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Speak (Paperback)
by Laurie Halse Anderson
| Category:
Self-driven, Health, Mind, Ages 9-12, Children's book |
| Market price: ¥ 128.00
MSL price:
¥ 108.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Speak is an accurate portrayal of the very common existence of high school cruelty and peer pressure, will powerfully drawn characters will inspire and empower readers. |
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Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Publisher: Puffin
Pub. in: April, 2001
ISBN: 014131088X
Pages: 208
Measurements: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BC00033
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0141310886
Reprint edition
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- Awards & Credential -
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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- MSL Picks -
In this stunning first novel, Anderson uses keen observations and vivid imagery to pull readers into the head of an isolated teenager. Divided into the four marking periods of an academic year, the novel, narrated by Melinda Sordino, begins on her first day as a high school freshman. No one will sit with Melinda on the bus. At school, students call her names and harass her; her best friends from junior high scatter to different cliques and abandon her. Yet Anderson infuses the narrative with a wit that sustains the heroine through her pain and holds readers' empathy. A girl at a school pep rally offers an explanation of the heroine's pariah status when she confronts Melinda about calling the police at a summer party, resulting in several arrests. But readers do not learn why Melinda made the call until much later: a popular senior raped her that night and, because of her trauma, she barely speaks at all. Only through her work in art class, and with the support of a compassionate teacher there, does she begin to reach out to others and eventually find her voice. Through the first-person narration, the author makes Melinda's pain palpable: "I stand in the center aisle of the auditorium, a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special." Though the symbolism is sometimes heavy-handed, it is effective. The ending, in which her attacker comes after her once more, is the only part of the plot that feels forced. But the book's overall gritty realism and Melinda's hard-won metamorphosis will leave readers touched and inspired.
Target readers:
Kids aged up 8
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Laurie Halse Anderson grew up in Syracuse, New York, and now lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two daughters. This is her first novel. She is also the author of three picture books, No Time for Mother's Day, Turkey Pox, and Ndito Runs.
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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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A kid (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
"An uncannily funny book even as it plumbs the darkness; Speak will hold readers from first word to last."- The Horn Book
Speak, by Laurie Anderson, is an interesting title for this book. There is one key event that sets the stage for the entire story, but the author only hints about it for 134 pages. Melinda, the main character, unable to speak during a traumatic, life-changing incident at an end-of-summer party, calls the cops for support. As soon as they arrive, however, she panics, sneaks through the bushes, and runs all the way home. Melinda feels terrible. No one knows why she called the police, but it does not matter because the peer pressure to "hate" Melinda is contagious. Everyone at Merryweather High thinks they have Melinda figured out, but they couldn't be farther from the truth. Melinda needs her space, even if that means being crammed up in a stinky, smelly closet loaded with moldy mops. She feels as if she is a volcano, ready to explode with the truth about that awful summer night. Will she keep her secret locked up in her heart, or will she rise over peer pressure, and do the right thing?
The book leaves the reader wondering what the event could possibly be and why it leaves such a kind girl feeling so miserable. Finally, on page 135 the horror is revealed and everything becomes much clearer. Even though there are subtle clues along the way, it perplexed me as to why Melinda has no friends. All the pieces fall into place after reading the sad truth. Now, I am wondering how teenagers can be so cruel to each other.
The expression, "The truth will set you free" is particularly relevant, especially to Melinda. It is too bad that she does not realize this until the end of her ninth grade year. Sometimes it seems that people learn important lessons the hard way. It may seem like it is even too late to learn at times, but it is never too late to speak the truth. Anderson really understands teenagers, especially Melinda. Melinda was poisoned by someone's stupidity, and throughout the whole book she tries to figure out where she belongs in the world. Laurie Anderson is right on with her character descriptions; it is as if she was a teen writing about her world.
I read the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares, a book about high schoolers, and I thought I learned everything about high school girls, but Speak showed me another side of high school. If I had not read Speak, I am not sure I would understand everything that goes on in high school, and for that matter, in middle school also.
This is not a book only for girls; it is for anyone who wants to sit down and read for hours without getting up. This is a book where the reader gets to meet, know, and understand the characters as if they were classmates. Laurie Anderson has a gift for writing with plenty of suspense and cliff hangers. Speak gets two thumbs up!
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Tate Thompson (MSL quote), KS
<2006-12-25 00:00>
All Teens should read this book. Peer pressure does a lot of bad things, one of those things is convincing victims to feel like they have done something wrong.
Speak is a fast-paced read that involves the reader emotionally from the very start. Speak is an accurate portrayal of the very common existence of high school cruelty and peer pressure. Every reader should identify with most of what happens in this novel, no matter what their age.
You will get mad at the good characters as well as the bad. I found myself talking out loud to the characters, which is why I know the book involves you.
Speak passes my Young Adult novel test. The book allows you to read without wanting to put it down, and it flows straight to ending. Laurie Halse Anderson has written a book that will be around for a very long time.
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Steven R. (MSL quote), Canada
<2006-12-25 00:00>
Melinda Sordino, a student with good grades and great friends, has made some mistakes. At the end of a summer party she calls the cops, yet when they arrive she doesn't tell them anything. Back at school the next year, her friends won't speak to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her as the fink who wrecked everybody's party, and her grades start dropping. Her relationship with her parents deteriorates quickly. She becomes sullen, and withdrawn. However this picture is not the whole story.
Her parents know something is wrong but cannot get her to open up. Her only hope is her art teacher; he realizes something is very wrong and through the assignments he gives her tries to draw her out.
This is a story of a girl who is abused, and who doesn't know how to talk about it, but in keeping it inside she is self -destructing. Can Melinda find her voice and speak of her sorrow, or will her silence destroy her?
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A kid (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
I enjoyed reading the book Speak. The author, Laurie Halse Anderson, does a really good job of connecting the reader to what Melinda, the main character, is thinking and feeling, and how she deals with her emotions by not speaking at all.
Melinda Sordino, a high School freshman, is having trouble fitting in at Merryweather High. Her friends all hate her for breaking up an end-of-summer-party in August by calling the police, so they won't to talk to her anymore. But there's something they don't know about the party, something that if they did know, they wouldn't be so quick to judge. They would understand why Melinda is so melancholy and depressed. And why Melinda is having trouble at school.
Speak does a good job of describing the feelings of someone who has gone through something very traumatic. I wish all parents would read this book so that they might have an idea about what their child might be thinking.
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