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Summary: Speaking Out
Review: I loved this book. I especially loved the way the author told of Melinda's isolation, her alienation from friends, and then her subsequent empowerment. I liked how everything came full circle. I thought the book was very symbolic, with Melinda and her tree and how she struggled to create it with the blocks. Wonderful, just wonderful book!
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Summary: A Great Read!
Review: Speak is one of the best teen novels that I've read in a long time. Anderson didn't merely tell a story, she let the reader inside the mind of the heroine. Descriptive language and active monologue allowed me to actually feel the torment and confusion of a young rape victim. Melinda ended her freshman summer with a party at which she was raped by a popular senior. Her call for help was misconstrued as a call to break up the party, and she spent her entire freshman year as a social outcast; even her closest friends turned their backs on Melinda for breaking up the party. She became increasingly withdrawn until she almost completly stopped talking. Only a special teacher and a few somewhat confidants kept her from totally withdrawing into herself. Even so, no one besides IT(her term for her attacker) knew what actually happeded at that party. But as she matures, she comes to realize that what happened to her wasn't her fault, and that it was her right to SPEAK. I totally reccomend this book to anyone in need of a good story and a good cheering session. YEAH!
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Summary: 198 pages in a day
Review: This is one amazing book, so real and so touching. I lovenarratives and this was just wow. It was different from any other bookI have ever read. The story takes place in Syracuse, New York and it explores Melinda's freshman year in high school. She is an outcast; her friends dumped her and the other kids don't like her either. As the story unfolds, you discover little secrets and find out what happened to make her this way, what it was that caused the pain to make her practically go mute. This book was so compelling that I couldn't put it down. I finished all 198 pages today. It was very well written and the emotions are right on the spot. You have to read it.
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Summary: The LowDown
Review: I loved this book. The author actually GETS teenagers. Sheknows that our teachers at least give us 20 lies for the school yearlike " we are here to help you anytime you need us." Wrong. I think you should really give this book a try, because belive me, between the hilarious humor and the slight hilusinations you will truly love and cherish this book.
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Summary: READ: A VERY UPLIFTING BOOK!
Review: I don't like to dwell on tramatic situations such as the one Melinda went through, so I was a little hesitant about reading a book with such strong subject matter. I read it anyway because I figured it would be a good learning experience.It was.The sarcastic tone made the story a lot more bearable. What made this book so wonderful is how Melinda's recovery is so clearly illustrated...literally. Her recovery is completely centered around her art class where she's given the year-long assignment of bringing a tree to life on paper or tile or through any other artistic outlet.You can really see her progression.It's not much in the beginning, she's still reeling from the incident and by how her friends are alienating her and by how she is still stalked by her rapist whom she calls IT. But the transformation is made when she starts to stick up for herself and it's ultimately acheived when she's cofronted face-to-face with IT. I was never in her position but I did share the same lable of being a complete outcast my freshman year and so on.I spent most of my time in my head,which is the same case with Melinda.I found the ending very uplifting and would recomend this book to everyone, even those usually shy away from stories with this type of content.Five stars!
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Summary: WOW
Review: SPEAK WAS RECOMMENED TO ME BY MY READING TEACHER. I REALLY LOVED AND ENJOYED THIS BOOKS. IT WAS REALLY HARD TO UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS GOING ON BUT AS YOU KEEP ON READING THE STORY REVEALS ITSELF AND YOU WILL FIND OUT THE SECRETS. FOR ANYONE WHO IS READING THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW. I KNOW ITS DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND WHATS GOING ON BUT KEEP ON GOING BECAUSE IT'S WORTH IT
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Summary: Parents and Teachers should read
Review: I think it is obvious that this book speak to teen-agers, boys and girls, but it is parents and teachers who need to read it. It is easy to forget how teen-age minds work when one becomes removed from that perspective due to time and experience. This book is deeply though provoking about that very difficult time of life.
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Summary: I'd give this book 10 stars... one of the best!
Review: Every parent, teacher, or human being who wants to understand the struggles and psyche of young adults should read Speak. Though it is a YA book, it speaks so resonantly to adults who forget what it was like to be a freshman in high school.
Rating:
Summary: Speak
Review: I read this book because I saw it in a magazine with a small review. I decided to read it. The book is very well written with its content excellent. Laurie Halse Anderson has honestly written a book for anybody of all ages to relate to. The characters are so real and understandable. The way she portrays highschool and all of its "fitting in" problems amazed me. It was any highschool in America, yet unique enough to belong to so many different people. The characters inner struggle was written with the most quality. I believe that everyone has something to learn, or remember, from this book.
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Summary: Maya Angelou would be proud of you, Laurie
Review: After hearing Laurie Halse Anderson speak at the 2000 International Reading Association convention, I was moved to read her novel, Speak. It captured the feelings that my young adult students feel about being on the outside looking in. It uses fantastic allusions to Maya Angelou's, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. I thought Speak could touch the heart of any young reader on a journey to find their place in the world. Read It! I can't keep it on my bookshelf. The author deserves all the compliments I could give. She is delightful.
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