Speak

Rating:
Summary: An EXCELLENT portrayal of teen life!
Review: "Speak" is a wonderful book, even for the reluctant reader.
Although the book centers around a rape, the way in which it is addressed is mature and beneficial for teens.
The writing is tight and moves at a pretty good pace. The suspense and empathy portrayed is wonderful, as is the reality of high-school life. The characters are very realistic and true to what life is like in most American high-school social scenes.
Laurie Halse Anderson does a great job-this book is better than her follow-up novel, Catalyst.

Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: I loved this book. Melinda's sarcasm makes such a dark plot so hilariously funny and fun to read. While the only some people can relate to the issue itself, many people can relate to Melinda herself. It deserved every single award.

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: SPEAK
The book Speak, written by Laurie Halse Anderson, is about a teenage girl, Melinda, who is just starting high school with a bad reputation. She ended an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Everyone hates her for it, including her good old friends. No one understands why she called the cops except her. Something happened to her that night of the party, and she's trying to slip away from it unnoticed. Her head is the only safe place to be, but the memory still remains vivid in her mind.
It's incredible how Anderson maintains Melinda's sanity while inside she wants to fly away. Melinda has courage and honesty and it helps her to get through this time. It's amazing how Anderson knows, or remembers, so much of the feelings and dealings of being a teenager.
I love this book and how well Anderson describes Melinda's thoughts and dreams. The whole book just has a feeling to it. You can feel what the characters feel, whether it is frustration, fright, happiness, or sadness. Her writing is a great example of "show, not tell" method because it is described so well that you can feel what the characters feel.

Rating:
Summary: A dramatic novel you can't put down until you're done
Review: Speak is such an extremely insightful book. Laurie Halse Anderson tells a story of a girl, Melinda, entering her freshmen year at a new high school. Everyone at her school hates her because of an end of school party she went to last year where she called the cops. They are so mean to her and she has lost all of her best friends from last year. They throw food at her in the lunch room and spread nasty rumors. They just assume she called the cops because the party was getting too wild but they don¡¦t know what really happened. She meets a new girl, Heather, but soon she too leaves her for ¡§The Marthas¡¨. Her parents aren¡¦t much help either; all day long they are gone at work or yelling at her or each other. Melinda finds it very hard to speak and finally becomes mute and only communicates with her parents by post it notes. I never wanted to put this book down, I just read and read until I was finished. It is a wonderful and exciting book for young readers and will really open their minds.

Rating:
Summary: If you dont read this book you are for sure missing out...
Review: Wow! This book was definitly amazing. Its about a girl named Melinda going through highschool with everyone hating her for something she had to do. Through out the story she wants so badly to speak up and tell everyone what really happened at the party and the truth on why she called the police but she just cant find the words to speak up. This book definitly shows a lot of courage, lonliness, false friendship,and judgement. The way she handled the situtation was incredible... The way the author explained the feelings and the thought process going through her mind was the best I have ever seen. Before this book I had never been a very big reader but this book totally changed my oppinons... This is definitly a book you need to consider!

Rating:
Summary: Carly's review
Review: When I first started to read Speak, I thought this is going to be a boring book. The more I read the more I liked it. I couldn't put it down. I liked the way the author describes the setting, the characters and the theme, it almost makes you feel like your there with her. I also liked the sentence structure, her descriptiveness, and the emotion that is packed in this book. She had a talent for writing books I would recommend this book to everyone

Rating:
Summary: my book review
Review: Since the beginning of the school year a high school freshman Melinda Sordino found that it's been getting harder and harder for her to speak out loud. No one at school is speaking to her because she called the cops and got everyone busted at the senior's big end of summer party. Not even her friends are talking to her. People that she doesn't even know want nothing to do with her now and hate her. Her parents don't even notice what's going on because they are always fighting. While Melinda is bothered by these things she's the only person who knows the real reason why she's been silent and not able to speak. The reason for her to call the police is because a senior at Melinda's high school, named Andy Evans had raped Melinda at the senior's end of the summer party. If she wanted all her friends to like her again and everyone else to respect her she would have to speak the truth.

J.C.

Rating:
Summary: Speak
Review: The book "Speak" is a fiction book by Laurie Halse Anderson. Even though its fiction it seems realistic. The book is about a teenage girl name Melinda she's about 14 who went to an end of the summer party with her best friends. At the party there was alcohol and every one was drinking even Melinda. The next thing she knows she's dialing 911. The parties busted. After that night no one from her school talks to her again. Including her friends, but know one really knows went on that night. Melinda wants to keep it that way to.
On Melindas first day of high school no one talks to her at all. She's into the new girl named heather. Melinda doesn't feel so bad now because she has someone to sit with at lunch. At her homecoming Melinda hears the people sitting behind her talking about who busted the end of the summer party. Melinda knew they knew it was her. The person then went on to say "you know my brother was busted at that party," they then spit at the back of her head. Heather joins this club and wants Melinda to help out, but even since that summer party she doesn't do much of anything. She's never happy. Melinda try's to help out but doesn't do much. Heather then decides not to be friends with her anymore because the group she hangs out with "The Marthas" doesn't approve of Melinda. It's not only that it also because Melinda isn't fun to hang around with. Melinda is now alone. One day she sees one of her old friends with "IT" and decides to come out with her secrete that she has kept for so long.
I think this book was very shocking. I say this because a lot of things went on that I didn't expect to happen at all. I look up to Melinda because she did something that a lot of girls are afraid to do. I agree with the author when she had Melinda come out to some one. I say this because, I think if Melinda kept it in she would have done something that she would have regret in the future. I disagree with the author when it took Melinda so long to come out with it. The secrete put her in so much pain.
The book suggests that if u have a problem or something have happen to you. It's ok to tell some one and to talk about it. Talking to some one about it could help you work throw it. You can feel better to know that you talk about it. The matter the book gives is that you need to talk to anyone about something that is bartering you. It's not good to keep it in all the time.
The book affected me in a great way. I know now not to be afraid to talk about anything with anyone if I need it. My opinions about the topic have grown stronger then they where. To see some one around my age go throw what Melinda did scares me a little. What happen to Melinda could happen to any one. I could relate to the book a little. I have had to talk about something with people. It wasn't as big as Melindas though.

LLP

Rating:
Summary: Finally Speaking Up
Review: This is a fiction story that deals with both issues that everyone must face in high school, as well as issues that no one should ever have to face. This story is about a girl named Melinda. Melinda used to be outgoing, and have many friends. However, an incident during the summer left her an outcast, who never has anything to say. She is dirty, her clothes don't fit, and she doesn't care about anything. She isn't interested about talking to anyone, or even showing up at school. Face it, Melinda is super depressed. She skips school to go and hang out at the most random places, for example, the hospital. Her parents are constantly fighting, so they don't even notice anything is wrong until she starts getting into big trouble at school. Every one hates her now, including her best friends, Rachel, Ivy, and Nicole. Every one in the school talks about her, behind her back, and to her face, but they don't know the truth, at all. Melinda started off ninth grade becoming friends with a new girl, Heather, who had just moved to the district. After just a few weeks, Heather told Melinda she no longer wanted to be friends with her because of her reputation and her need to fit in with one of the many social cliques in high school. The only thing Melinda has to rely on is her art, which she struggles with the whole year. She only has one person whom she can talk to, her art teacher, who also happens to be having trouble this year. So what is the truth? What really happened to Melinda? Is it possible to convince Melinda's friends and the entire student body that Melinda isn't the reject that everyone believes she has become?

By Kristin D.

Rating:
Summary: Speak
Review: Speak is a great book that keeps you at the edge of your seat. It is about a girl that is in middle school and goes to a high school party. She gets drunk and goes off with this high school guy Andy Evans. She calls the cops after she realized what had happened to her, and they came to the illeagal party. She lost her best friend, and had to face everyone else while starting her freshman year at highschool, because of her actoion. Her best friend started to date Andy Evans and that hurt her even more. She realized that she had to speak out and tell her friend the truth, but she just couldn't. She decided to eat lunch in the girls bathroomand join an art club. When ever she could, she hid in a janitors closet. Soon enough, the closet became her hang out place. She hung her drawings in there, her favorite posters and a picture of her ex-best friend. She had realized that hiding was stupid, and she couldn't live like that anymore, so one day she decided to speak out. When she was alone after school, in her closet Andy Evans gave a suprise visit, and she realized she had to tell the truth to her best friend and get her back! She didn't want to watch her best friend turn into a punk or an Andy Evans lover. She had to speak.

I enjoyed this book because it was exciting, suspensful and adventourous. My favorite part is when she acutally told her friend, that was the most exciting part I thought.