The Truth Commission

Gr 9 Up—Normandy Pale is a smart and creative student at the Green Pastures Academy of Art and Applied Design where her sister Kiera was a star, publishing a popular graphic novel series before she graduated. The graphic novels presented Kiera's family as distorted images of themselves, greatly upsetting Normandy. Normandy and her friends Dusk and Neil have formed a "Truth Commission," asking people direct questions about topics that would only have been gossip fodder before. At the same time, Kiera is coming to Normandy's room late at night to talk about why she left college. Normandy must decide what is truth and what are lies, both as a member of the Truth Commission and as Kiera's sister. The print book (Viking, 2015) included footnotes, illustrations, and notes to Normandy's creative writing teacher that, unfortunately, do not translate well to the audiobook format. Every time a footnote or aside is spoken, it is preceded by a sound effect that is distracting at best and annoying at worst.