Rating: 
Summary: Quality
Review: This book was really good. It told of one girl's struggle with a secret and with the downfalls of high school. It acurately portrayed the cliques of high school, and how mean some people actually are.
I also enjoyed how it took her awhile to tell someone. It's not like TV where in 25 minutes she tells someone and the guy is bye bye. It takes time to tell secrets like that, and I like how the author kept true to real situations like this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Silence
Review: "I am Outcast," Melinda Sordino tells us on her first day of high school. Everyone else has found their niche, some clique to fit into - Goths, Thespians, Jocks. Melinda fits in nowhere. She doesn't speak. Nobody really wants to hear what you think, she informs the reader. While this is a commentary on the many flaws of high school, with lists like The First Ten Lies They Tell You In High School and ironic vignettes detailing the often idiotic nature of the staff and traditions (the school council's continual changing of the football team's name is a recurring issue), it's also the story of one girl's struggle to deal with a trauma, and to overcome her past. Funny and touching, and possibly one of the best young adult novels out there.
Rating:
Summary: SPEAKing the truth.....
Review: Melinda is a girl who is starting high school. She didn't really take the change from junior high to the big school that well since she had no friends. THe books goes through her journey in school. Her struggles, her good times, and the other aspects of a teenage girls life. Learning about another person's view of life was very interesting to me, since I just started high school at the beginning of the year. She has a slightly different view then me, but it was still a learning experience. The way her art teacher had her do only one subject really showed her true character because it showed that she would get frustrated easily and that she would never be satisfied with her tree that she had to evolve or herself. Also, having to live with herself after calling the cops at a party that was meant to be fun and having many people realize who she was, made starting school at a new place even harder. Her hate for IT really gave a twist to her feelings about Rachel, her ex-best friend. She only wanted things to be the same as before, but IT made things the awful way there were now. It was IT's fault for the end of their friendship, and the terrible year she had. Heather also resembles Melinda's tree to me because she was never happy with just being ordinary, she didn't like her body, she didn't like the school, and she didn't like being known as Melinda's one and only friend. Everything that happened to Melinda seems to have some importance in the end. She realizes she shouod just face tghe one main fact of her life that she tried to forget. Also, she decided to be happy with who she was and didn't care about what others thought.
I really like how the author didn't have chapter one, two, three, etc., but how she made her own unique way of showing what the next passage would be about by titling it a different title for each subject the book covered. The book being in first person narrative made it easier to understand what Melinda was thinking and feeling, instead of having someone else tell her tale. It made everything more creative and true to her life story.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed the bok and the life that Melinda lived. I feel as if I know her form someone at my school or as if I was her. It helped me realize that my life isn't perfect and I should jsut own up to my faults. I really would recommend this book to teenage girls going through the transition to high school.
Rating: 
Summary: A Social Outcast.....
Review: ...would perfectly describe Melinda Sordino. Since last summer everything has gone wrong for her, it's like she gave up on herself. This dark humor she uses to describe the everyday situations of her seemingly pitiful existance, give this book a different twist. This book portrays an inside look into the mind and through the eyes of a teenage outcast. She has not always had this form of social anxiety, she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Her best friend has deserted her. "Her eyes meet mine for a second. 'I hate you,' she mouths silently." Her only hope for human connection at school is a "happy, driven, and aerobically fit," girl named Heather. Everything that Heather is is something that Melinda once was. The dynmamics of the characters alone make this novel one many highschool atudents can relate to. Andy Evens. That name makes Melinda shutter. What could have happened to make her have this painful "sparatic laryngitis"? Andy doesn't seem to inflict any harm on Melinda but they way he make Melinda feel makes him a sketchy character. Laurie Halse Anderson has crafted a realistic documentary of life through the eyes of someone who wasn't perfect, and provides the reader with a strong and direct message. "Speak," the title tells us all that painful problems are hard to take in. If you ever are in the position of Melinda, all she ever needed was someone to believe and listen to her. I enjoyed reading "Speak," but I found it raw and way too drawn out. It had no conflict or climax to the book. It did not keep me drawn in or interested. The message of the book did serve it's purpose and made me understand the position on Melinda and why she was withdrawn from life.
Rating:
Summary: A Look Into True Life
Review: Speak is a very accurate portrayal of high school life. The book follows Melinda Sordino, a high school nobody, through her everyday 'adventures' at Merryweather High. She has no friends and is hated by almost all. During the summer, a party was busted by the cops, who were tipped off by Melinda, and from then on she was an outcast. Laurie Halse Anderson gives a very on the mark display of the drama and cruelty of teenage life. Anderson really finds the true feelings of teenage girls and her book shows all the not so pretty parts of their lives. All through the book, Melinda is tormented and harassed by everyone at her school, not to mention her problems with her parents at home. But something more dark and scary happened the night of the party. Something that she has not even dared to think about until now. But as Melinda discovers, nothing can hide or hold back the hurtful truth of what happened that night.
Through this book, Melinda finds strength in the most odd places and she learns how to cope with her pain. She grows up and understands what it is like to be someone.
I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to anyone. It was easy to read and I believe that everyone can relate to it in someway. It is faithful to life and there is no sugar coating. Anderson writes the truth.
Rating:
Summary: Your Life Blame!!! Is Gone
Review: Imagine that you and your friends convinced an older brother to take you to a senior party. You're there and everythings fine. Yet suddenly everything becomes flipped. Your friends hate you. People you don't even know scowl and sneer when you walk down the hallw, when you get back at school. You have no one to talk to, and if you did you wouldn't trust them anyway. That's what happened to Melinda in the book Speak, by Lauria Halse Anderson.
Melinda and her friend, Rachele are just going into Junior High. It's a month before school starts and Melinda's friend, Rachele asks her older brother if they can go to the party with him. Melinda's having a great time. Everyone's drinking and partying. A cute senior hits on her. Then he asks her to go for a walk and she says yes. Suddenly Melinda's standing next to a pay phone, covered in mud, and she's crying. She's dialed the numder for the police and their on their way. People are running from the cops. Melinda runs all the way home. It's over or is it?
Melinda's a well formed character. I find her oddly funny in the sense that even through all the yelling, and pain she still has a sense of humor. Like when her parents are yelling at her, and all of the peer-pressure. I also find it funny because she gives certian charcter's nick names like the Martha's, the Jerks, the Jocks. The teachers are Mr. Neck, Miss Weatherbe, and Mrs. Hairmaster.
I would recommend the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson to anyone who wants to laugh, cry, and blush with the character's amazement. The book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson reminds me of another book that I read called, A Child Called "It," by David Pelzer, the boy may not have been abused the same way as Melinda but it still is really emotional.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: Melinda Sordino was only in the 8th grade when something happened that would change her life forever. After being raped at a high school party, she calls the cops, and people get into trouble, and their fun is broken up. By the time Melinda starts high school, none of her old friends are talking to her, and her rapist is now harassing her. She's flunking in school, and won't speak. Until she meets the one person who helps her tell the truth about what happened that night. This is a truly wonderful book, with real life issues. It's a must read for all teenagers.
Rating:
Summary: A very emotional moving book
Review: This book still brings me to tears whenever I see the cover... This book is very accurate on how it feels to a victim of rape. Melinda is a heroine I can look up to. Even though she could not speak she still lived her life. The best part is most definetely the end. I will not ruin it for you.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST read book!!!
Review: A tramatic story that makes you think and realize the horrors of the real world. Its a story that captures you every second. It is about a girl that overcomes her greatest fears. This is an excellent book and I recommend it strongly!!!
Rating:
Summary: Just average...
Review: Speak is another book about the cruelties of high school and what it's like to be an outcast. While I like the narrative, it was just too boring most of the time and only once every 10 or so pages something slightly intresting or something that slightly has to with the plot, came up. It was too spaced out. The intensity slope on this book never really gets too steep. It's more of just a little speed bump. And the ending isn't really the most intense either. It only lasts about 4 pages and doesn't really give us anything reasonable to work with. It shows that she couldn't speak, and when she finally wanted to speak, she chose to use violence instead. Great theme (sarcasm). If you want a great coming-of-age story, pick The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. Nothing I've read has come close.
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