SPEAK

 

SPEAK

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Laurie. 1999. SPEAK. New York, NY: Penguin Group. ISBN 0142407321.

 

PLOT SUMMARY

Anderson creates a witty, sarcastic, but depressed and isolated teen outcast who has lost her voice to stand up for herself in this fictional novel based on real-life emotions of high-schoolers.  At the beginning of the book, we learn that nobody wants to sit with Melinda Sordino on the bus on the first day of high-school, including her middle school best friends, because she had called the cops at a party over the summer break, but won't tell anybody, including the cops, why.  As the story progresses, we eventually find out what happened at the party and learn what true strength and character that Melinda posseses.

 

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In this compelling novel, Anderson portrays raw emotion in her protagonist, Melinda Sordino. The reader is able to feel Melinda's anxiety and sadness.  On Melinda's first day of high school at Merryweather High in present-day Syracuse, New York she discovers that she does not belong to one of the many clans: Jocks, Country Clubbers, the Marthas, Human Waste, Cheerleaders, Big Hair Chix, Goths, but that she is "clanless."  She is "an outcast".  Melinda thinks to herself, "I stand in the center aisle of the auditorium, a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special, looking for someone, anyone, to sit next to."  Anderson uses a frank, conversational style.  The reader can learn what Melinda is thinking through narration along with dialogue between herself and her classmates (one wouldn't go so far as to call them friends), teachers and parents dispersed throughout the story.  Melinda's thoughts and language seem authentic to a ninth-grader.  Even though she has experienced something very traumatic, a rape by a popular Senior at an end-of-Summer party, she still encounters the every day struggles of high school.  She uses sarcasm to deal with her pain, but she is unable to cope with the stress.  According to Melinda, "nobody really wants to hear what you have to say." She has one "friend", Heather who is as lonely as Melinda and desperate to fit in a new school, but she is the total opposite of Melinda, full of positive energy and enthusiasm about being in high school.  Unfortunately, Melinda is not able to express her feelings to Heather and Heather dumps her to join "the Marthas." Melinda seems to find solice in her Art class and from her Science Lab partner, David Petrakis.  Mr. Freeman, her Art teacher, tries to help her deal with her pain by expressing herself through her art, while David encourages her to speak up for herself. 

 

Anderson tells the story by breaking the chapters up into the four marking periods of Melinda's ninth grade school year in a diary-like format.  The subtitles throughout each chapter are telling and somewhat sarcastic, sticking to the overall tone of the narrator. Throughout the story, the author reveals pieces of Melinda's life and reasons for her feelings, like how she and her parents communicate mostly with sticky notes left on the kitchen counter and that her parents don't really have much of a relationship together due to their careers.  This contributes to the pain that Melinda is suffering because she does not feel like she can even speak to them about what happened to her or about the fact that she has no friends.

 

The author tackles common high-school themes of finding your identity and conformity and growing up.  But she also deals with a very serious and mature topic of rape and the effect that it can have on a female.  When Melinda stands up to her attacker at the end of the book, by finding her voice and yelling, "No, " she finally is able to find herself, which allows others to see her for who she truly is underneath all of that pain.

 

REVIEW EXCERPTS

From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL:

"Anderson expresses the emotions and the struggles of teenagers perfectly. Melinda's pain is palpable, and readers will totally empathize with her. This is a compelling book, with sharp, crisp writing that draws readers in, engulfing them in the story."--Dina Sherman, Brooklyn Children's Museum, NY

 

From BOOKLIST:

"In her YA fiction debut, Anderson perfectly captures the harsh conformity of high-school cliques and one teen's struggle to find acceptance from her peers. Melinda's sarcastic wit, honesty, and courage make her a memorable character whose ultimate triumph will inspire and empower readers."--Debbie Carton

 

From PUBLISHERS WEEKLY:

“In a stunning first novel, Anderson uses keen observations and vivid imagery to pull readers into the head of an isolated teenager. . . . Yet Anderson infuses the narrative with a wit that sustains the heroine through her pain and holds readers’ empathy. . . . But the book’s overall gritty realism and Melinda’s hard-won metamorphosis will leave readers touched and inspired.”—Starred Review 

From THE HORN BOOK:

“An uncannily funny book even as it plumbs the darkness, Speak will hold readers from first word to last.”—Starred Review

 

AWARDS

2000 Michal L. Printz Honor Book
1999 National Book Award Finalist
Edgar Allan Poe Award Finalist
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
Winner of the SCBWI Golden Kite Award
ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults
ALA Quick Pick
Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
Booklist Top Ten First Novel
BCCB Blue Ribbon Book
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
Horn Book Fanfare Title
New York Times Bestseller
Publishers Weekly Bestseller

 

 

CONNECTIONS

The themes of Conformity, Strength of Character and Maturing or "Growing Up" can be studied as lessons for this book.

http://thebestnotes.com/booknotes/Speak_Halse_Anderson/Speak_Study_Guide04.html

 

Also consider lessons on violence, the importance of speaking up and saying no (especially geared toward boys), signs of depressions (moods), friendship, guilt and blame (post-traumatic stress disorder).

http://www.shmoop.com/speak-anderson/themes.html