Nothing but the Truth: A Documentary Novel

This book didn't do anything except piss me off. You've got a Willy Loman dad teaching his kid that he doesn't have to take responsibility for a damned thing, a lazy administration, an innocent teacher, and a public out for her blood. I know the book is trying to make some point about different

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versions of the truth but to me, the kid is clearly in the wrong and no one bothers to teach him any kind of responsibility. I wanted to kick just about everyone in this book in the junk. The only real message I got out of this is that lazy, entitled *ssh*l*s will continue to get their way because everyone else is stupid enough to keep giving it to them.

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great for pre-teens!

Nothing but the Truth was a interesting, funny, and suspenseful book. It was about a boy name Phillip Malloy who goes to Harrison High school and despite his desire to get on the track team he can’t because he has a D in English and feels his English teacher is doing it on purpose. Although

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that’s just part of his problem his main one starts here. After being transferred to Miss Narwin’s homeroom who also happens to be his English teacher he has started humming the National Anthem. Although Miss Narwin has told him to stop he continues to hum and is eventually sent to the principal’s office. From there his actions turn for the worst and he is suspended from school. Like any parent would his parents were not at all happy and Philip ends up standing up for himself because his father pressures him to do so. Soon his father starts getting involved and decides to tell his friend Ted about the incident and Ted happens to also be running for the school board and during his speech decides to bring up the incident making it very public. Very soon Philip hits headlines everywhere and I mean everywhere he is on the news, newspapers, interviews, and stories are being written about the incident. As this becomes a national incident Miss Narwin is definitely feeling the heat majority of the people don’t side with her and she is basically a disgrace to the nation. Philip is okay with the publicity he is getting because majority of the people are on his side. In the end Phillip transfers to another school called the Washington Academy and Miss Narwin leaves Harrison High School and goes to live with her sister down in Florida. On Phillips first day of school at Washington Academy the teachers asks him to sing the National Anthem and he starts crying and responds “ I don’t know the words”.
The way the book ended was great and although I hate not knowing what happened after the incident it definitely left me wondering what happened to him. If I had to choose a favorite part of the book it would have to be the end when the teacher asks him to sing the Star Spangled Banner and said he didn’t know the words. I thought it was funny that he didn’t know the words and convinced myself that he bluffed the entire incident. Although it seemed like a bluff it probably was an easy thing to do because everyone was on his side to begin with but it was very clever. Although my favorite part of the book was the ending my least favorite would have to be his parents just talking to him the entire time about his suspension from school being absurd. Yes eventually they were the ones that got the press and made there son famous for this thanks to Philips father. Majority of the time the attention is around Philip and his family.
Overall I would recommend this book to other people because of its funny and intense plot. If this incident actually did occur then all I could say would be wow, and I’m sure everyone would say the same.

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A high school boy gets national attention for a minor incident.

Phillip Malloy is a typical ninth-grader in a typical American high school. He is on the track team, gets decent grades and wants to know if Allison Doresett likes him. He likes to joke around in class, which irritates his English teacher, Miss Narwin. She sees Phillip as a middling student,

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intelligent, with much potential, but no desire to learn. She was taught to love literature and can’t understand why current students don’t share that same love.
A conflict between teacher and student leads to national news. Phillip needs good grades to try out for the track team. All classes are fine except for English, where he jokingly wrote a sarcastic answer on an essay exam question. That, along with his lack of effort in class has given him a D. He is not allowed to try out for the team, and worse, his homeroom teacher gets changed to Miss Narwin. Breaking a school rule that requires students to stand at “respectful silence” during the national anthem (on Phillip’s part) leads to suspension, and opens a big “can of worms”. Phillip works hard to make it look like Miss Narwin has something against him; his parents are shocked that a school would suspend a student for being patriotic, and when Phillip refuses to apologize for his actions, everyone from the superintendent on down gets involved. What seems to be a small act of defiance turns into national news. The student’s version of the incident differs from the teacher’s version. A teacher’s reputation is questioned, a school board campaign is based on false information, and a whole community takes sides about what constitutes respect, freedom and patriotism. The reader is left to decide what is the truth. This book is written in documentary style as well as diary entries and letters. It is written in an easy format, with common language and events that students can relate to. Phillip is a student in any teacher’s class; jokester, capable but not motivated and likes to make excuses for his actions when he does something wrong. Miss Narwin is a teacher at any school; works hard for her students, expects them to participate and learn, is fair and impartial. Students who read this book will question the character’s actions and come to their own conclusions about who is telling the truth.

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Nothing But The Truth, a Newberry Honor book by AVI, is a realistic fiction book about an arrogant ninth grade teenager who blames his ineligibility for the school track team on his English teacher. What ensues is a false story about Phillip being kicked out of his English class for singing the

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National Anthem. Mrs. Narwin kick’s Phillip out of her class for being disrespectful during the playing of the National Anthem, and is kicked out of class on three different occasions because Phillip continues to be disrespectful in order to prove a point to his English teacher. A sly school board candidate uses the story to benefit his campaign in a newspaper article, and the local story gains national attention. As a result, the best English teacher is asked to take a leave of absence, Phillip is so alienated from his peers that he ends up in private school, and it is discovered he doesn’t even know the words to the National Anthem. Every high schooler, or even jr. higher, can relate to having a teacher who is tough on them. In true fashion, this toughness may be misconstrued by the student to mean the teacher is out to get the student. AVI does an excellent job portraying the truth in this documentary novel. Phillip is obviously a self-absorbed teen, who won’t take any of the responsibility for his troubles. His true character is revealed and his shame is made evident, however, by the end of the book. The students around him see Phillip for what he is and what he has done, causing the reader to reflect on how self-pity and self-absorbtion can get one into trouble. Refusing to take responsibility is a chronic problem in today’s society, as it always has been a difficult pill to swallow. It is much easier to blame someone else for one’s problems rather than looking inward, and accepting the consequences for one’s own actions. In Phillip’s cases, however, he seems to create more problems for himself instead of gaining his spot on the track team.

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In “Nothing but the Truth,” a freshman boy is suspended from school for, according to him, singing along with the national anthem in homeroom. Of course, his teacher Miss Narwin claims the suspension was for the disrespectful disregard of a school rule. Soon the small town incident becomes a

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huge, nationally noticed publicity stunt which targets Miss Narwin’s competency and patriotism, as well as the school’s policies and discretion. By using nothing but school memos, diary entries, and transcripts of conversations, the author simply provides the information necessary for the reader to personally decide what actually happened in the situation of Phillip Malloy. Are Phillip’s actions purely patriotic, or does he have a hidden agenda? How do his parents play a part in Phillips attitude in taking personal responsibility? By seeing every angle of this tale, one can judge characters by their actions, not the author or narrator’s bias. By the end of the story, personal evaluations of who is right, wrong, and selfish will be made by the reader, and sides will be passionately taken.
The story of Phillip Malloy can be used to question students on how they judge characters in other novels. Do they believe the narrator because he or she is the one telling the story, or do they make their own opinions? The teacher could discuss the role of unreliable narrators and give examples of such, as in The Tell Tale Heart, which is told by a narrator who is mad. What other qualities could make a narrator unreliable? Do they not understand the entire situation, or are they simply too immature or uninformed? How can you learn to read between the lines when you cannot trust a narrator? List the specifications of an unreliable narrator and have students offer examples from their own personal readings. Other classroom activities could include debates as the students determine different opinions on who is “innocent” in the story. Have the students do a mock trial, using the book as evidence and instructing students on how to approach professional, persuasive speech using legitimate documentation from Avi’s story. Characters such as Allison and Miss Narwin’s sister could be called to testify.
I have never read a book formatted quite like this, and I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect as far as the plot, either. Interestingly enough, it ended up being about an English teacher’s professional dignity being questioned, which is something we’ve been discussing heavily in Methods and other education courses recently. Avi’s story caused me to reconsider the origin of student’s disruptive actions, as I began to become more and more critical of Phillip’s father throughout the “evidence” presented. I realized how student’s lives outside the classroom are very indicative of their behavior and attitudes within it. I couldn’t help but wonder how students would “side” throughout the story; would they stick to Phillip’s parents attitudes, or have compassion for the teacher like I did? Phillip Malloy and his adolescent, dramatic nature prepared me for the often less-than-justified actions of both parents and students I will one day be dealing with. This book could possibly be a bridge between teacher and student relations in my own classroom as I convince students the importance of maintaining a fidelity to truth in their own moral standards.

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Could be me. My school. My district. Scary and disheartening.

Middle School students can see persuasive writing in action in this book. This book serves as a good send-off for persuasive strategies (examples and non-examples) for those persuasive expository papers required in middle school.

Nothing But the Truth by Avi
Publisher: Orchard Books, 1991
Pages: 177
Source: Purchased
Genre: Middle Grade Realistic Fiction/documentary

Phillip Malloy is your typical ninth grader. He has his favorite subjects and his favorite teachers. Miss Narwin is not one of his favorite teachers. He makes jokes

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about the assignments and doesn’t give 100% of himself to his studies. He earns a D in English and is not allowed to try out for track, the only thing he really wants to do in school. He decides he wants out of Narwin’s class at all cost. He didn’t realize the cost of his actions would be so high. He hums along with the playing of the National Anthem and is sent out of class for disrupting. His comments to his parents, his slant on the situation sets in motion something that grows bigger than both Phillip and Miss Narwin. The truth never does come out completely.

I believe this book should be required reading by teachers and students alike. I have seen both sides of this story; the kid who is trying to get under a teacher’s skin to get their way or the teacher who takes the rules so literally that things get blown out of proportion. I have also seen schools and school boards hang teachers out to dry in an effort to do damage control. In both cases things have gotten so out of hand and convoluted that the truth is buried in all of the garbage. Irreparable damage is done to all parties involved.

I was irritated when I read the school was trying to blame the situation on problems at home. Kids will be kids and act out at times. I was irritated by the fact that Miss Narwin took the issue of the singing or humming when the rule was “stand and be respectful and silent”. That one struck a chord with me because I have followed rules to the T at times only to realize that I needed to let up on the interpretation a little. As teachers we seem to want all aspects of a rule spelled out so that we don’t run into these problems. I found myself really irritated the way the school board twisted things like Miss Narwin’s request for teacher training. They made it seem to the press like the teacher was old and worn out and didn’t know how to handle things anymore.

Even more irritating was the way the press handled things. Why no one ever thought to get Miss Narwin together with Phillip to sort it out bugged me. Both of them realized that things were out of control and they both lost. I will definitely recommend this book to my students. I will definitely talk with them about making things clear and how to find the truth in what we read. I am lucky that our school has a class set. Unfortunately we have a core curriculum that has the books we are to teach all lined up. I am going to have to do something creative to teach this because I believe it is an important book.

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Very good book about a boy who mocks the national anthem. He comes across as a "hero" but he knows why he truly did it. Has the entire Star Spangled Banner in the back. Good read.

I read this book in a day, a very easy read and somewhat interesting. I like the book being told in various genres and as a documentary. This would be a great book to teach about perspectives and how the truth gets stretched. The ending was great.

Awesome and funny book it always kept my interest. One of the best i ever read. I think this is the best book AVI has ever wrote

Boy who takes a dislike to his English teacher, (she picks on me), causes trouble for her when he blames his disruptive behavior on her "lack of patriotism." He never does learn the words!

This is a great youth book with a very interesting perspective of being presented as a documentary. Great commentary on public schools and today's public discourse.

Nothing But the Truth is about a ninth-grade boy Philip. His teacher sends him out into the hall for disrupting the class a few times until the assistant principal suspends him. But that's not the story that radio reporters and newspapers quickly spread all over the country! Suddenly, everyone

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believes that Philip's evil teachers want to stop students from expressing patriotism by singing "The Star-Spangled Banner." Rumors spread quickly; will anyone sort the Truth, and nothing but the Truth, from the lies? Nothing But the Truth is another great novel from Avi. The book is basically just a collection of conversations and phone calls. Clever readers who enjoy Avi's style of writing will definitely love piecing together the Truth in this great story.

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I got this book from the reading club in fifth grade. They blacked out the curse words with marker and even then, I found that completely hilarious.

This book is written in a documentary style with journal entries, memos, radio scripts, and dialogues. It is an excellent example of how a small distortion of the truth can lead to ultimate disaster.

This book is about a patriotic 9th Grade boy named Philip Malloy. Philip has one teacher named Miss Narwin who just doesn't like him! But the trouble doesn't start until Philip gets switched to Miss Narwin's homeroom! Singing during the national anthem, when students are supposed to stand silently,

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causes Philip to become famous! Fan letters, horrible newspaper articles, is this the case of a terrible teacher, or is this just a big misunderstanding? I liked this because of the real diary entries; its a true story! I recommend this book to people who like biographies and autobiographies.

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Nothing but the Truth by Avi follows the unfolding events after a teacher has a boy suspended for humming along with the Star Spangled Banner every morning in homeroom. Through "documentary evidence", namely transcripts, letters and interviews, Avi presents the points of view of the different

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involved characters: the 9th grader, the English teacher, the Principal, and so forth.

My mother in law worked for twenty years as a high school math teacher. She describes teenagers as elementary school children in adult bodies. Clearly that's the case here with Philip Malloy. Being transferred from a rather liberal homeroom where the request for quiet isn't enforced, to a very strict room where I suspect an accidentally dropped pencil during the music would be cause of a trip to the office, is a rather disconcerting proposition for a teenager or for anyone.

Coming in midway through a year and not being party to the initial introduction of this homeroom's rules is surely a recipe for disaster. Add in the boy's age and it's only natural that he would continue to hum even when asked not to.

From the parents' point of view — the rule seems rather arbitrary and there's no way a punishment can be fairly executed if different teachers have different rules for how to behave during the national anthem. If I were Philip's parents, I would probably react in a similar fashion and continue to go up the school district's chain of command.

The teacher, too, is probably burned out. And she probably resents not having a consistently followed rule either. The principal probably has never addressed the staff on acceptable behavior during the anthem. That leaves her world against the students. When things get blown out of proportion because the principal doesn't react sensibly, it's unfortunate but realistic that it would be the teacher who takes the fall. It's a frustrating and painful read only because everyone's own stubbornness plays into the over all tragedy of a student's career nearly derailed and a teacher's otherwise good career forced to end under such unfortunate circumstances.

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Scary truth revealed about human nature and how we can destroy the careers/lives of others with rumors, gossip, and overreaction to sensationalized issues.

For teachers/parents: This novel is excellent for 8th grade, but only for students who really get satire & irony. If students only think

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literally, this book could pose a serious problem.

Update, 2010. I have been unsuccessful in matching this book with any 8th grade students. I have not used it as a teaching tool, for the reason specified above, but when I've given the book to a bright, high-level reader, 3 times, they didn't "get it". I've given up. They all end up reading this and just not understanding the whole point. They think the boy's rights were violated....is 8th grade too young, or what? I just found a "Novel Ties" book for teachers to go with this book. It says it's for 5th grade!!!! Come on! Either that's craziness, or younger children are more capable of getting it. I'll have to try it with my son next year, I guess. I crave a discussion about this book!

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This Documentary Novel by Avi, goes to show how important communication can be. It also demonstrates how the news media and other such outlets can take a controversial situation and blow it completely out of porportion. Everybody got hurt in this fable as I would like to call it.

Here is the just

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of the story:

Ninth-grader Philip Malloy was suspended from school for humming along to the Star-Spangled Banner in his homeroom. His homeroom and English teacher, Margaret Narwin, called his behavior “a disturbance.” This small incident soon ignited a firestorm of debate on that national stage.

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Scouting out books for kid book club, and this is a good one. A bit dated in language and expression, but excellent issues at heart to discuss. Phillip Malloy is a 9th grader who loves to run, and also loves to be the smart aleck in class. The story is told as a multi-genre collection of writings

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all related to a few central incidents: there are diary entries, personal letters, school memos, phone transcripts, newspaper articles, etc. That there are no text messages or emails is part of how this feels dated. When Phillip is not allowed to try out for the track team due to his low grade in English -- a result of his poor attitude and incomplete school work, he turns the blame on his teacher and exacts his "revenge" in homeroom, rather than English class, by humming/singing the national anthenm during school announcements, which is against the rule for "silence." Miss Narwin, Phillip's teacher for both sections is an older, old-fashioned, tough teacher with a big heart, but that is st as events spin out of control. Phillip is suspended for his misbehavior, but somehow the story gets picked up by the press and distorted to make Phillip a hero for his patriotic stance and Miss Narwin is the villain holding him back. Avi does a great job of showing how things can get completely blown out of proportion as more and more people get involved and misunderstandings are perpetuated and politics come into play. She is even more adept at showing the cost of runaway stories and situations.

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I have loved this book since I was a child. And it remains relevant today. I love that it has a new audiobook that is full cast for more people to discover and enjoy. When this book came out, I remember thinking this stuff never happens, but as an adult in Trump loving America, not only does this

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happen, but it has also gotten worse. One of the things I love most about this book is you see the event from multiple sides. The sullen teenager who just thinks his teacher hates him, the teacher who knows her student can be/do better, the parents who want to stand up for their kid and their freedom, and the community who only hears part of the story. This plays so much into our current nation and the ongoing teacher story. This should be mandatory reading!

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