Speak

Rating:
Summary: Speak
Review: I actually thought the book was good and it kept me interested the whole way through, but to me, the girl seemed like a depressed, gothic, careless girl. I couldn't relate to the story easily, and I felt the story had no plot. On the back of the book, it says about how she messed up a party in the summer, and now she has no friends at all. Then it tells me in the book that's she's speechless and stutters, and never speaks. I felt that neither of these things gave it a real story; with a conflict and resolution, and all that.

Rating:
Summary: Listen to Speak
Review: In this book, Mel is a tortured teen going through High School harder than anyone else due to a haunting past. Throughout the book you are given clues to a living nightmare from one night and when you finally figure out the secret she's so closely kept, you won't regret it. This was a good book and I've read it more than once.

Rating:
Summary: One of my top 10!
Review: I am reading Speak for the second time since last year. It is so real! I love how Melinda lables things, and the way the author does dialoge! I totally reccomend it!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!!!!
Review: This book was one of the best I've ever read. It was one that showed a lot of truth. I enjoyed this book and I recommend it to everyone looking for a great book to read. Great job, Laurie!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and Important
Review: I use this book in my 7th grade English class. My students -- both male and female -- enjoy it quite a lot. The writing is excellent, so it can be used to discuss narrative style and as an example of very good writing. It's an important book for this age group to read; kids are exposed to a lot and they need to know what the dangers are. It's important for girls and for boys, the latter seeing just how devesatating the effects of rape are.

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: One of my favorite english teacher's read this to us. I loved it and decided it needed to be on my book shelf at home. It made me so happy for the young girl to get her life back. Great book!!! I would hand you this book and suggest you read it. You might like it. You might not. But you could still read the first few pages and see for your self.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: This is a great book, probably more for girls. I found it really interesting!!! READ!!!

Rating:
Summary: Speak is a Winner
Review: I really loved this book. I felt connected to Mel even though I have never been through such a trauma. The writer made the fact that Mel was [abused] a bit obvious but that didn't take anything away from the emotions a reader can feel from this book. I really loved the way Mel finds a way to communicate through art and how she is able to finally find her real self and be in her "real room" which is actually at school.
Anyone who was ever left out is immedeatly connected to Melinda in this touching book. This is the best teen book I have ever read without exaguration.

Rating:
Summary: funny and biting
Review: This book was really sad with a good ironic sense of humor about how much high school sucks for the outcast, and it was about how your fear is often the scariest thing in your life.

Rating:
Summary: Girls and Moms, read this book!
Review: This book is stunning in its power, elegant in its prose, heartbreaking in its theme. You'll read this quickly, but you'll remember it for a very long time. This book belongs in every middle and high school library, but it's an important read for adults, as well. I can't recommend it highly enough.
(The only thing I don't like is the publisher's choice of review quotes used on the jacket. They would have you believe that this book is funny and even though some of the character's thoughts will make you smile, it isn't funny.)