Fisher-Price Read & Play: The Lie is an interactive educational reading adventure developed by Funnybone Interactive and published by Davidson & Associates in 1996 for Windows PCs. It is part of the Puddle Books collection, a series of digital stories designed to introduce young children to reading through animated storytelling, songs, and simple activities.
The story follows Susie, a young girl who lies by claiming she has no homework. While tidying her room, she encounters a creature called "The Lie"—a fantastical embodiment of the falsehood she told. At first, the creature seems harmless and even fun, but over the weekend, it begins to grow and cause increasingly serious trouble. The story uses this premise to present the consequences of hiding the truth and the importance of admitting one's mistakes in a way that is easily understood by children.
The experience is structured as an interactive storybook. Players can choose from several narrato...
Fisher-Price Read & Play: The Lie is an interactive educational reading adventure developed by Funnybone Interactive and published by Davidson & Associates in 1996 for Windows PCs. It is part of the Puddle Books collection, a series of digital stories designed to introduce young children to reading through animated storytelling, songs, and simple activities.
The story follows Susie, a young girl who lies by claiming she has no homework. While tidying her room, she encounters a creature called "The Lie"—a fantastical embodiment of the falsehood she told. At first, the creature seems harmless and even fun, but over the weekend, it begins to grow and cause increasingly serious trouble. The story uses this premise to present the consequences of hiding the truth and the importance of admitting one's mistakes in a way that is easily understood by children.
The experience is structured as an interactive storybook. Players can choose from several narrators and progress through the story's pages, which are read aloud accompanied by colorful illustrations and animations. In certain scenes, the images serve as interactive hotspots; clicking on them launches mini-activities focused on reading, comprehension, and vocabulary. Some pages also feature songs with animations, reinforcing the program's playful tone.
Gameplay relies primarily on point-and-click exploration. There is no combat or action-based challenge; the goal is to discover elements within each scene, listen to the story, participate in recognition exercises, and follow the adventure at one's own pace. Designed for children aged approximately three to eight, the program allows even early readers to enjoy the experience with the help of the spoken narration.
As a product of the mid-1990s, *The Lie* reflects the boom in educational CD-ROMs and the collaboration between well-known children's brands and studios specializing in multimedia software. Its combination of a moral tale, caricatured characters, voices, music, and activities makes the game an offering geared toward both entertainment and the early development of reading comprehension and vocabulary.
