HarperTrophy, New York, 2004, 1^st thus.  ISBN 0-06-443755-8.  Trade soft cover, 106 pages.  Unread copy, not remaindered; black & white illustrations by Peter McCarty.  ‘Terpin Taft is happy to tell people what they want to hear, even if it means stretching the truth a bit.  Until the day he meets a stranger on a train and tells the man a consoling lie.  The results are so disastrous that Terpin resolves never again to speak or act except by the truth in his heart.  But this, too, has disastrous – if sometimes comical – results.  Elegantly written, TERPIN is a modern fable that emphasizes the importance of being true to one’s own values – no matter what.’ (from rear wrap)