Summary:
Philip listened to his father and went to school the next day, and in homeroom he did the usual. Ms. Narwin asked again to please stop singing. He continued, and tells her that he is not doing anything wrong. He continues. They go back and forth till she sends him out of class to the office. When he gets there the assistant principle Dr. Palleni explains to him that he is not following the rules. The students are asked to stay silent and respectful while the "Star-Spangled Banner" is being played, because he decided to be patriotic he has dissobeyed the rules.
The next day he comes to school he does the same, and once again the priciples office. Dr. Palleni tells him that he has th option of apologysing to Ms. Narwin and he would not get suspended, or to get suspended for two days and his record will no longer be clean. He chose to get suspended than to bow down to Ms. Narwin. His mother was called from work to the school, and his two day suspension began.
His father was extreemly angry, and his mother was angry als but not as much as his father. He felt the need to tell his neighbor Ted Griffen who is running fot school board at Philip's school. When they tell him the story, he too is outraged. It happened to be that on that day Ted was being interviewed by a reported on school related topics. Her name was Jennifer Stewart. Ms. Stewart heard his story and went on to make sure her fats wer straight, and She dug DEEP.
She first called the superintendent, Dr Seymour, to ask if there was any rule against singing "The Star Spangled Banner". He said No. She then called Dr. Doane, the principle. Who said that she was not informed about the suspension because diciplinary issues were innitially adressed byt the assistant principle. After that she spoke to Dr. Panelli who chose to not give any information/ commentst. He also said the Philip was not suspended because he singing, but because he as disobeying the rule and because once a student is sent to the principles office twice.
When the news article was published it was a huge hit. It was all over the world. Leterally. People from all over the world were sending letters to Philip, and Ms. Narwin. They praised Philip fpr standing up fpr his rights, while they condemed Ms. Narwin. Poor lady was told many times she was a horrible teacher, and that she should not be allowed to teach any longer.
Philip feared going back to school, because he was not sure what the other students would say to him. He knew it was bound to happened. The students mocked him; they told him that he was now famous, and joked about it. He would ask them to stop but that did not work. Allison was one of them. That was the last straw, he begged his mom to change schools.
On his first day of school they praised him, they were really proud to have him in Washington Academy. When the teacher asked him to start the class off in singing "The Star-Spangled Banner". Philip strted crying, and when his new teacher Miss Rooney asked him why he was crying Philip replied "I don't know the words".
Quote: "The boy, Philip Malloy, who wished to sing in the spirit of patriotism"(AVI 127).
Reaction: When I got to the end of the book, I went straight back to the middle of the book because I was wondering how did Philip let the news report get so big if he never knew the song! Or was he lying? The end of the story leaves you in the air...and only the reader can determine what was true.
