Speak

Anderson, Laurie Halse. (1999). Speak. New York: The Penguin Group.

Annotation: Melinda starts her freshman year of high school with a big secret, and everyone hates her. It’s all because they just don’t understand. Will she ever grow enough to have the courage to speak?

Justification for Nomination: This book was phenomenal. From page one I was sucked in. It could be because I could totally relate, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Anderson does an amazing job of getting inside an adolescent’s head. She knows what she’s talking about and can completely relate to a teen. Her descriptions and inner voice is so right on, you’d think this was a true story.

I also love the symbolism strung throughout the book. Melinda’s art project for the year is to creatively represent a tree. It can be in any form she would like; just “tree” is her assignment. As Melinda goes through the school year, she struggles and is frustrated by this project. This is a reflection of her inner self – one that is torn up, confused, and hurt. As she comes to a better place with it all, and eventually “wins” and everyone understands, her secret is no more. She gets her friends back, and is in a healthier place overall in life. Around this same time her tree comes to fruition. She turns it is, gets an A+ and is satisfied. All throughout the book you can see this transformation happening in her and in the tree.

This book was also fast paced, which will appeal to teen readers. It was an easy read, at just under 200 pages. Being sucked in at the first page, you don’t want to put it down and It just keeps going and going and you don’t want to stop.

The particular copy I had of this book was the “Platinum Edition.” I would definitely recommend this copy to others. There are some very interesting interview questions with the author at the end, and it really lets you see where she was coming from in writing this book. Very insightful.

Genre: Realistic/Edgy/Problem Novel