"Nothing but the truth" is a play on words, actually, on the theme of the book. In a court of law, the judge will have a witness swear on the Bible that he will tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But that's not always the case. People tell little lies, exaggerate and often distort the truth, so to speak, and the end result is something far from the truth. This book is about honesty, or the lack thereof. Specifically, the theme is how distorting the truth can create more problems than simply telling the truth would have. The first lie, or distortion of the truth, comes from Phillip, when he tells his father that no one likes Miss Narwin, that she is a bad teacher, and no one does well in her classes (28). And that no one understands what he teaches (29). I think the truth is that most students like it and most do well in their class. But he doesn't. Perhaps if he had not told his father, and had not simply said that he himself was the one he was describing, his father would not have been certain that Miss Narwin was a bad teacher. So, the first time Phillip starts humming the Star-Spangled Banner, he tells his father about Miss Narwin yelling at him to stop (44), omitting the fact that the announcements specifically say to be quiet. Furthermore, he did not shout, but simply spoke in a firm and stern tone of voice. And then when Filippo was sent to Dr. Palleni, the second time he disturbed the class with his humming, he told him that he was doing it out of patriotism (51). This was absolutely false, evidently he was doing it to annoy Miss Narwin. So later, when Phillip gets suspended for being sent to the office twice in one week and refuses to apologize to Miss Narwin, he tells his father about it again, his father decides to speak up... middle of paper. ..... misbehaving in school and the teacher doing his job, trying to teach in an undisturbed environment, everything would be fine. A few lies, half-truths and it all came crashing down. How fragile it is. It ended badly especially for Phillip and Miss Narwin. Phillip, who just wanted to join the track and be right, ended up being hated by the entire student body. And Miss Narwin, who wished only to enlighten young minds with the joys of literature, came to consider leaving the one thing she loved. Sure, some people got what they wanted, but, I'm pretty sure, no one who read the story liked those people. If only they had all remained faithful to the truth, if only the story could have ended differently. Fewer problems, fewer elephants. If only it was really just the truth, but maybe there would have been nothing to write the story about.