Citation
Anderson, L. H. (1999). Speak. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.
Description
The first ten lies they tell you in high school.
"Speak up for yourself--we want to know what you have to say." From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. In Laurie Halse Anderson's powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.
"Speak up for yourself--we want to know what you have to say." From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. In Laurie Halse Anderson's powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.
Realistic Fiction
Scholarly Review
“Speaking out at the ‘wrong’ time--calling 911 from a teen drinking party--has made Melinda a social outcast; now she barely speaks at all. While her smart and savvy interior narrative slowly reveals the searing pain of that night (she was raped), it also nails the high-school experience cold. Uncannily funny even as it plumbs the darkness, Speak will hold readers from first word to last. Review 9/99.” [The Horn Book Guide Review, 2000].
My Analysis
After being raped by an older classmate at a party, Melinda is traumatized to the point of becoming nearly mute. Her friends turn their backs on her because she called the police at the party and are unaware of what occured. Anderson did an excellent job of illustrating the reality of depression through Melinda’s point of view. As the book progresses, we see Melinda working through her trauma slowly. Just making it through the day is a hard reality for those with depression, and Melinda did just that as well as displaying signs of anxiety by biting her lips, picking her scabs, and sleeping to escape. Rape is a terrible reality, and Anderson portrays this reality through Melinda, who eventually finds her voice.
Tags
Rape, teenage drinking, high school, rape survivor, depression
Usage
I think this book would be a great start for a book club, most likely in the school library or in a classroom, especially in upper middle school and high school. I taught at a high poverty school, and I cannot count how many students went through traumatic experiences like this. The book club can also be a form of therapy where students can discuss these issues in a safe environment, and the students can have a say in what books they read, which will give them ownership over the book club.
Awards
1999 National Book Award Finalist
2000 Printz Honor book
2000 Printz Honor book
Kentucky Blue Grass Award
Censorship
In 2010, a professor at Missouri State University wrote an op-ed piece proclaiming that Speak was filthy, immoral, and contained soft pornography. This attempt at censorship was met by an overwhelming response by readers, who created a Twitter feed (#SpeakLoudly), organized giveaways of the book, and resulted in countless blogs supporting the novel. https://www.slj.com/2010/10/industry-news/andersons-speak-under-attack-again/#_
References
Macmillan. (n.d.) Speak. Retrieved on February 15, 2018 from https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312674397
School Library Journal. (2010, October 13). Anderson’s Speak under attack, again. Retrieved on February 15, 2018 from http://www.slj.com/2010/10/industry-news/andersons-speak-under-attack-again/
The Horn Book Guide. (2000). [Review of the book Speak by The Horn Book Guide]. The Horn Book Guide. Retrieved February 15, 2018 from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.uky.edu/docview/207561494?accountid=11836
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