SPEAK

Anderson, L. H. (1999). Speak. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

The narrator of this book is freshman, Melinda Sordino and she is perhaps the most unpopular student at her high school. During the summer she and other incoming freshman were invited to an upperclassman’s party. She ended up calling the police and this call for help has made her a social reject.

Melinda is doomed to solitude but she is befriended by a transfer student named Heather who aspires to popularity. This is the last thing that Melinda wants, but she craves some sort of social interaction and continues this “friendship.” As the year progresses, Melinda becomes more and more reserved and self-withdrawn. She manages to steal tardy slips and uses those to hideout in an abandoned janitor’s closet. This closet and her art class are the only places that she finds solace.

It is obvious that something terrible has happened to her but she stonewalls her parents and as a result, they think she is acting out in some form of teenage rebellion. We learn that that is not true. She has become withdrawn and a former shadow of herself because popular senior, Andy Evans raped her at that summer party and that is why she had called the police. She, however, was so traumatized that she couldn’t speak and that is what drew the police to the party.

After months of silence and lip biting, Melinda is finally able to confront what happened to her. Her recovery is slow but gets a boost when she realizes that her former middle school friend, Rachel, is in danger. Although her former friend doesn’t believe her, she continues on her road to becoming stronger and eventually becomes the whistleblower that allows other girls to come forward about Andy’s attacks on them.

Due to its heavy themes, this book is most appropriate for high school students.