Hey, Kids!
On the first Thursday in August, the Odyssey kids met with school board members and a journalist for the Venice Gondolier to discuss the Newbery Award winning, documentary novel, Nothing But the Truth, by Avi. (Click on the book to link to Avi’s website.)
This novel follows a very realistic chain of events as 9th grade student Philip Malloy is suspended from school, purportedly for singing the National Anthem. Soon, the school board and the national media become embroiled in the emotional issues of patriotism and American values. Tied up in this incident are the reputation of an English teacher, a political election, and the school budget. Do you believe everything you read and hear in the news? Can students be suspended for singing The Star Spangled Banner? What really happened that day in Miss Narwin’s homeroom period? Read the book to find out.
Hi Mrs. Donofrio!
I like this book a lot because of the different points of view. I have seen a lot of girl-fights at school that have the ‘She said this, she said that’ thing and I know what it’s like to me on the wrong side of things. I felt bad for Miss Narwin because she was following rules, but since people only asked Philip’s side of the story, no one knew the truth. During fights at school, there is a lot of SELECTIVE HEARING that goes on, so people don’t listen to the truth and only listen to the made up story. Normally, when I hear about that sort of situation, I try to make sure everyone knows the whole story before they jump to conclusions. Have you ever been in a situation where the truth would get you in trouble and lying would get you out of it? Which did you choose? – DIA