finds himself in an unfamiliar part of his town standing outside Mr. Elives magic shop. Inside he meets the testy Mr. Elives and becomes enamored of a skull on display. Without understanding why, Charlie steals the skull, and his adventures begin.Charlie later gets a message from Mr. Elives (delivered by his two talking rat messengers Jerome and Roxanne) warning him of the powers of the skull. It turns out the skull is the Skull of Truth (and also the skull of Yorick of Halmet fame), and by asking it a question, Charlie opened up comminucation with it. The Skull can't tell a lie, nor can the owner. Eventually, anyone near it is compelled to tell the truth. Charlie soon learns the drawbacks of always telling the truth: first offending Gilbert, a friend of his recovering from cancer, and then revealing his affection for Karen, a girl in his class.However, like most of the magic shop books, Charlie's magical McGuffin is intended to teach him a valuable lesson (even though Mr. Elives apparently didn't know he was going to grab it and run out of the shop, a twist new to the series), and through the rest of the book, he learns the value of being truthful with those around you. He learns how to ask for forgiveness, and his efforts to make up for harming Gilbert end up helping Gilbert more than he could have if he hadn't been truthful to begin with. Charlie also learns that when one tells people how you feel, it usually works out to your benefit in the long run. After a humorous scene in which Charlie's family airs outs all their family secrets (unknowingly under the influence of the Skull), Charlie figures out how to use the power of truth to save his swamp, and eventually reconciles with Mark.The story has a cameo by Jennifer Murdley from Jennifer Murdley's Toad, although you have to be paying attention to notice it. The story has a few minor twists, and the eventual fate of the Skull and Charlie is somewhat unexpected, but not out of character for the magic shop books. Charlie ends up wiser for his experience, and a young reader will probably end up having thoroughly enjoyed the story.