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Speak (Paperback)
by Laurie Halse Anderson
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Young adults, Novel, Story books |
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Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Publisher: Puffin; 1 edition
Pub. in: April, 2006
ISBN: 0142407321
Pages: 224
Measurements: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BC00435
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0142407325
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- MSL Picks -
What elevates a young adult novel from "Merely Good" to "Extraordinary"? Why are children in school encouraged to read "The Chocolate War" but not the latest Lurlene McDaniel? Usually the reason is because the writing in a good YA novel is superior to its competitors. But to make a harrowing story not only poignant but memorable, there has to be that one extra element. In "Speak", the extra element is humor. Author Laurie Halse Anderson has taken a painful life-changing moment of horror and imbued its subject with a sardonic sarcastic wit. As a result, I was able to not only read this story all the way through (I have trouble reading painful books sometimes) but enjoy it and look forward to picking it up again.
Melinda is beginning her high school career as the official outcast. Over the summer Melinda dared to call the cops to a kick-ass party being held and now all the kids she has ever been friends with have abandoned her. On top of that, there's a secret Melinda's harboring that threatens to destroy her from the inside out. Only her sympathetic art teacher, Mr. Freeman, gives Melinda any direction or support she so clearly lacks from both her home and school life.
In some ways, I was a little disappointed that Anderson chose to make it so obvious that this book was tailor made to be read and reread by kids in high school English classes. For example, Melinda discusses a day in which her English teacher (deemed Hairwoman for a badly neglected dye job) attempts to teach the class about symbolism. Melinda thinks symbolism is kinda cool, and likes finding examples of it in "The Scarlet Letter". It's a good thing Melinda likes symbolism too because this book is OVERFLOWING with it. A few examples: The weather outside vs. Melinda's internal changes. The name of her favorite teacher is Mr. Freeman. The tree she works on in art class. And so on. The nice thing about this use of symbolism is that Anderson never makes it too too blatantly obvious, or runs it into the ground. Rather, the teen reading this book might pick up on it on their own and think it was an intelligent thing to have spotted.
But as I said before, humor is real breakthrough factor in this story. Melinda is funny funny funny. Even when she in the darkest deepest depths of despair, she has the ability to point out what's what. One of the best of the book's motifs is the school's constantly changing mascot. The school changes from the Trojans to the Devils because of the condom association. Then they change from the Devils to the Tigers because of the Satan association. Then they change from the Tigers to the Wombats because of the animal rights association. Then they change from the Wombats to the Hornets because they don't want to be associated with foreign marsupials. Finally they attempt to no longer be the Hornets because the cheerleaders have started a cheer that goes roughly along the lines of...
"We are the Hornets,
Horny, Horny, Hornets!
Everywhere we go-oh,
People want to kno-oow,
Who we are, so we tell them . . .
We are the Hornets,
Horny, Horny, Hornets!
(and on and on and on)"
This is funny stuff. And real. Goodness me is the stuff in this book real. Admittedly, I can't imagine someone like Melinda existing in my own high school. The idea that an ENTIRE high school could blackball you for a party that (I guarantee you the uncool kids wouldn't have attended) you broke up is a bit of a stretch. But the teachers, parents, and other incompetents in this book are presented in a well-wrought light. You like Melinda too. You sympathize with her completely. And while the ending leaves a couple storylines dangling, you have a pretty clear idea that everything's gonna be all right.
(From quoting E. R. Bird, USA)
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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 boooks, No Time for Mother's Day, Turkey Pox, and Ndito Runs.
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From Publisher
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 -This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year in high school. -This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Amazon.com (MSL quote), USA
<2008-03-05 00:00>
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
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Publishers Weekly (MSL quote), USA
<2008-03-05 00:00>
In a 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. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. |
School Library Journal (MSL quote), USA
<2008-03-05 00:00>
Grade 8 Up-This powerful novel deals with a difficult yet important topic-rape. Melinda is just starting high school. It should be one of the greatest times in her life, but instead of enjoying herself, she is an outcast. She has been marked as the girl who called the police to break up the big end-of-the-summer party, and all the kids are angry at her. Even her closest friends have pulled away. No one knows why she made the call, and even Melinda can't really articulate what happened. As the school year goes on, her grades plummet and she withdraws into herself to the point that she's barely speaking. Her only refuge is her art class, where she learns to find ways to express some of her feelings. As her freshman year comes to an end, Melinda finally comes to terms with what happened to her-she was raped at that party by an upperclassman who is still taunting her at school. When he tries again, she finds her voice, and her classmates realize the truth. The healing process will take time, but Melinda no longer has to deal with it alone. Anderson expresses the emotions and the struggles of teenagers perfectly. Melinda's pain is palpable, and readers will totally empathize with her. This is a compelling book, with sharp, crisp writing that draws readers in, engulfing them in the story.
Dina Sherman, Brooklyn Children's Museum, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. |
Library Journal (MSL quote), USA
<2008-03-05 00:00>
Grade 8 Up-A ninth grader becomes a social pariah when she calls the police to bust a summer bash and spends the year coming to terms with the secret fact that she was raped during the party. A story told with acute insight, acid wit, and affecting prose. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. |
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