Katie and the Liar, dedicated to Mia and Elise.

Hello, this is Natasha, and I'm here with a story about Katie, who is a witch and can do magic spells.

But Katie isn't a flashy sort of witch who flies around waving her magic wand and doing tricks to amaze you.

She likes to keep her magical powers as quiet tricks to amaze you.

She likes to keep her magical powers as quiet as possible and to blend in with the other kids.

This story is about telling fibs

and it's also about bullying.

You hear quite a lot about this subject these days, but often life is more complicated than stories portray.

Sometimes it is hard to say who the real bully is, because of course the smart bullies don't go around with a badge saying,

I'm a bully. Listen on and you will see what I mean.

There was a girl in Katie's class called Cindy. She had brown hair and brown eyes.

One day Katie heard her telling a group of girls, my dad calls me his little light bulb because my real name is Lucinda,

which means illumination. He calls me that because I'm super bright, also because I've got blonde

hair. Katie thought, no you haven't. Your hair isn't blonde. It's brown. She did not say anything at the time,

but she told her mother about this strange conversation when she got home. Her mum said,

Well, Katie, who is to say that when you see something that is yellow, you're seeing the same

colour that I am seeing? Even though I am a witch and your mother,

I can't see your thoughts and know what colours you perceive. Gosh, Mum, that's so deep. Are you

suggesting that when Cindy looks in the mirror she sees a girl with blonde hair? Perhaps, said her mum, who knows?

All I can advise is to not let it bother you.

People believe all sorts of things that aren't true,

especially about themselves.

...