''Pants on Fire'' is a young adult novel written by

Meg Cabot Meggin Patricia Cabot (born February 1, 1967) is an American novelist. She has written and published over 50 novels of young adult and adult fiction and is best known for her young adult series ''Princess Diaries'', which was later adapted by W ...

. It was published in May 2007 in the United States. It has since been published in 10 other countries, and is published in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

under the name ''Tommy Sullivan is a Freak''. It was written as a standalone novel.

Plot summary

Katie Ellison lives in the town of Eastport and is about to be a high school senior. Her boyfriend Seth Turner is a member of the high school football team. She is best friends with the most popular girl in her high school. Katie seems to have the perfect life, but her perfect image has been crafted by a few white lies. She has been making out with a drama club member, Eric Flutely, behind Seth's back. To reach her goal of buying a professional camera, Katie runs for Quahog Princess for Eastport's annual Quahog Festival, even though she dislikes

quahogs The hard clam (''Mercenaria mercenaria''), also known as the round clam, hard-shell (or hard-shelled) clam, or the quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk that is native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America from Prince E ...

. However, it seems that Katie's lies will stay intact until Tommy Sullivan returns to Eastport. Katie and Tommy used to be best friends until Tommy became a social pariah after writing an article about football players cheating on the

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schola ...

, which caused Seth's older brother to lose a scholarship. To avoid being shunned by association, Katie participated in driving Tommy out of town by helping Seth

spray paint Aerosol paint (commonly spray paint) is paint that comes in a sealed, pressurized container and is released in an aerosol spray when a valve button is depressed. Aerosol painting is one form of spray painting; it leaves a smooth, even coat, unlike ...

''Tommy Sullivan is a freak'' on the exterior of the new gymnasium (it is later revealed that Seth had wanted to spray paint a harsher word than ''freak'', but Katie couldn't let him). Tommy, who used to be scrawny, has gotten confident and attractive. Katie can't help but start making out with him behind her boyfriend's back, too. She is unsure of her feelings for Tommy, especially since it seems he has returned to Eastport for more than just revenge. Katie struggles to keep her perfect image stable by telling more lies, even as she starts to realize that telling the truth might be the right thing to do.

Characters

* Katie Ellison - protagonist, perpetual liar, "addicted to kissing", photographer * Seth Turner - Katie's football player boyfriend, extremely attractive * Sidney van der Hoff - Katie's best friend, most popular girl in her class * Morgan Castle - running for Quahog Princess, ballet dancer * Jake Turner - Seth's older brother, lost a scholarship after it was discovered he cheated on his SAT * Dave Hollingsworth - Sidney's boyfriend * Eric Fluteley - actor with whom Katie is cheating on Seth * Tommy Sullivan * Liam - Katie's younger brother

References

External links

Meg Cabot's website

Kirkus Reviews

HarperCollins Publishers

Scholastic.com

TeenReads review
{{Meg Cabot Novels by Meg Cabot American young adult novels 2007 American novels HarperCollins books