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Speak
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Speak
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Speak
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Speak

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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About this audiobook

From her first moment at Merryweather High, Melinda Sordino knows she's an outcast. She busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops-a major infraction in high-school society-so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know glare at her. She retreats into her head, where the lies and hypocrisies of high school stand in stark relief to her own silence, making her all the more mute. But it's not so comfortable in her head, either-there's something banging around in there that she doesn't want to think about. Try as she might to avoid it, it won't go away, until there is a painful confrontation. Once that happens, she can't be silent-she must speak the truth.

In this powerful audiobook, an utterly believable, bitterly ironic heroine speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while learning that, although it's hard to speak up for yourself, keeping your mouth shut is worse.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 27, 2006
ISBN9780739355961
Unavailable
Speak
Author

Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson is the New York Times-bestselling author of many award-winning books including the groundbreaking modern classic Speak, a National Book Award finalist which has sold over 3.5 million copies and been translated into 35 languages. In 2023, Anderson was named the laureate of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which is given annually to authors, illustrators, oral storytellers, and reading promoters "for their outstanding contribution to children's and young adult literature." In 2009, Anderson was selected by the American Library Association for the Margaret A. Edwards Award for her "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature." A passionate spokesperson for the need to combat censorship and promote diversity in publishing, she has been honored for her battles for intellectual freedom by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the National Council of Teachers of English. Mother of four, grandmother of dragons, and wife of one, she lives in Pennsylvania.

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Reviews for Speak

Rating: 4.1378042085438675 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I’m a retired high school English teacher, and I’m embarrassed to say I wasn’t familiar with this book until a friend gave it to me. I read a lot of YA literature while I was teaching, but for some reason never came across “Speak.” I thought the book was so accurately written that it was hard to believe that the author wasn’t a teenager. Anderson nailed the ninth grader on the head. My only negative comment is that some of the teacher characters are unflattering charactures, which is so often the case with high school books and movies. One teacher, however, Mr. Freeman, the art teacher, is much like many of the art teachers I’ve worked with. They get the best out of kids other teachers just can’t seem to reach. This book was written in 1999, but it isn’t in the least dated. Quite the contrary. It speaks more now than ever to teens, both boys and girls. One very discouraging thing I read in the book was a comment by the author in the Q and A after the story ended. She said scores of letters and e-mails from teen boys made the same comment: why was the main character Melinda upset when she was raped? This is almost too sad to be believed; however, after teaching 15-year-old boys for 40 years, I’m not surprised by this. Just saddened. And I’m a man.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    There are some books that have gained some notoriety, and yet somehow, curiously, have passed you by. I first encountered Speak through the movie, which was very well done. I made a note to read the book sometime, but only encountered it again recently. I picked up the book and immediately fell into the story, reading the entire book in one fell swoop.

    If someone had told me that a book which is, at its core, about a depressed teenager who was raped, could be funny, I would have been skeptical. But here, Laurie Halse Anderson pulls it off. The book starts with Melinda, a freshman who is entering her first year at high school ostracized from her previous friends. We find out that Melinda had attended a party earlier with her friend, but the party was broken up after Melinda called the police. Carefully, Anderson doles out hints: "IT" is referred to, Melinda wishes her friends knew what "really happened", and it is clear that there is something traumatic hiding in Melinda's past.

    However, Melinda's snarky commentary on the events of the novel, from the school struggling to rename their mascot to the cliques in the school, balance out the story so that the tragic backstory is never so overwhelming as to slip into maudlin. It also makes it very easy to root for Melinda as she stands up to a "friend" who uses her and dumps her, or ultimately, to her own greatest fear.

    This book is not shy. It has a painful ring of truth to it. Melinda is not a broken bird who recovers fully in Act III; she is a wounded young girl who is making her way through a trauma as best she can. What the book, I think, does better is that it shows Melinda's spark. She is funny, and smart, and quick-witted. She has a dry sense of humor. None of that went away because she was raped; it just becomes part of her inner world rather than her outer.

    Well worth a read, and I'm sorry it passed me by for so long. Speak is a genuinely moving, authentic story that is worthy of every ounce of praise it has earned.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Young girl is assaulted and comes to grips with the incident.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this book a few years ago, but didn't enjoy it much, and therefore couldn't understand the hype around it. With this re-read, everything clicked. The book is amazing. Melinda is a high school freshman narrating the hell of her first year after everyone thought she called the cops at a party with underage drinking during the previous summer. No one knows the real reason she called the police, and she's not speaking. The tone is darkly humorous and poetic at times, though always straight to the point with no fluff.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The premise: Melinda Sordino has started high school off on the wrong foot. Her former friends refuse to speak to her, and people who don't even know her are giving her the evil eye. She can't explain why she busted up that party over the summer by calling the cops. Not to her former friends, not to her teachers, not to her parents, and really, not even to herself. If she does, that means she has to accept the truth, and by doing that, everything she knows will fall apart. So she retreats deeper and deeper and deeper into herself, and she won't stop until someone or something thing forces her to speak.My RatingMust Have: At any rate, the book is solid and important. Like anything that should be considered literature, I think it transcends labels like "good" or "bad." It's just a book that teens should definitely read (no doubt, Melinda's experience of high school is relative, though I question if current teens, who have their cell phones on them 24/7, can truly appreciate the limitations of teens back in the late nineties, when this book was written), and for that matter, their parents should read it with them. The point isn't to judge Melinda's behavior, but to try and empathize with her. If you don't already know her secret when you start reading, start asking yourself what could happen that could make someone feel that the way Melinda does. If you do know her secret, really pay attention. I feel this book really speaks to the truth of Melinda's situation on so many levels, and it's important to empathize with her, to understand why people like her act the way they do. Bottom line, it's just an important book, one that makes me consider what it means to be a parent (whenever that day comes) and one that reminds me of how completely desperate and scary it is to be a teen, even if you don't have something like Melinda's secret weighing you down.Review style: this is a book that I can't discuss without referring to spoilers, and for better or for worse, I knew those spoilers before I ever picked up the book, so it influenced my reading. This review will be of the original, regular sort in which anything behind the cut is ripe for spoilers, so if you don't want to be spoiled, this entry is all you need. The full review, with spoilers, is in my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. REVIEW: Laurie Halse Anderson's SPEAKHappy Reading!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In Laurie Halse Anderson’s first novel, Speak, narrator Melinda Sordino is entering high school, an event replete with enough unknowns that even the most confident teen will have plenty of reason to feel anxious. Unfortunately, Melinda’s situation is made infinitely more excruciating because an incident that took place at a party to mark the end of summer has caused her peers to ostracize her and former friends to shun her. Anderson withholds details until past the midpoint of the novel, but we know from near the beginning that Melinda put an abrupt end to everyone’s fun that night by calling the police. She hasn’t told anyone what happened, but the incident has left her emotionally adrift and sufficiently traumatized that she has shut herself off from those closest to her. Once school begins it becomes clear that she has accepted her status as an outcast as an inevitable outcome of her actions—she avoids making eye contact and sits alone in the cafeteria—and it’s not long before she’s cutting classes and neglecting assignments. At home, she avoids her distracted parents, and it’s only when tanking grades and a spotty record of attendance bring her delinquency to their notice that they sit her down and read the riot act. Her only sanctuary is art class, where a sympathetic teacher allows her to work at her own pace and express herself as she sees fit, and it is here that she eventually re-discovers her voice and the strength to break out of her shell. Anderson uses Melinda’s fresh and authentic first-person narration to draw the reader into the story of a teenage girl with nowhere to turn. Melinda’s wry observations about the cruelty of childhood and the pain that teens inflict on one another, gleefully and without thinking, are presented impassively, without judgment, and are all the more wrenching and effective for it. Melinda Sordino is a remarkable creation and Speak is a novel that you will not soon forget. A finalist for the 1999 National Book Award.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I had never even heard of this book, and now I’m planning to buy a copy for my teenage daughters to read. Very well done YA about a serious topic.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was a very good book with a very important message. I loved it and found myself unable to put it down. If you haven't read it yet, I recommend picking it up.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Melinda has been ostrasized by her peers because she called the cops at a summer party, but no one knows the horrible secret she is hiding. "It" has devastated her life and she feels there is no one to talk to so she keeps silent about it until "It" rears its ugly head again and she needs to save her former best friend from undergoing the same fate Melinda did.A truly memorable novel that reaches into a young teenagers anguish which reaches into your soul.An excellent must read for young teenagers and parents alike.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    *SPOILERS*
    If we had read this when we were in High School, I think we'd have been more likely to call out some of the date rapes that happened back then, rather than just let the ugliness slide under the surface. I hope reading it allows somebody to see themselves or their friend and get help.
    Of course, the vengeance provided here at the end gives me a vicarious thrill... I'll never be able to avenge things that happened to my peer group, but I can at least dream.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read the original book in high school and when I saw there was a graphic novel I wanted to check it out because nostalgia, but then I saw it was illustrated by Emily Carroll and I HAD to check it out 'cause I'm a huge fan of her original work. I related to this book in high school but I relate a lot more now. The only differences between the main character and I are our parents, grades in school, and the way IT happened. Neither of those mattering over everything else. Even if you don't relate you should read it. This and Speechless by Hannah Harrington are books I feel should be required or at least strongly recommended to all high schoolers.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I wouldn't normally give a five star review to a book I didin't enjoy. Speak is an exceptional book; well written - emotional. The reader will feel Melinda's pain. And that's not easy or comfortable.It is the story of a girl who was raped during the summer before she begins high school. It is a sad and depressing book, filled with pain. But these things are real. I have been lucky in my life (so far at least) not to have experienced anything even remotely as traumatic as what Melinda experienced. Hopefully I never will. Hopefully my children never will.I generally read for fun and relaxation, and this book was not fun or relaxing. It was powerful, and worthwhile.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I must be up front and admit that I only read this book because I saw that there was a graphic novel adaptation that intrigued me, and I feel odd not being familiar with the original before experiencing an adaptation. I had only a vague awareness of this author and the book before seeing the graphic novel on the shelves at my local library.

    This is a pretty good book, though I must admit that around the halfway mark I grew a bit weary of the angsty tone, especially when I predicted to myself at that point that the author probably wasn't going to change things up much until the final ten pages.

    And frankly, the ending bugs me. It's okay, but it seems a cheat to spend this whole book waiting for this girl to find her voice and speak up, and instead of it organically growing out of finally successfully processing all the emotional turmoil she is experiencing and moving forward on her volition, she is instead given a do-over as her rapist attacks her again. Again, the existing ending makes sense and is earned, but I feel the character was on the verge of making a breakthrough of her own, and it was stolen from her and me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What do you do when something terrible happens, but the words won't leave your mouth to tell the truth?



    This book is about just that...



    Melinda was raped and no one knows what truly happened. All they know is she called the cops on the night of the party.



    When she attends school it's as if she has the plague. Her old friends hate her and people who don't know her glare. She walks through the halls and cringes at the verbal abuse she receives. If only they knew the truth...



    The story is a classic about just how cruel High School can be. Melinda has to let her guard down in order to Speak again.



    Slowly she learns to let go by expressing herself through art. When the burden is off her shoulders, things go back to the way they were before... and justice is served.



    I was captivated by Melinda's story. The things in the book are true actions that one may face in school. Everyone is so quick to judge, even if it's just hear say. To see what Melinda went through showed me how emotionally damaging bullying is. Many times she would hide or cry or even think about ending it all. No one should think such things... I wanted to scream at the people who treated her terribly. My heart ached for her.



    This is a book that every person should read. It is a beautiful lesson about how tough life can be and how important it is to always speak the truth.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This classic YA novel tells the story of a girl who was raped at a high school party and goes silent to cope with it. Melinda called 911 after being raped at a party but was unable to tell what had happened to her. She has become an outcast for calling 911 which led to arrests. Now that school is starting again, she is trying to survive with no friends in a very hostile environment. New girl Heather becomes her only friend but Heather is only using her until she finds her "people." Her parents don't seem to notice that she is having troubles until the school sends out report cards and they see that her grades are dropping and that she is skipping classes and not doing homework. However, rather than asking what's wrong and supporting her, they react by getting angry with her and with each other. The teachers at the school also seem to be oblivious to Melinda's needs. The English teacher and Social Studies teacher both seem to have taken Melinda in dislike. Her only place of refuge is her Art class which has its own frustrations as the topic she drew to concentrate on for the year is "trees." The art teacher does provide some support but has his own issues with his job and the school board.I liked Melinda's voice. She has an outsider's view at the daily happenings of her high school which seemed obsessed this year with choosing a new mascot. I liked watching her grow and find her own agency as the year progressed.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Eye opening entertaining, realistic
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "Speak" is about a girl who doesn't speak about "it", the "it" being what happened to her at a party. My daughter (13 years old) bought this book when we were visiting family out of state for Thanksgiving one year. I'm not sure whether she got to the end of the book--it was too painful. She did not speak about what happened to her at this gathering for a whole year. It was something similar to what happens in the book, only by someone much older and unknown to her. The book was a horrible reminder. The book is not particularly graphic, and it doesn't tell you what exactly happened until the end, but it is a powerful telling of the psychological horror, alienation and sheer destruction of one's sense of worth that this kind of thing brings on. The narrator is also darkly honest in her appraisal of high school, teachers, students, classes. We've all had the feeling in high school that it's all BS and superficial, and that only you know the truth, but can't tell it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was her first novel and for a first it was pretty great. Read a while ago.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a tough read and I never would have heard of it had it not been an assignment for my kid. There's nothing particularly graphic in the book but being a witness to Mel's feelings of despair and solitude were painful.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Speak is a book that needed to be written. It's about a girl who has entered 9th grade is losing her voice, her trust and herself. Ms. Anderson handles a very difficult situation beautifully. The book is sweetly tender and poignant enough that it brought tears because you could feel the pain this girl goes through. While it's a tough situation to talk about it is worth the read and one I would recommend any parent read with their daughters - and then talk about it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It does a good job of getting inside the head of a troubled teenager.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Laurie Halse Anderson writes for children, teens and young adults, so I had not read her work before. SPEAK is apparently her best known book, and I can see why, and how today's teens might relate to it. Melinda Sordino's freshman year at a Syracuse high school is a darkly moving narrative, told by Melinda herself, who has become nearly mute after being sexually assaulted at an end-of-summer party before she started ninth grade. Afraid to tell, she is "clanless," ostracized by all of her former friends. During an English unit studying Hawthorne, Melinda identifies with Hester Prynne -"I wonder if Hester tried to say no. She's kind of quiet. We would get along. I can see us, living in the woods, her wearing that A, me with an S maybe, S for silent, for stupid, for scared. S for silly. For shame."Formerly a bright and gifted girl, Melinda's grades drop like stones. She cuts classes, hides in a forgotten janitors' closet she decorates with her own tortured artwork and a Maya Angelou poster, discarded because an unnamed book of hers had been banned by the school - an obvious nod to Angelou's seminal autobiography of sexual abuse, I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS. SPEAK is a sobering and revealing look inside the head of an adolescent girl who has been badly hurt and feels she has nowhere to turn. Her too-busy parents seem oblivious to her distress and pain. School officials are overworked and uncaring, except for one - her art teacher, Mr Freeman, senses something is terribly wrong, and tries to let Melinda know he's there if she wants to talk, to 'speak.'This is a book meant for kids, for teenagers. But author Anderson obviously senses, or knows from experience, that adults may not be comfortable with its content, especially parents of teens. The book was first published in 1999, and has been extremely successful. In this 2011 edition, Anderson adds some comments on censorship that parents should read. In her comments she notes that -"... we have a generation that has been exposed to unprecedented amounts of sexual behavior in the media and on the Internet. They see it, they talk about it, their hormones react, and a lot of kids wind up in painful situations."Indeed. And that's what SPEAK is all about. One girl's achingly painful ordeal, and how she copes with it - or fails to. I know I was extremely moved by Melinda's story, and plan to pass the book along to a friend who has a daughter nearly Melinda's age. I will suggest the mother read it first. As for myself, as a septuagenarian, I'm grateful I am not raising children in these troubled times. But I will recommend this book highly to parents who are.- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    it did not affect me as much as i thought it would and i just didn't love it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It was kind of slow and dragging for the first few chapters, for me. But it becomes more interesting towards the end. It grips my heart reading how Melinda struggles with what she had been through. So glad she took a stand towards the end.

    One of my favorite part in this book is about one teacher discussing immigrants and his discriminating opinion. And how one student took a stand against it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was never the sort of girl this book portrays. I remember studying the subjects she studies in her classes, but I was in elementary or middle school for those subjects and topics, not high school. I loved school, as an escape from a bad home life and just as a place where I fit in. I didn't care much about how others saw me, and I had no problem making my own social circles. After a brief and unsatisfying attempt at hanging out with the 'popular' girls in elementary school, I rejected their set as shallow and boring, and never really looked back. So, it was interesting reading a book that puts the reader in the shoes of a girl like the ones hanging on at the margins of popular social cliques.
    This book also does a good job at showing how sexual assault can affect teens, and what goes on in the minds of teens who are clinically depressed and dealing with trauma.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    a novel about the aftermath of a young girl's rape. I think it would resonate deeply with teen aged girls.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I liked it, but didn't love it. I read it because it's on the local high school's required reading, and I have a son entering high school this year. The story was very effective at pulling me into it, making me believe it, and caring about the characters. However, I wanted to know more about the art teacher, more about how friendships were restored, and the ending was a bit too tidy for me. Maybe a sequel is what I need. In any event, it was an easy book to read and entertaining.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this YA novel at the urging of my 13 y.o. daughter. The themes of teenage depression, bullying, loneliness and sexuality are common fodder nowadays for books and newspapers and top-of-the-hour-newscasts, but they are often somewhat lurid and voyeuristic, and almost exploitative in their own tellings. But this book has avoided those traps. The voice of the main character sounds real -- she is just coming off that perch between childhood and teenagedom, and though she might not be speaking aloud for much of the story, her interior monologue is darkly funny and poignant.
    Kudos to my daughter's English teacher for recommending it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Hated for Calling for Help

    Melinda aka Mel speaks not a word as the new school year begins and yet is screaming inside. Hated by all peers who heard of her calling the police at the end of the year party, the reader knows something had to have happened to her, just not what right away. Throughout the book, you get glimpses of what Mel's mindset is, how others see and treat her and how she is coping/not coping with the previous life changing event. This is a great read for all.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    For this, I had actually watched the movie first without knowing the emotional roller coaster I was in for.And I had no idea that it was based off of a book either.So when, after a few years, I stumbled upon this book, I was like - why not?I remember how beautiful the movie was, but I honestly didn't think the book would've been much better.I was wrong.What a heartbreaking road to recovery.