Nothing but the Truth: A Documentary Novel
Nothing But the Truth (ISBN 0-380-71907-X) is a 1991 book written by Avi. The story is told in an epistolary style through documents, letters, and scripts. It is about a boy named Philip Malloy who is suspended for "singing" during the United States National Anthem as it is played over the PA system at his high school, even though he knows he is supposed to be quiet. Malloy spins the incident to make it more attractive to his parents, and it quickly becomes a national story. In the end, the incident adversely affects the main characters involved.
The book focuses on the difficulty of determining the truth as the surrounding events can be distorted by various individuals for their own ends, and that serious consequences can result if one does not tell the truth.
Plot
Philip Malloy is a ninth-grader at Harrison High School in the fictional town of Harrison, New Hampshire. His main goal in high school was to join the track team, but he cannot because of his low grade in English. Malloy believes that his English teacher, Miss Margaret "Peg" Narwin, is purposely giving him failing grades because he believes she dislikes him. To make matters worse for him, he is transferred to her homeroom at the semester break.
After being put into Mrs. Narwin's class, He decides to bug Narwin so she will assign him into a different homeroom. So, Malloy decides to "sing along" (a low hum actually) with the Star-Spangled Banner as it is played over the PA system for the morning announcements (even though he knows he is supposed to be silent), because he was allowed to in his previous class. Miss Narwin tells him to stop, so he does. The next day he sings ("hums") again. Miss Narwin asks Phil to stop and he refuses. Miss Narwin then sends him to the vice principal's office where he is threatened with suspension and told to keep quiet during the National Anthem. The following day, Malloy sings for the third time. When he is sent to the office, he is suspended for being sent to the office twice in one week.
Malloy's mother has to take him home in the middle of the day. He then talks to his father, who is made to believe, through Malloy's spinning the event, that he is suspended for singing the National Anthem. His father tells their friend, who is a candidate for school board and immediately takes up the cause of fighting what he sees as the suppression of patriotism in the schools. Also, a reporter for the local newspaper interviews Malloy. The incident escalates as the Associated Press does a story about him, which is picked up by a radio talk show host who condemns the suppression of American patriotism. Messages condemning Miss Narwin and praising Malloy begin flooding in from across the U.S. Another reporter does write an article defending Narwin, but it is not printed due to an international crisis that dominates the news.
In the end, Miss Narwin is asked to take a sabbatical, and is reluctant at first, but eventually takes it and goes to her sister in Florida. Malloy ends up going to Washington Academy, which he describes as "a geeky private school," but goes there anyway because of all the problems that he experienced in school after coming back from suspension due to the whole issue. The book ends with him crying when his new teacher asks him to lead the class in the national anthem because he doesn't know the words.
External links
- Nothing But the Truth at www.iland.net/~bshull - This website has: a game; an author biography; helpful links; reflections on the book; a summary; a set of information, activities, and quizzes about literary elements; a quiz over the book; and two activities for teachers.