Do you like cantaloupe? Cantaloupe is good for you. It's healthy and nutritious. I know that too, but I have tried it a hundred times, and I still really don't like cantaloupe. Every once in a while I'll take a bite of cantaloupe just to make sure nothing has changed. I mean when I was little I didn't like cranberry sauce, but now I love the stuff. Tastes change, so maybe one day I will like cantaloupe, but right now, I ...strongly dislike the food. (I try not to say hate too much.)
The other day a new student asked me a question. "Have you read Island of the Blue Dolphins?" I told the student that I had, and then she said, "Did you like it?"
Now, this is a problem people. Island of the Blue Dolphins is an award winning book, loved and read by millions of people (just like cantaloupe is loved and eaten by millions of people.) It is often a required read in middle or high school, I mean entire books are written about this book, that's how good and how wonderful this book is supposed to be. So, my teacher-intellectual self said I should tell her, "Yes," even though I have read it several times (kind of like trying cantaloupe over and over again) and I still don't like it.
So, what to do? Lie or tell the truth. I would be so easy to say yes, but I really didn't like it... So, I decided to be brutally honest. I said, "I know that I'm supposed to say yes because I'm a teacher and a librarian and we are supposed to like it, but I didn't care for the book that much."
The student smiled and said, "Oh, good! Whenever I'm looking for a new book, I ask the librarian if they like Island of the Blue Dolphins and if they say yes, I go look for a book by myself, but if they say no, then they will probably like the same kinds of books I do because I didn't like it either."
So, there you go. Proof that honesty is the best policy.
