Rating: 
Summary: An Empowering Book
Review: When I started this book I thought it would be too young for me and my 28 years of life experience. I am embarassed to say that I was completely wrong. This book is an inspiration for me and would be perfect for any girl. Although I can't relate directly to Melinda's life or experiences, I finished this book with a feeling of empowerment. I think Speak would make a wonderful gift for a flowering teenager!
Rating:
Summary: Teacher
Review: Melinda Sordino is starting her freshman year in high school as an outcast. She has no friends and the ones from the year before all hate her. She is known as the girl who called the police that broke up a wild end-of-summer party. The problem is that no one knows the real reason why the police were called that night. It is a secret she carries with her wherever she goes.The story is told from Melinda's perspective as she moves through the ninth grade. The readers can visualize her growth as the year progresses. She is a loner, but it really isn't by choice. She has to deal with what happened that night on her own. She has to find her own way to tell someone. She wants to. She's desperate to, but she can't. Her own voice won't let her.
The readers learn early on what the secret is and begin to hope that she is able to tell what happened to her. Her grades suffer. She skips school or is habitually late to class. She withdraws deeper into herself until the source of her problem begins to pay attention to her ex-best friend. It is through this that she finds the courage to voice what happened to her at the party.
Rape is a very violent topic, especially the rape of a high school freshman by a senior who is very popular. I was taken a back initially. How could this book be about the rape of a young teenage girl? The truth of the matter is, that teenage girls do deal with this. Date rape is very popular. It is a hot issue and needs to be dealt . Teenagers deal with a lot of issues and Melinda explores many of them. The rape added to Melinda's suffering. Yes, she wanted to forget that night and forget what happened, but more than anything she wanted to be accepted again. There are kids that go to school everyday feeling like an outcast and rejected. I read this book in one sitting because I needed to see Melinda strong again. I needed to see her fight back and she does. Anderson depicts the struggles of adolescence eloquently in this book and she gives teenagers hope of not always feeling alone.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding writing
Review: There is not much I can say about this book which has not been said already by the 515 reviewers before me! But I just wanted to put in my "adult" recommendation for "Speak". It was terrific, a book that drew me in and grabbed my heart. The writing was wonderfully done. The short "chapters" and first-person narration gave the book and the story an immediacy that propelled the reader forward. Every page I turned gave me hope that Melinda would somehow find the strength she needed to at last reveal what had happened to her and release herself from the pain and anguish she is living with. The book is funny, painful, and gut-wrenching at the same time. The author shows how cruel high school kids can be and are, and the heartbreak that comes from this cruelty. That part is very sad....one mis-step and someone is condemned. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain of having NO ONE to talk to. I would like to think that some high school students would read this book and change their attitudes; I would like to see this book discussed in our high schools. It should be mandatory reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Lessons on Finding Yourself
Review: Speak is by Laurie Halse Anderson. I really enjoyed the meaning in this book; it told the teen readers that you have to find yourself before you get to know other people. Speak talks about a teen girl named Melinda who is just trying to make it through high school, when all of her old friends have turned their backs on her after she called the police at a party. Her mother wants to be around and talk to Melinda but she would never talk and didn?t want to. In school, her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, really influenced her to come out of her shell and be herself. He gave the class a project to draw whatever object they pulled from a hat. Melinda pulled out a piece of paper with a tree, she had to sculpt, draw, paint, and mold the shape of a tree. Through this art project he helped her find herself, how to express herself, and find the people she loved most. At the beginning of the school year she didn?t talk to hardy anyone and felt like she was all alone with no one she really liked to be around. At the end of the school year she finds herself in a lot of ways and has a brighter outlook in life.
Rating:
Summary: Speak
Review: Speak is a very interesting book about a girl who's friends will not talk to her anymore. The reason is because they were at a party, and she called the cops, causing some of the people there to get in trouble. No one knows about this incident except for her, and her former friends. She needs to tell people of her feelings, but she cant.
Rating:
Summary: An Outstanding Read
Review: This book is an outstanding book about Melinda and her secret. Enjoyable to read and hard to put down, I highly reccomend Speak, as much as I do the book "Annie on My mind"
Rating:
Summary: MY FAVE!!!
Review: As a loner and school outcast myself, this book really touched me in more ways then one. It was nice the way the author made the main character very sarcastic and witty about everything as I can sometimes be rather than just depressing and sad. it was beautifully writen and i wish it never ended.
Rating:
Summary: Speak
Review: Melinda Sordino is a freshman at a new school, with no idea where to go, and doesnt have the friends to ask for help. Her life at home isnt going so great either. Shes finding it harder and harder to talk to her parents and eventually almost impossible to actually speak. "Whos that girl, Why cant she talk, was she the one who called the cops?" Everyone would say when they thought she couldnt hear. All of the old friends hated her and nobody in high school had the heart to forgive her for what issuses she had caused over the summer. If only she could speak the truth. Explain to everyone what truely happenend that night. What caused her to break up the party? Find out for yourself in Speak be Laurie Halse Anderson.
Rating:
Summary: Leaves you spechless!
Review: I loved this book! My english teacher read this to us in my 10th grade year. And I loved it so much I went out and bought my self a copy.
I would reconmend this book to anyone that likes the ending to have a bang! And Laurie Halse has a snappy way of writing and it keeps you hooked.
Rating:
Summary: Speaking out
Review: This story is a novel of hope in a dark situation. Melindia is finding it harder, and harder to speak, after she was [attacked] at a party. she call the police at the party, and the whole school hates her as people got aressted, even though they neglected to get her side of the story. After her friends desert her, and she is all alone, and her grades slipping. Eventually she confronts her fear of speaking to the one person who disolved her world.
I enjoyed this novel as even thought her world is closing in on her she finds hope and brings light to her world. I strongly suggest this book, Laurie Halse Anderson has done an excelent job wrighting this novel, and it truly is a modern classic.
| 
