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Summary: One of the best books ever written for teens
Review: Speak, is an amazingly funny poignant story of Melinda. Melinda used to have the perfect life. But, one night everything changed whenever Melinda went to a party. Something horrible happened to her. Something that she can't speak about. This book is filled with amazingly realistic characters. The teachers are practically the same ones that I have now, and it's great to realize, that things can happen that you can't control, but with courage, and friendship, things can and will start to get better.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping
Review: This book was a stunning display of writing, from beginning to end. Melinda is a ninth grader who went to a party the summer before high school, got drunk, and was raped. This unspeakable atrocity causes her to virtually quit speaking. She lives within her own mind. Her ex-friends ignore her and her new friend dumps her after deciding Melinda is holding her back. Finally, though, she confronts the night she lost her voice and the person who scared her into silence and gains the attention of the school and . Melinda was a character that everyone could identify with. Her dry observations could be funny, saddening, and scary. Her relationship with her parents made me appreciate my own. Most of all, she made look at all the people I've ignored for whatever reason (unpopular, ugly, weird) and realize that they are people too. I even made a few friends this way. I definitely recommend this book to people of all ages.
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Summary: A poignant portrayal of life on the outside.
Review: Laurie Halse Andersen spins an enchanting web of words from the very first page of this novel. Through Melinda's eyes, she explores the ins and outs, the ups and downs, and the kindness and cruelty of high school life. The chapter-like divisions are sometimes straightforward and achingly blunt, sometimes abstract and closer to poetic prose, but always engaging and intriguing. Melinda tells her story through a series of incidents and scenes, snapshots in time that combine to create the collage that is her past, present, and future. Andersen has managed to capture the spirit of high school, from cliques and fickle friends to teachers both cruel and inspiring, and even describes the most accurate parent/teen relationship I have seen in a young adult novel for a long time. "Speak" is funny, honest, cynical, perceptive, and sure to ring true with readers. Immerse yourself in Melinda's world, so eerily similar to our own, as soon as you can!
Rating:
Summary: speak
Review: Speak goes into the mind of a girl who has this deep dark secret throughout the book. Its suspensful throughot the book and keeps you guessing until the end. I thought it was a great book and that it should be read by 11 years old (at the YOUNGEST) till whenever! A must [read!!!]
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: Anderson has eloquently captured the trials and tribulations of being accepted by peers in high school through Melinda, an incoming freshman. However, Melinda is fast becoming an outcast, as she is becoming known as the girl that called to cops at a big party and she is becoming more and more quiet. In fact, she's having a hard time talking at all. And she feels as if she did speak the truth about the reason she called the cops, no one would want to listen anyway! Will Melinda find her voice and confront the truth? Read Speak, "the tough, tender, and darkly funny story of a teenage outcast" (back cover) and find out!
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Summary: LCHS-Jen
Review: melinda is anineth grader and she has problems and she's a loner and she don't like to talk to any body she has no friends but except a new girl and she don't hardly go to her classes and she won't tell any body what happended and she tried to tell rachell and then she said she was lying and her teacher know's something is wrong with her and then it all comes out in the open and then she feels relieved and about it and she's friends with her old friend's again and it is a really great book and i think kid's should read it.
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Summary: Amazing book.
Review: Speak is now one of my favorite books of all time. The plot moves consistently from beginning to end, never once pausing to overexplain like many other books do. The reader will feel as if they have known Melinda their entire life. I was amazed by Laurie Halse Anderson's ability to capture teenage life so perfectly and realistically. I could so closely relate to Melinda in everything she said, thought, and did, that I felt like we could actually share the same mind. Melinda's problems were real ones, not stereotyped, media-produced problems like the ones you see on television. Readers will be able to feel Melinda's emotions all the way through the book, from the first day of school when she is nailed with mashed potatoes at lunch, to the middle of the school year when Heather ditches her for The Marthas, all the way to the last day as Melinda finally perfects her tree. I literally have to make an effort to come up with one thing that I can criticize in the entire story, and that is the name of the "clan" that is The Marthas. I have never seen firsthand a school clique that actually had a name known throughout the school, but from what I have heard, it actually does happen. I highly suggest this book to ANYONE.
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Summary: Realistic -take 2
Review: Melinda is a nineth grader in high school. Before school started she had several friends and was accepted through out school. The August before school started all that changed. Melinda becomes a quiet girl that no one wants to be around. She has no friends. All this stems from her calling the cops at a summer party. No one knows why she did this. No one asked. The only person that will speak to her is Heather, a new girl. Melinda's art teacher also tries to reach her. He assigns the students to create one piece of art from a theme that they have drawn. Melinda draws a tree. As the year progresses, she struggles with the art project. He teacher encourages her. He knows she is hiding something. When the school year is over half finished the principal becomes concerned with her behavior. Her parents are called in. They can not believe that he is speaking about "their" Melinda. Strategies are taken to help Melinda improve her grades. Still no one knows the truth. In the end the secret is revealed and time starts to heal her wounds. This is an excellent book for young adults. Young adults will be able to relate because of the setting and the theme of keeping a secret. The setting is Merryweather High School and Melinda's home. Anderson does a fabulous job of capturing the readers attention by keeping the conflict a secret. Due to the secret conflict I would not recommend this book to students younger than nineth grade.
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Summary: Superb performance of a wonderful book.
Review: I'm an adult reader who happened onto this audio book at the library. I liked the cover design and saw that it was a finalist for the National Book Award. I started listening, and could not stop. It is riveting. Siegfried's performance of this first-person narrative is so real. I feel as if the character has told me the story herself, just to me. It's a rewarding read about being 13 for anyone of that age or older (content includes a rape, and the girl's slow recovery of her power). Beautifully written--moving, funny, so true-to-life. Economical and elegant. A fine example of good first person narrative. This recording will make any long drive fly by, and--if you arrive before the story's over--you won't want to get out of the car.
Rating: 
Summary: speak
Review: Speak is a book that touches many social issues in today's society. High school students today face the issues of rape and peer acceptance. Anderson uses these issues of our times in an emotional story of a young girl's self-growth. The theme is one of self-growth and self-worth. The story is written in first person, which allows the reader to experience Melinda's emotion's through her words and actions. Anderson's use of the tree is symbolic in this story. Melinda connects the idea of cutting off the unhealthy parts of a deseased tree to her own life. By the end of the year she has gained the confidence to speak about the rape.
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