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monty_reads 's review for:
Nothing But the Truth
by Avi
Nothing but the Truth is a subversive little Young Adult novel that takes on educational hypocrisy, personal accountability, and freedom of speech. 9th grade Phillip Malloy, banned from the track team for his poor grade in English, decides to get booted from class in order to transfer to another teacher and improve his grade. Defying the school's rule of respectful silence during the morning playing of "The Star Spangled Banner," Phillip hums along, only to find himself suspended from school for disruptive behavior. What follows is a national firestorm, with Phillip being held aloft as a martyr for free speech, and his teacher, Miss Narwin, accused of anti-patriotism.
Writer Avi weaves together multiple genres, incorporating memos, letters, interview transcripts, dialogue, and journal entries to provide the reader with a multi-faceted, Rashomon-like version of the story, and by the end, he has somehow managed to convince us that everyone involved in the scandal is simultaneously guilty and innocent. It's a subtle, nuanced, sophisticated tale that doesn't have an easy – or clear – moral, and which gracefully and convincingly transcends its Young Adult label.
Writer Avi weaves together multiple genres, incorporating memos, letters, interview transcripts, dialogue, and journal entries to provide the reader with a multi-faceted, Rashomon-like version of the story, and by the end, he has somehow managed to convince us that everyone involved in the scandal is simultaneously guilty and innocent. It's a subtle, nuanced, sophisticated tale that doesn't have an easy – or clear – moral, and which gracefully and convincingly transcends its Young Adult label.