Tag archives for Truth
Posted by BOOK NAME: Nothing But the Truth
AUTHOR: Avi
I had to read this book for school. Even though I had to read it for an assignment, I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. Sometimes reading for homework isn’t that bad, because you can end up reading some amazing books.
We already know that telling a lie is never good, but in this story we see that a lie can quickly escalate as more and more lies are added on to cover for the first one. Philip Malloy is in 9th grade and he dislikes his English teacher, Miss Narwin. Because of this, he purposely tries to do things to get on her nerves. As part of the daily morning activates at his high school, the national anthem is played. One day, Philip started humming along while it was being played. Despite warnings, he did this two more times during that same week, and ultimately was kicked out of the classroom and suspended from school.
Philip claims that this was an act of patriotism, but he’s really not a very big patriot in the first place. But many people jump on his bandwagon which leads to a series of events that result in some unfortunate consequences for almost everyone involved. It would seem that no one wins this battle.
Nothing But the Truth is a very intriguing book in that you’ll find yourself asking what is a lie and what is the truth? Sometimes it falls somewhere in between. I like the documentary style of this book’s writing because I found it easy to follow. It was also a great way to lay out the different viewpoints of the characters.
I would recommend this book for middle schoolers as I think they would find the subject matter the most interesting. This story will really make you stop and think and realize that there is always more than one side to a story, and that there can be some dire consequences to telling a lie.
Posted by BOOK NAME: How it Happened in Peach Hill
AUTHOR: Marthe Jocelyn
Annie’s mother has “special powers” or so she says. She can draw out people’s secrets without them even knowing! Annie’s mother is Madame Caterina, and as a fortune teller, no one can resist her.
Deception runs in the family and Madame Caterina expects her daughter to follow in her family’s footsteps. Annie must lie about herself and find information about other people so her mother can have a successful career. Annie is getting tired of being the town idiot and wants to be like every other normal teenager. When Annie meets a boy named Sammy she immediately wants to impress him, but acting stupid won’t help. This is a story about a girl who learns to understand the importance of telling the truth and how she overcomes the wrong she’s done in her life.
This book didn’t take long at all to read. It’s a pretty small book, but the story isn’t short or boring. Though the mother was kinda the “bad guy” in the story, I really liked her free and interesting personality. I liked how she got along with others and how people just felt connected to her for no reason. I didn’t care much for Annie’s personality, though. Even though fortune telling isn’t true, I still enjoy reading about characters in books that use it. I think just about anyone could read this book, but I believe girls would appreciate the story line more.
