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Summary: My Speak Review
Review: Laurie Halls Anderson captures the true lives of teens in high school everywhere in her novel Speak. It is an incredibly inspirational novel that allows the mind to smile, laugh, cry, and sympathize with Melinda Sordino, as they go trough the freshman year of an outcast teen with a secret. High school was supposed to be fun. She was supposed to still be friends with her inseparable group of loyal companions. A party, a phone call, and the cops ruined all of that and more for Melinda. Now, alone she ventures into the tortures of high school. IT has happened, IT was real. There is no avoiding it, no forgetting. Melinda must face school, her friends, her parents, her teachers, and IT. Laurie Halls Anderson does an amazing job or revealing exactly what high school is really "all about." It's a great book for teens everywhere, giving incite to those feelings and places some of us have never been.
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Summary: My thirteen year old daughter & I stayed home one day to
Review: ...read this book together. It was a valuable day. The awful subject Anderson writes about, rape, is movingly and convincingly told through the eyes of Melinda. The environment of high school is brought to life. All it's most poignant themes, popularity (or the lack of it), isolation and difficulty communicating with parents and teachers with their own sets of problems are written with clarity and insight. The perception that high-school days are simple in comparision with the "real" world of grown up lives is shattered brilliantly. The terrifying realities of teen-age isolation are made clear. Anderson skillfully brings the conclusion of this book to a satisfying end without having it seem ridiculous. Amazing accomplishment.
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Summary: Teenage Girls Rejoice for Speak!
Review: This book is so refreshing and real. I am grateful that an author has enough guts to write something so touching and that displays the hardships of growing up.
The book takes place inside the halls of Merryweather High and in Melinda Sordino's head and house. The characters are basically your typical high school cliques. You have the jocks, the cheerleaders,thespians, eurotrash, the marthas, goths, etc. All cleverly described through Melinda's eyes. (Melinda Sordino is the main character). Melinda is just starting out high school in the beginning of the book. Thanks to an incident at a party in the summer, she doesn't make a good start. Especially with her friends which she seems to lack quite a bit since that eventful party. I won't give away what happened at the party, but let's just say it wasn't a positive thing. The whole story is basically Melinda telling her story of how she survives with no friends and workaholic parents who don't care. In my opinion the author's message is people aren't always how they seem and friends can change very quickly. Also, to try and try until you succeed. This is proved in Melinda's art career. Melinda is a good artist but has some problems in her art class with a project, which doesn't get completed until some issues she has to deal with get resolved.
My favorite part of the book is how Laurie Halse Anderson, (the author), doesn't try to make high school sound sweet and easy. She tells it like it is. I enjoy fiction books, but with some degree of realism inside. What i didn't like about this book was not really anything. I enjoyed all the aspects of it except the ending. The ending was a bit abrupt, but well timed in a way. It does lack the usual excitement displayed throughout the book. Even though I still love this book, the ending could have been more conclusive and just better in my opinion. I understood all of the book. I think that it easy to understand and realate to. It's also very easy to get into the book and not want to put it down, (as I experienced.) The story line just pulls and pulls you in until your hooked.
I think the book is a bit inappropriate for anyone under the age of 12. It does contain some "cussing", which I feel is fine because it adds to the whole "how high school really is" part that most people enjoy so much. The people that would enjoy this book the most, would be a female between the ages of 12 and 18. The reading ability level isn't too high. Probablly about a 7th or 8th grade reading level is required. I think most ethnicities and cultural backrounds can realate, but i belive that Melinda is caucasin by the books description. But just because she is white, doesn't mean other races would not like this book. Race is not a big issue in it and is not a factor in any situations in the story.
Well this has been my review of Speak. I hope you enjoyed it and can walk away knowing a little more about the book. I highly reccomend it so go out and read it now!
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Summary: Speak
Review: This book was amazing! I didnt want to put it down. You get so involved in the character and you almost want to cry out to her. A definite "must read".
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Summary: My Chance to Speak
Review: The novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a wonderful novel for all ages. It is about Melinda Sordino, a freshman in high school and tells us her story as she struggles through life's complications. Melinda has been blamed by her classmates for calling the police on a party last summer. Because of this, all of Melinda's friends have left her in the dust. As the story unfolds, the reader sees Melinda's reasons for her actions. She becomes silent. She becomes an outcast. But soon, she will have her chance to speak. I recommend this book to those seeking a good read. I enjoyed this novel greatly, and I hope the next reader will too.
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Summary: Speak is for all ages
Review: Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a book about a girl who is trying to get through her first year of high school and having to overcome many problems. The summer before her freshman year, Melinda called the cops on a party. Because of this, all of her friends left her for different cliques and she is now an outcast. Throughout the story we learn of Melinda's terrifying reason for this phone call.
I liked this book because it is a darkly humorous novel about a girl finding herself and getting through the hard times with the help of a teacher who shows her that she has a lot to say. I suggest speak to people of all ages.
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Summary: Speak
Review: Title: Speak
Author: Laurie Anderson Title: Speak
Author: Laurie Anderson Speak, written by Laurie Anderson, is written through the eyes of the sarcastic, but witty main character Melinda Sordino. One event that summer ruined her social status from popular to "complete and total loser, not quite sane." This one event was caused by IT; "A senior. A gorgeous cover-model guy, every inch a tanned muscle, and straight white teeth." Because of IT, as Melinda calls him Greek God and Andy Beast, Melinda slowly recoils from the outside world, and becomes spellbound within the depths of her own mind. She refuses to speak, and eventually becoming mute. This one event makes her become mute. Follow the journey of Melinda through her ideals behind the sickening sweet reality of high school, and overcoming the one event that literally destroyed her life.
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Summary: Speak
Review: This is a fairly well written book. For anyone who wants to remember their high school years this is a great book for you. The main characters sense of humor is apparent with constant sarcasm being expressed at the other "clans".
Rating: 
Summary: Speak
Review: Speak is a good book. There is excitement on almost every page. Every page is filled with a new complication every time the main character, Melinda Sordino, turns the corner. Sometimes the book seems a little boring but the author, Laurie Anderson, makes her writing flow so that the reader never gets bored. This book is well written and states a universal theme. It tells of struggle and tells of fighting for what you believe in. I found the writing style to be rather interesting and unique. It was almost diary format, with random thoughts and tangents thrown in along with the story. I recommend that anybody should read it.
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Summary: This book was amazing
Review: I have been out of high school for 16 years, but this book brought me right back. Never have I read a book that so eloquently captured how it feels to be a high school student. I did a lot of crying as I read about Melinda's struggles and remembered my own struggles at that age.
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