Speak

Bibliographic Information: Anderson, L.H. (1999). Speak. New York: Square Fish. ISBN: 978-0312674397

Plot Summary: Melinda Sordino became a social outcast the moment she called the cops at a party. She even lost her best friend Rachel. Her last remaining friendship with new girl Heather dangles by a thread, as she becomes more detached from life, and Heather becomes more drawn to the popular, overachieving “Marthas.” Melinda is mute in public, slowly loses interest in everything, including good grades, and she isolates herself even from her parents, often finding solace in the confines of her closet. Her inability to speak causes others to think she is a weird delinquent, when really, she is concealing a dark secret: she was raped at the party. And what’s worse, she has to face the guy at school everyday, where he continues to flaunt his power of her.

            Only when her art teacher takes a keen interest in her, does Melinda start to heal. Her art becomes her therapy, as she slowly and succinctly speaks through her sketches and projects revolving around trees. Her growth is depicted in the branches she draws, as she wades through her inner monologues, and eventually learns to speak up about her trauma, swinging the axe of justice in a satisfying conclusion.

Critical Evaluation: This is a coming-of-age tale about finding one’s voice and identity in the already rocky journey that is the freshman year of high school, but with the added dimension of coping with sexual trauma and social rejection. The early allusion to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, casts Melinda as a Hester Prynn figure, ostracized for being a victim, and finding shelter and safety in isolation from the world. Her silence and introversion is juxtaposed with the outspoken, witty, and forward student, David Petrakis, who gets in trouble in class for raising debates with their history teacher. His ability to speak his mind inspires Melinda, but she struggles with ways to communicate to her peers, teachers, and parents, exactly what has happened to cause such a huge change in her disposition. Luckily, with a little push from her art teacher, Melinda finds ways to express her torment and her silence, particularly in the mixed media collage that shows a Barbie doll with tape over her mouth. The choppy narration and page breaks emphasize her shattered self.

Reader’s Annotation: One horrific act at an end-of-the-summer party becomes the catalyst for trauma and rejection to the once-popular, Melinda Sordino, as she calls the cops, and stricken with silence, loses her identity—just as she is about to start her first year of high school.

Author Information: Gale Contemporary Author’s Online states that, “Laurie Halse Anderson writes for children and young adults in works that range from lighthearted folktales, such as Ndito Runs, to earnest morality tales for the "American Girl" series, to taut dramas for older teens, such as Speak and the historical thriller Fever, 1793. Noting the variety of genres in which Anderson works, Cynthia Leitich Smith wrote on Cynsations online that the author is ‘always taking chances--writing books that are very different from one another--and still hitting it out of the literary ballpark.’ Speak, a first-person narrative written in the voice of a young rape victim, was a Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book the first year the prize was awarded. In her acceptance speech, as reprinted in Booklist, Anderson spoke of her admiration for her adolescent audience: ‘I love teenagers because they are honest. I love teenagers because they are raw and passionate. They think in black and white and are willing to go to extremes to defend their beliefs. ... I love teenagers because they challenge me, and because they frustrate me. They give me hope. They give me nightmares. They are our children, and they deserve the best books we can write.’

Anderson knew she wanted to be an author from a young age. She once explained that after her second-grade teacher introduced her to writing poetry, she ‘spent hours and hours and hours reading every book in my school library. The books took me everywhere--ripping through time barriers, across cultures, experiencing all the magic an elementary school library can hold.’"

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Subjects: High Schools, Emotional Problems, Rape

Curriculum Ties: Can be paired with The Scarlet Letter for discussions about voice and identity.

Booktalking Ideas: Reveal a doll with tape on the mouth, and lead a discussion on secrets, silence, and expression.

Ask teens to draw, sculpt, or act out “silence.”

Reading Level/Interest Age: 13+

Challenge Issues/Defense: Due to depictions of sexual abuse and underage drinking, this material may be challenged. If so, refer to:

1.     The San Francisco Public Library Collection Development Policy, Selection Criteria, and Teen Collection documents.

2.     The California Department of Education District Selection Policies, Reading Lists, and Resources for Recommended Literature: Pre-K-12.

3.     A hard copy of the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights.

4.     Mixed book reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus, and Publisher’s Weekly.

5.     If necessary, The San Francisco Public Library’s Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials Form.

Reason for selection: This is an ALA Best Book, National Book Award Finalist, and Printz Honor book, just to name a few of its endless list of accolades.