Harmless by Dana Reinhardt

We all make mistakes and we all try to get out of them. The three girls in Harmless by Dana Reinhardt are just trying to get out of trouble by making up one little harmless story. However, it turns out not to be so harmless after all.

Emma, Anna and Mariah are freshmen in high school and best friends. One night they lie to their parents and attend a party with a bunch of senior guys from a neighboring high school. When they are caught in the lie, the three girls invent a story about being attacked by a man down by the river, so they don’t have to admit to attending the party. The girls give a generic description of the guy and hope that the situation will blow over. However, one small story becomes one huge thing when their parents insist that they go to the police. Then when a man who fits the description is arrested and everything really blows up. The girls learn that it would have been easier to tell the truth and take their punishment from the start because lies pile up and more than Emma, Anna and Mariah are hurt. This is a haunting story about what happens when you tell a lie that you think is “harmless.”