Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Laurie Halse AndersonEdition: Paperback
Published: 2001-04-23
ISBN: 014131088X
Number of pages: 208
Reading Level: Young Adult
Publisher: Puffin
Book Reviews of Speak
Book Review: Pointless
Summary: 2 Stars
Perhaps the Lifetime Movie was more eventful.
I chose to read this book for a University assignment, the point of the assignment was to find YA fiction to incorporate in the classroom.
Anyhoo, I didn't like the book at all. Thankfully I cheated and rented the book on DVD (it was unabridged) in the car during commute because I would have thrown the book against the wall SEVERAL times. Yes, the sbject matter is awful but it can not carry a novel completely, I guess the pivitol sub-plots was...uh how many scabs she'd pick off her lips. Needless to say the story itself is bad, the characters are characiture stereotypes and not a single on of them was likeable--EVEN read aloud the characters were flat and one dimensional, the heroine had an inkling of likeability but it never shown through and by half way through the book I was screaming "tell someone already!" and praying the last handful of pages were blank filler pages. There was no suspense because by the second chapter you KNEW exactly want happened, nothing was revealed throughout, and I swear it was like the last ten pages where she actually grew as a character and confronted her tormenter. Sadly as an educator, I would not recommend this book, especially not to young adults (the target audience) because there was no point to the book.
Summary of Speak
Since the beginning of the school year, high school freshman Melinda has found that it's been getting harder and harder for her to speak out loud: "My throat is always sore, my lips raw.... Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze.... It's like I have some kind of spastic laryngitis." What could have caused Melinda to suddenly fall mute? Could it be due to the fact that no one at school is speaking to her because she called the cops and got everyone busted at the seniors' big end-of-summer party? Or maybe it's because her parents' only form of communication is Post-It notes written on their way out the door to their nine-to-whenever jobs. While Melinda is bothered by these things, deep down she knows the real reason why she's been struck mute...Laurie Halse Anderson's first novel is a stunning and sympathetic tribute to the teenage outcast. The triumphant ending, in which Melinda finds her voice, is cause for cheering (while many readers might also shed a tear or two). After reading Speak, it will be hard for any teen to look at the class scapegoat again without a measure of compassion and understanding for that person--who may be screaming beneath the silence. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth. This extraordinary first novel has captured the imaginations of teenagers and adults across the country.
Awards for Speak
A 2000 Printz Honor Book
A 1999 National Book Award Finalist
An Edgar Allan Poe Award Finalist
A 1999 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
Winner of the SCBWI Golden Kite Award
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
An ALA Quick Pick
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Top Ten First Novel of 1999
A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Horn Book Fanfare Title
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