Laurie Halse Anderson - Speak

Pros: Good character development, important subject
Cons: Doesn't tie up all loose ends

Laurie Halse Anderson’s first novel portrays the Darwinian-Like society that high-schoolers consciously or sub-consciously always seem to create. The main character, Melinda, is an abomination amongst her peers and loathes school and all of ...

Pros: wonderful character details
Cons: rape theme may be too much for younger teens

I can clearly remember my sophomore year in high school being one of indecision and a yearning to be accepted by the group. Many students worry about these things especially in this grade and since my niece will be entering high school in the next few ...

Pros: Beautifully written
Cons: Short

I don't remember how I stumbled across Speak, but I did, and I'm very glad of it. I think I may have first become interested in it because the author's (Laurie Halse Anderson's) name is very similar to mine (Laura Anderson). Now that you ...

Pros: Insightful look into high school society, a quick and interesting read
Cons: Ending leaves some things to the imagination--is that good or bad?

Melinda Sordino is starting high school, but it's not the happy, exciting event that it's supposed to be. Instead of being with the group of friends she had in eighth grade, Melinda finds herself alone and friendless in the auditorium for freshman...

Pros: Clever, intelligent narrator; deals with a crime all too many teenagers must face.
Cons: Heavy-handed symbolism, overuse of stereotypes, ending lets you down.

Please Note: In order to adequately review this book, I’ve had to include a few spoilers.

Thirteen year old Melinda Sordino is starting high school as a social pariah. The summer before her freshman year, she called the police at a...

Pros: Showed the ugly side of high school.
Cons: Showed the ugly side of high school.

Sometimes when things are going bad, you just want to curl up in a ball and forget about the rest of the world. Sometimes things go so bad that you can't even find your voice any more. That is what Melinda Sordino is going through. Something happened ...

Pros: A good glimpse in to a high school, not your common story.
Cons: Some of the characters are stereotyped.

Thanks for reading! Today I am reviewing Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book was recommended to me by several friends saying, "You must read this book." I was interested by the title, but very turned off by the fact that I had read "Fever 1776"...

Pros: Excellent characterization, humor
Cons: Not as conclusive as it could be.

Starting high school is scary for most teens. For Melinda Sordino, it is terrifying. None of her old friends will talk to her, and people she doesn't know whisper behind her back. That summer, she called the cops on a party, and has been shunned by ...

Pros: Brilliantly written narration of the mind of a teenager.
Cons: Vague Ending

Melinda (the main character) and I both agree that school is an unusual thing. For one, I have to read a novel of some sort in science class every day. I always thought that we could be efficient and use that time for something like test tubes or Bunsen ...

Pros: Interesting writing style, realistic characters, good message.
Cons: Sometimes confusing and a few unrealistic parts.

Imagine going into high school with no friends, no support, and no hope. Melinda feels this way; last summer she broke up a drinking party.
Speak is about an outcast girl with a secret-she was raped last summer at a party. Frightened, she had...

Pros: A wonderful character that you would love to hang out with
Cons: Too much private references

Melinda Sordino starts high school with the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude, and with no friends. Everybody hates her because she busted a high school party. She is the outcast. As she goes through the year, she self-imposes silence and eventually...

Pros: Helps those girls who need a friend
Cons: the truth hurts...

Written by Laurie Halse Anderson, SPEAK has been honored with/as:
1. 2000 Printz Honor Book
2. 1999 National Book Award Finalist
3. An Edgar Allan Poe Book Award Finalist
4. Winner of the Golden Kite Award
5. ALA Top Ten Best...

Pros: Melinda's tale should be told to everyone.
Cons: A book that changed my life but still and will forever scare me to death.

While there are other books out there I've never read one as much as I have read Speak. Its a heart-breaking book. About Melinda she's a freshman at Merry weather High home of the god knows what? She was raped at a party towards the end of the summer ...

Pros: Incredibly funny and thoughtful.
Cons: Character prose can get a little confusing at times.

Speak, a stunning first novel by Laurie Halse Anderson will have you laughing, crying, and then wanting more.

It's the first day of high school, and Melinda has been ostracized since breaking up an end-of-summer keg party for the...

Pros: Very real characters. Not your typical teen "problem novel"
Cons: Teachers and librarians are recommending it, which may turn teens off!

And to think, this is a first novel! Although Laurie Halse Anderson has written shorter works for younger children, this is her first teen novel ... and what a novel! Long story short, there's a reason this book was a National Book Award finalist and one...

Pros: Told about date rape ect.
Cons: I cant find anything

I came across Speak when I was given it to read in my English class. I am not one to enjoy reading, but ever since Speak I realized that books can be great. The main character, Melinda, has an inncident at a summer party. She goes into her freshman year ...

Pros: Great plot, Anderson made me feel like I was part of Merryweather High School.
Cons: The ending left me hanging, I wanted to know more.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, is the story of Melinda Sordino's freshmen year of high school. She starts school with having absolutely no friends because everyone hates her. Melinda called the cops at the end of the summer drinking party, everyone ...

Pros: Quick read, sucks you in
Cons: A little predictable

Wow! I read this book after reading a review of it here on epinions, and it just blew me away!
Anderson took me right inside this teenage girl's head, took me right back to high school. It made me wonder what was going on in the lives of those...

Pros: written well, informative
Cons: delicate issue

This book is incredible. It is informative and real. It takes you into the girls mind and shows you her thoughts and feelings. The way everything weaves together so perfectly is awesome. The way the book is written is unique. Instead of using quotation...

Pros: Props up my broken chair nicely.
Cons: It exists.

I am a victim of something called the educational system. In this system it is expected for kids in middle school and high school to read books that they are supposed to find interesting. Most of these books, given our biasness in education are geared ...

Pros: Detail, good reading, and FUN to read ( not boring ).
Cons: Not for young kids.

OK I really liked this book except I'm not sure where my copy is. This book portrays the 9th grade life of a girl called Melinda Sordino. Her former friends hate her because before school had started, she called the cops at a wild party after she ...

Pros: The book teaches about life as a new kid in high school and the hardships.
Cons: Nothing was bad about Speak.

Speak is a wonderful book about a new girl at high school and the struggles and hardships she goes through. As for me reading this book, I enjoyed it. I had to read a book for English and I choose Speak because it spoke to me. I got the Platinum Edition ...

Pros: This book teaches you lessons that sometimes are hard to learn in life.
Cons: There are none, really

This book is a really great book. It holds your attention from start to finish. I recommend the book for anyone in school or anyone with children in school. It shows that no matter how bad life is, someone always has it worse. Also, it shows that bad...

Pros: Very insightful, Mesmerizing, Hard to put down...
Cons: Hmm... I do not believe there are any?

Simply put, this is the greatest book that I have ever read. It delves into the psych of a 15-16 year old girl who is just entering high school. She is faced with a difficult situation at a party that she did not know how to handle which sparks the...

Pros: Excellent book for teens
Cons: Would not be too interesting to an adult

Speak. It did not have a special plot, but the way the story was told lured me in. It scared me whe ...

Pros: It helps lonely teenagers see that there are more people out there like them.
Cons: Theres no cons but it takes to long to get to the point

Melinda has a hard time fitting in during her first day/year of high school. Shes very lonely she has no one to talk too.During her first day everyone was staring at her.During the summer time she and her best friend Rachel went to a high school party. ...

Pros: Hits upon what teenage society today faces in an everyday occurrence.
Cons: Brings forth some harsh issues that some may not be able to deal with.

Laurie Halse Anderson uses almost a suspense to her readers in this book to find out what happened t ...

Pros: Very moving
Cons: A little graphic

At the beginning of the school year, Melinda stops speaking out loud. No one is speaking to her because she called the cops and got everyone busted at a big end-of-summer party. She is having trouble at school because one of the only things she can...

Pros: It was very interesting and kept me going until the end.
Cons: She lost all of her friends, which upset me.

I loved this book. She was raped at a party. When she called the police they came and arrested peopl ...

Pros: suspense
Cons: leaves out details

This is a very interesting book that makes you so crazy to know what in the world happened that the ...

Pros: good plot, easy-to-relate-to characters
Cons: short

This book was recommended to me by a library friend. I don't usually listen to people when they tell me what to read, usually because I've already read it, or because I like to decide for myself what I want to read, but, for some reason, I decided to ...

Pros: Realistic look at high school life, interesting character that you can relate to/sympathize with
Cons: Disappointing ending, loose ends not tied

This book perfectly embodied the tainted essence of high school life. It was realistic, believable, and incredibly easy for teenagers to relate to. The book catches the reader from the beginning (not a book that you have to "get into" before you enjoy it) and keeps them reading by sort of giving them an incentive- the real story of what happened to Melinda. Eventually we get this story, (after seeing blurred versions of it from rumors and vague references) and along the way we see the consequences of a simple, instinctual action. It shows how social hierarchies work in high schools, and exploits the damages that cliques and social groups can cause. In this book we explore the life of a social outcast, getting a very real look into how hard it is to "fit back in" to a society (in this case, a high school) once you've been shunned from it. Though the majority of the story was a wonderful read, I found the ending to be disappointing and dismally vague. I thought that loose ends could have been tied up much better, and that the final consequences could have been a bit more elaborated on/clear.

Pros: tells a good moral, fun to read, hard to stop reading
Cons: none

This book could help change someone's life. By telling them to speak up if they we're ever taken advantage of sexually. I mostly recommend this book to teens. This book is about a teenage girl who is having a hard time as it is fitting in at school, but she has a deep secret deep inside her. This secret claws around in her mind, she thinks she can get away from the evil past. But it keeps haunting her, then finally something amazing happens. This book gives a positive message to not only teenagers, but everyone. It shows that you can do anything, and speak up if something you so haunting has happened. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a good read, this book was hard for me to put down and stop reading.

Pros: A good book to educate teens on how to treat so-called out-casts.
Cons: The ending is too happily - ever - after.

This story starts out quite depressing! However, it does give people a good look into the possible life of their own high school out-cast. This story proves that you never know why people are the way they are. I'd suggest parents get this book for their teen girls who seem to talk about people who are different from them a lot. This book is in a way very educational, but readers need to beware:Not everyone gets justice in the end.

Pros: Very well written. Gotta love Melinda.
Cons: I am happy to say no cos, except author left us hanging

This book is about a girl named Melinda who is a freshman in Highschool and is outcasted by all of her eigth grade friends. During a party a month before her first year in highschool, she gets sexually abused by a upperclassmen who thinks he's all that. so she calls the cops to the party. The cops show up and arrest the people who are smoking, and drinking which is like everybody. For some reason the kids think she called the cops because she wanted everybody to get in trouble. So her friends outcast her right before her Freshman year in highschool. She has nobody but a bratty friend who wants to be friends with evertbody. Throught the book Melinda tries to find the strength to Speak.

Pros: *Melinda is sarcastic, in a funny way. *Anderson did a magnificent job writing this book
Cons: *Sad parts

Although morose (considering it's based on a rape incident), Melinda Sordino (the main character) makes some funny remarks in this book. I like how Anderson created this character and how she wrote this book all together. It's a mixture of darkness & humor.

Pros: Can help a young girl cope with life alot better.
Cons: So boring I wanted to pull my eyelids off.

My friend recommended this book to me and I ended up giving it to my teacher. I was so upset that I payed for that book. The book just didn't keep my attention at all. It was a good book for what it's worth, just not something that I would recommend to anyone, it wasn't outstanding! I think this book is more for the younger generation. I can see a sixteen year old reading this book. I definetly will not read this book again. And I know they try to make it seem like High School now a days, but truthfully it's not, and I think that's what makes me dislike it more. I'm not saying that those things couldn't happen, just that's not what it's like in High School anymore. Overall no, I did not think this was a good book and I don't recommend it.