The main character, Philip Mallory, is entering high school. He wants desperately to be on the track team, but he's not so interested in studying -- especially literature. Andhe's not about to read The Call of the Wild. Kid stuff. ('What can you say about a dog?') He's somewhat interested in girls, and strikes me as the typically unmotivated learner who lives for sports.Philip has a habit that his homeroom teacher, Mr. Lunser, has tolerated in spite of the school directive that when the national anthem is played over the PA system, students will stand at respectful quiet attention. Philip likes to hum along to it. Mr. Lunser has never made an issue of it. Infact, Mr. Lunser reminds me of some teachers I've had who like to joke around a lot. He makes jokes between the principal's Today in History comments that immediately precede the playing of the national anthem. In fact, Mr. Lunser actually talks to Phillip during the national anthem,telling him to put his book away.The book flips back and forth between the school directives as published,letters Philip's English teacher Miss Narwin writes to her sister, and conversations between Philip and his coach, Philip and his friends, and Philip and his teachers and parents. The real thorn in Philip's sideis Miss Narwin. He's sure she has it in for him because he doesn't do any work for her class. She is constantly trying to find a way to motivate him. She is conscientious, but she is compelled to give him a D in English. And then Philip finds out that will keep him from trying out for the trackteam. Then the homeroom classes all change teachers, and Philip winds up in Mrs. Narwin's homeroom.Mrs. Narwin is not anything like Mr. Lunser. When Philip begins to hum to the national anthem instead of standing in respectful silence, she calls him on it and tells him to stop. They argue about it. Philip finally stops humming. When he goes home he tells his parents Mrs. Narwin would not let him sing the Star Spangled Banner, which he claimed to do from patriotic feeling. His parents say he should stand up for his right to express his patriotism in this way. So the scene repeats itself the next day in homeroom, except Philip doesn't stop this time and Miss Narwin sends him tothe principal. This happens again the next day, and over Mrs. Narwin's protest, the principal suspends Philip for two days, and his mother has to leave work to come get him.In the background you have school politics. The budget is inadequate, and an election is coming soon for a new school board and to vote on the budget. Teachers are being urged to talk up the need for the funds with their neighbors and others. Administration is uptight. Then Philip issuspended, as he explains it, because he sang along, or hummed, to the national anthem. Philip's father's neighbor is running for the school board, and Mr. Mallory complains to him. This becomes an issue in the school board election. The newspaper reports on it. It gets onto the nationwide talk shows. Philip is transferred back to Mr. Lunser's homeroom and finally out of Mrs. Narwin's English class. Mrs. Narwin is put on administrative leave. Administrators keep passing the buck. It becomes a national issue.The conflict appears to be that Miss Narwin believed Philip's humming was disrespectful and was out of line with the school rules about standing quietly at attention. She considered his humming a disruption. Philip told his parents and everyone else he was humming from patriotic feeling. By the principal's admission, Miss Narwin is one of the school's best teachers, and we see from her letters to her sister that this is true, and she's trying to find a way to reach Philip. When Miss Narwin is put on administrative leave for political reasons, even the coach and Philip'sfriends turn against him, because they all like Mrs. Narwin. Philip's parents finally put him in a private school where they sing the national anthem every morning. And on Philip's first day there, when he's asked to lead it, he says he can't. And if you haven't read the book, I'm not goingto tell you why. But you might want to read the book. The edition I have has study questions at the back which go pretty deep. But for those of you who have read the book, I have a question. Do you think Philip was humming from patriotic feeling? Or was he trying to be disruptive?
Wow. I can't believe how much this book bothered me. I never have liked Avi much; I guess our styles clash. But I had heard about this title for years, so today I picked it up and starting reading. I don't yet know if I'm glad I did, or wish I hadn't. The problem is that this scenario is more realistic than I would like to believe. In fact, an author's note at the beginning reveals that similar situations have taken place all over the country. And that is just... disturbing. So many characters only looked at the events from one point of view, squashing the "truth" into the mold they preferred. Reaction without intelligent thought. So frustrating.... The major reason I disliked this book is that the main character, Philip, is an entirely self-centered, whiny, and unlikeable smart-alec who feels entitled and thinks he's funny when he's not. I don't understand why anyone who actually spoke to Philip himself would believe his version of the "truth". And that's the trouble--not enough people in authority actually speak to Philip. They don't read his body language or hear his snarky comments. They don't hear how his answers to questions change depending on the answer he thinks will keep him "in the clear". Was he humming, or was he singing? He can't even keep that straight. Then those that do speak with him don't bother to speak to Miss Narwin about her motivation for sending Philip out of the room. They listen to what comes out of Philip's mouth and take that for the whole story. There are two characters who question the version of events they're being fed, though, a reporter and a radio caller: there must be more to this story, they think. If only the other adults would have been struck with such common sense.It is never stated anywhere in the book that Philip has sung along with Star Spangled Banner before. He does it in Miss Narwin's class solely as an attempt to get moved out of her classes. He baits Miss Narwin from Day 1, and the other students know it. Philip has no sense of "patriotism"--our first encounter with him shows him reading during the Anthem, and on the last page he admits he doesn't even know the words to the Anthem. And yet he is hailed as a martyr for his patriotism by people ignorant of the facts. Made me wish there'd been a security camera rolling in the classroom, so the real truth could be revealed to everyone who felt so free to spew hatred to the teacher. I can see how this book could make for some mighty lively classroom discussions. Honestly, I really hated it. It gets 1 star on the "How Much Did I Like It?" scale. But it is compelling, so it gets 4 stars on the "Interesting" scale. (If Avi has gotten me this riled up I must have taken it just the way he intended.) So, I'll slap 3 stars on it--and that's my version of "the truth".
What do You think about Nothing But The Truth (2003)?
A book with mixed feelings. It's so frustrating and irritating and WRONG that you want to throw it when you're done.But that's what makes this a good book. Because I think this is plausible. Parents who are squashed by their jobs "want something different for their kids". THEIR kids aren't just going to roll over and get bullied (like they do). THEIR kid is going to stand up to a teacher and sing the star spangled banner.Right, couldn't you see that happening?? Can't you see a certain type of parent reacting that way.But for no one to support the teacher. It's just hard to read. It's hard to see, but is it far from the truth?! I want to believe it is. I want to believe a school district, vice principal, principal and school administration would support the teacher. But, am I positive? No. A book that makes you think - even if you cringe and want to toss it - is still a good book. If we remember just how easy it was to do this wrong - to slip so easily, maybe we can avoid it and be able to say emphatically "This could NEVER happen!"
—Trisha
The Story of Some Asshole Kid who fucks up some poor teacher's lifeI gave this two stars, and then decided it's not worth two stars. The book would be crappy but innocent if it wasn't for it's Newberry Award and the blurb from the New York Times, about the story of the main character needing to be shouted out. This story doesn't need to be shouted out, it's a bullshit story, and if I had read this book with some of the patriotic covers I would have probably thrown the thing across the room about half way through it.The title of this review sums up the story. The story is about some jock asshole who doesn't like to have to do any work. He thinks the world owes him something because he can run fast, and if he doesn't like something he has an unfunny little comment to make about it. He believes people should enjoy these unfunny and unintelligent things he says and let him slide through life only having to do what he wants and have everything else given to him. One teacher takes offense at his moronic ways, and when he decides to get her goat by being a nuisance by humming along with the National Anthem: this all blows up to a national thing about him being picked on for being patriotic, he lies a lot and the poor teacher's life is made a living hell. He becomes a poster child for right wing values, and then on the last page we learn that he doesn't know the words to the National Anthem. This is the cliff notes version of the story. It's dumb. It would be harmless if it wasn't an award winning book. It basically tells kids that it's ok to stand up for yourself in any situation, especially when you're being an asshole. Every couple of weeks I get to interact with kids that have the same level of witty remarks as the narrator, I've learned the best way to deal with their middling wit is to turn around really quickly at them, glare and ask them, what did you fucking say to me? The witty one usually looks really scared and sometimes mutters some kind of really dumb apology. I don't know how people deal with teenagers everyday and not kill them. But I'm getting off the point. This kid should have had the shit beaten out of him by someone. If anything this book is a good example of why teachers should be allowed to smack kids around. Besides not liking the whole premise of the book, I also thought it was written like shit. I got an idea Avi, if you're going to write a book entirely with dialog why don't you go listen to how people talk in the real world. The dialog is stilted, but not in the cool David Mamet way. It's all written as if there is no difference between characters, and every character happened to have the speaking ability of a narcissistic ninth grader with the intelligence of a fourth grader. How this won an award is beyond me. I told Karen when I was about thirty pages into this that I want to be a Newberry Award Winning author, it seems like the big criteria is to come up with a eye catchy and edgy format, get a half-baked controversial topic and then just knock that shit out as fast as you can, and you'll be sitting pretty with a book being used in classes all over the country. I've said it already, but it can't hurt to say again, what a load of semi-literate shit.
—Greg
This book is complete shit. When I finished it, I just threw it across my room and picked up another book. There is absolutely nothing redeeming about this novel. First of all, for a book that's really all dialogue, why can't Avi write dialogue well at all? Everybody talks exactly the same and when they talk they sound so ridiculous. There's nothing realistic about it. He's no Elmore Leonard or David Mamet, that's for sure.Also, the ending. One of the worst endings I've ever read simply because it doesn't make sense. Are we supposed to feel bad for the kid? Or is it supposed to be funny? Personally, I thought it just sucked major shit. That's why I threw it across my room.
—Stephen
