Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson

Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux

Date of Publication: 1999

Format: Hardcover

Page Count: 198 Pages

Cost: $16.00

ISBN: 0-374-37152-0

Reading Level: Ages 12 and up

Awards and Honors:

1999 National Book Award Finalist
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
Booklist Editors' Choice

Plot Summary: When Melinda Sordino, a soon to be high school freshman, agrees to attend an end-of-summer party, she doesn’t think anything of having a beer or two with her friends. But suddenly she’s alone outside with a cute senior boy, and he’s on top of her despite her insistence that it’s not what she wants. Afterwards, Melinda calls the cops, but her fear prompts her to run away before she can tell them or anyone else that she has been raped. When school starts up she’s harassed or ignored by everyone for having busted up the party and gotten kids in trouble. It’s not until the end of the school year, when her old best friend begins to date her rapist, that she finds the strength to come forward about what has happened to her and begin the healing process.

Evaluation: This book is a compelling depiction of a very difficult, but nonetheless realistic, topic. The rape scene is not graphic but Anderson has done an exquisite job of conveying the depth of Melinda’s emotional anguish in the year following the event. The reader will empathize with Melinda and wonder why her family and classmates are so blind to her pain. All in all, this book has a lot to offer for young adult readers of both genders, with the hopeful message that healing is possible even when it doesn’t seem like it should be.

Annotation: Melinda Sordino must find the inner courage to confess what IT did to her at that end-of-summer party before the same fate befalls her old best friend, and so that she can finally begin to heal.

Links:

Lesson Plan for Speak

A Video Interview with Laurie Halse Anderson

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