Speak

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but definently not great.
Review: Everyone seems to love this book! I didn't think it was all that great. It was sort of painful to read all the way through, and some of the text was a little dorky. Actually, most of the sarcasm was funny, but all of the negitivity brought you down. She didn't even talk about what was haunting the charactor until the las few chapters. The text is a little too cheasy for older kids, and it is a little too... adult for younger kids. The story is a good one, but I don't like the way the author presented it, although I admit I enjoyed it at the end. Maybe the author should retell the story. (Sorry how it says that I am a 1-year old. I went to the wrong reveiw thing and it didn't have the right age.)

Rating:
Summary: Speak
Review: Speak, by Laurie Anderson, is about a ninth grade girl, Melinda Sordino, who knows something that nobody else knows. Melinda was very popular and then after one night she became an outcast. Everyone is mad at her because she called the cops at a party last year, but Melinda is the only person who knows what really happened. The story takes place on the first day of ninth grade. Melinda doesn't talk to anyone and she has no friends because of what IT did to her. Melinda needs to tell somebody what really happened before she goes insane...Will she tell someone??? Will they believe her??? Read Speak by Laurie Anderson to find out!
Speak is a great book! My eyes were glued to it until I finished it. It was interesting and I couldn't wait to read what was going to happen next. It kept me really suspicious in the beginning. There is nothing bad about Speak, but it made me mad that Melinda didn't talk. Speak is a good book for females age 11 and up. I highly recommend all females read Speak by Laurie Anderson.

Rating:
Summary: Speak
Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is about a freshman girl who called the police during a party. Everyone one at school hates her because she ruined the party. But there is secret that happened at the party that no one knows. As you read more and more, you notice the setting takes place at a school.The characters in the story are like teens today....they gossip, betray friends....etc. I think the authors message is to always spek up when you need to.
What I really enjoyed about the book was how it relates to life today. Many things are similar with your peers, friends, and teachers. Many teens like us have problems as a student and friend. In the book it shows you how friends can be like. they might want to be your friend or they might want to use you. I dont have a least favorite part of this book. I really enjoyed reading it.
What I did'nt understand was about the drawing if the tree. In one of the characters classes she had to draw a tree and I don't get what that has to do with the story.
In my opinion, I think young teens like would enjoy reading this book. Especially girls because are the ones who have the most troble with peers and friends. I also think young teens who dont like to read would enjoy this book as much as I did because you can learn from it. To speak up, to choose the right friends, and to be confident in yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Am I the only person not crazy about this book?!?!
Review: A painful read to get through. Negativity all over the place and only brief parts were actually interesting. I'll admit that some of the sarcasm was great, but as far as loving the main character, it did not go my way.

Rating:
Summary: Not That Good
Review: Speak was written through the eyes of a ninths grader, Melinda Sordino. She had no friends, and there was no way she would talk to her parents. Melinda spent her days feeling sorry for herself and could talk to no one. Her "best friend" didn't want to see her. No one could stand her. Everybody talked about her, and she knew it too. Laurie Halse Anderson, the author, tries to keep the reader wondering why this poor girl is going through so much.
Melinda started her freshmen year hated by everyone. She had called the cops on a party she had attended with people from her school. She had lost all of her friends that night the incident happened. Melinda began hanging out with a new girl, Heather. Heather didn't have anyone else to sit with, so she became Melinda's friend. They both hang out for a while but Heather realizes that she wants to be in the "in" crowd and she stops talking to Melinda. Melinda takes out her frustration in drawing. Her drawing teacher has helped her out a lot, even though he doesn't know what's going on with her. Her parents are frustrated because she won't talk to them, but on the other hand they don't show that they care.
Finally, Melinda tries talking to her "best friend", Rachel. Melinda wants to warn Rachel about her new boyfriend. She finally lets it out and tells Rachel what happened that night at the party. She tells her that Andy Evans, Rachel's boyfriend, raped her the night of the party and that was the reason she had called the cops. Rachel didn't believe it at first but she soon found out that it was true. Rachel asked Melinda for forgiveness, and Melinda felt a lot better.
This book wasn't that great. The story is good, but I didn't like the way the author tells the story. Laurie Halse Anderson talks a lot about how lonely and how everyone hates Melinda, but she won't reveal anything at all. It's good that it keeps you wondering what happened to Melinda, but I think that Anderson over did it. Half way down the book I was getting frustrated because she wouldn't mention anything at all about the incident. She just talked about Melinda's days in school. In the last, maybe, twenty pages Anderson reveals what had happened that night. For me, the most interesting parts of the book were towards the end, but I didn't like it as much. I didn't think it was as good as people had said it was.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Written through the eyes of a struggling ninth grader, Melinda Sordino has no friends and no where to turn. Of course, Anderson wants to keep the reader intrigued and doesn't say why this poor girl has no friends until you feel her pain. Everyone in the school thinks she is disgusting. Everyone except one new girl who doesn't know any better: Melinda is a freak, an outcast, not worth your time. Melinda keeps an open mind and sometimes finds her way out of humiliation. The Merryweather High outcast called the cops at a party the summer before, but no one knew exactly why. The longer she keeps it a secret, the more people despise her, and her new friend eventually deserts Melinda to join a weird clique known as The Marthas. After almost a year of feeling alone and misunderstood, the truth is finally let out, just not the ideal way. What happened to Melinda at the party happens once again to her, but this time, it occurs in the place she feels most comfortable. Laurie Halse Anderson did a brilliant job creating Melinda Sordino. This chilling and humorous story had me hooked. This is a great book that you should buy right away. Another recent novel I'd like to mention -- that I loved -- is The Loser's Club by Richard Perez.

Rating:
Summary: Speak
Review: The book Speak was a great book! The moment i picked it up to the moment i put it down i LOVED it. It is a great story about a teenager struggling through their first year of highschool as an outcast. Everybody in the whole school hates her because she called the cops at a "get together" the year before but, nobody really knows the truth behind why she called the cops. What really happened was she was raped and she was too afraid to tell everybody! I think that any highschool student or just anybody would love the book Speak. It's one of my favorites!

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: I'm a senior in high school so therefore i don't like to read that much. When the librarian chose the book for me i looked at it and thought "oh yeah another stupid book i get to read" but once i read the first couple of chapters i was hooked! This is a great book, even though it's about rape, it puts you in the head of someone elses trauma and how it affects them. The fact that the boy who did it thought it was funny would just push me to tell even faster. If you're a person who doesn't like to read but has to choose this book! It's a very well written book that is worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: I'm a senior in high school and i don't really like to read that much but when i was told to read this book from the librarian i thought it would be just another stupid book. But once i read the first couple of pages, i was hooked. Even thought the book is about rape, i liked being able to see inside a head that has actually "experienced" the trauma and to see how they react is really interesting. and everyone knows what it's like your freshman year...can you imagine how horrible it was for someone who called the cops on a senior party? That sucks! I would recommend this book to anyone who has to read a book, but doesn't like to read!! You'll love it!

Rating:
Summary: Speak
Review: The book Speak, written by Laurie Halse Anderson, was an excellent and exciting book to read. This book was fiction, encountered in the authors dreams, although can very well be a real life of a teenager.
This book was about a teenager girl, just about to enter high school, and a terrible secret she has to keep hidden. Her friends, along with everyone else, hate her for crashing a summer party by calling the cops. No one talks to her, and she gets nothing but snobby comments and evil stares. But there is a reason why she called the cops at that party, but she is forced to keep a secret.
This book was very memorable and taught me a very good life lesson. As you get older, and begin to enter the life of parties and different friends, you are going to be subjected to many things that put you in harms way. It's important not to get caught up in them, and remember what's truly important, which is dignity toward yourself.
The possibilities this book suggests is that keeping a secret that effects you in negative ways is never the right thing to do. This book showed a lack of confidence expressed in many of the characters, which I thought she have been added. I cant personally relate this book to anything that drastic in my life, but there has been times where I have kept a secret that I wanted to tell so bad, but new if I did, it would hurt someone else. People face those kinds of chooses everyday, whether its something small, or something life threatening.
I think Speak is an amazing book to read. It makes you feel like you are living the life of Melinda, the victim of the rapist, and makes you think about all the problems with rape in the world today. I would recommend this book to anyone.