About the book: Melinda went to a party before school started, she wandered onto the woods and was raped by a senior. She lost her friends because of the way she handled the situation, by calling 911. Her freshman year is very lonely and she spends all her time reflecting about her situation in a deep depression. She struggles to function in daily life. She will not speak to adults or others. She wants to hide from the world and her problems. She finds an abandoned closet at her school that she cleans up and retreats too often. Her main motivation is an art project about drawing a tree with feeling. Throughout the school year as she contemplates how to draw the tree she reflects on her life and situation. Eventually she starts to turn a corner and slowly comes out of her withdrawal beginning to interact with the world/friends/family again. She reaches out to her old best friend because she is now dating the boy who assaulted her. The perpetrator attempts to assault Melinda again in her closet because she won’t stay quiet. She has become stronger and does not take it; she fights back this time.
Readers Response: The book Speak is told in a humorous way even though the theme of the book is very serious. The author does a wonderful job illustrating the characters inner emotions through the text. Anderson keeps Melinda accessible to the reader by giving her inner dialogue sadness, but humor at other times. She does not take herself to seriously even though she does not feel safe and is scared. Throughout the book she is forced to deal with the experience that happened to her. Communication is very important and key to dealing with difficult situations. When trust to broken, ones life can change drastically and it can be hard to recover that feeling.
About the Author: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/laurie-halse-anderson
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