Nothing But the Truth (novel)

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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 "humming" 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.

[edit] 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 and the track team coach wants Philip to try out. A lot of people support him in trying out for track, including his dad, who was a former track star, but he cannot because of his low grade in English. Phillip believes that his English teacher, Miss Margaret 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, Phillip 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 Phillip to stop and he refuses. Miss Narwin then sends him to the assistant principal's office where he is threatened with suspension and told to keep quiet during the National Anthem. The following day, Phillip 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.

Phillip'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 Phillip's spinning the event, that he is suspended for singing the National Anthem. His father tells their friend Ted Griffen, 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 school. Also, a reporter for the local newspaper interviews Phillip. 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 Phillip flood 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. Phillip 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, but he doesn't know the words.

[edit] Characters

The following list are the characters and a brief description.

  • Phillip Malloy, a 9th grade student at Harrison High School in New Hampshire that hums along to the Star Spangled banner, angers Miss Narwin, and causes a huge, national problem to occur.
  • Margaret Narwin,Phillip's english teacher that sends him to the Vice Principal during homeroom for humming the star spangled banner and is accused of disliking patriotism shown at school.
  • Allison Doresett, Phillip's temporary love interest who turns against him at the end of the book.
  • Dr. Gertrude Doane, principal of Phillip's High School
  • Dr. Joseph Palleni, assistant principal at Phillip's High School.
  • Dr. Albert Seymour, superintendent of Harrison School District.
  • Coach Jamison, track coach at Harrison High School.
  • Anita Wigham, Margaret Narwin's sister.
  • Bernard Lunser, Phillip's original homeroom teacher.
  • Mr. Malloy, Phillip's biological father and a former track star.
  • Mrs. Malloy, Phillip's biological mother.
  • Ken Barchet, one of Phillip's best friends.
  • Todd Becker, another friend of Phillip's.
  • Janet Barsky, a friend of Allison Doresett.
  • Mr. Dexter, the boss of Mr. Malloy.
  • Ted Griffen, neighbor of the Malloys and is running for board of education.
  • Jennifer Stewart, reporter of the Manchester Record who reports Phillip's side of the story.
  • Gloria Harland, chairman of the board of education.
  • Jake Barlow, host of talkshow that reports the story of Phillip.
  • Robert Duval, reporter from the St. Louis Post.
  • George Brookover, principal of Washington Acadamey.
  • Miss Rooney, Phillip's homeroom teacher at Washington Acadamey