Speak in Drop Everything And Read

Aug 05, 2012 emilie.❤ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, gross-sobbing, fantastic-characters, ya, beautiful-prose, fem, memorable

There are no words to perfectly describe how amazing and incredible this book is.

Let's start with the characters. ALL of them are unforgettable. Melinda's voice is so clear and powerful and, at times, funny in a sick way. Kind of like me. I felt her pain throughout the story, because I know how much it hurts to have your friends turn against you. She's so raw and relatable, and I wish she were real so we could be friends. I understood her sadness (not to be mistaken for "whinyness") and experie There are no words to perfectly describe how amazing and incredible this book is.

Let's start with the characters. ALL of them are unforgettable. Melinda's voice is so clear and powerful and, at times, funny in a sick way. Kind of like me. I felt her pain throughout the story, because I know how much it hurts to have your friends turn against you. She's so raw and relatable, and I wish she were real so we could be friends. I understood her sadness (not to be mistaken for "whinyness") and experienced it intensely. The author makes her and everyone else seem so real that it feels like I've known them forever. I was fuming mad at Heather when she ditched Melinda for the Marthas and sent Melinda that valentine. I wanted to yell at David to get closer to Melinda, to help her not be so lonely. I wanted to knock some sense into those parents, to stop being so busy and try to understand why their daughter stopped talking. I wanted to punch Andy so freaking bad. I wanted Mr. Freeman to be my art teacher. I wanted to push Melinda into hanging out with David more often, even though I understood why she wouldn't want to. I could go on and on and on. I loved how REAL they all were.

The story goes along at a nice pace. Not too fast, not too slow. I loved how there isn't too much description of what people looked like, since I usually don't imagine characters the way the author does. It left me free to imagine what everybody looked like, without feeling weird about it. (:

It angers me that some parents and teachers won't let their kids read it because of the rape issue. This novel doesn't deal with rape alone. The core of the story is about loneliness, depression, fear, regret...and overcoming it.
Parents and teachers shouldn't hide any of this from their children or keep them in the dark. I completely agree with Anderson's message about censorship. I want everyone to see Melinda as I do: quiet, but full of passion and strength.

My own words can't fully describe how flawless and beautiful Speak is. Because of this, I wrote a story inspired by it and my writing will never be the same again.

I owe a million thanks to Laurie Halse Anderson. This is the main reason she's one of my favorite authors. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 24, 2014 Lisa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult-children, banned-books

This is a YA book about a 13 year old girl who hides inside herself after being raped. It tells of her quiet 9th grade year in school as she is shunned by others without her being able to speak up and tell people what happened to her.

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 19, 2012 Cameron rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I cannot imagine going through what the girl had to go through. I really did like this book a lot

Like · see review

Oct 09, 2019 Meredith Estes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was my book for Banned Books Week. And, as with all of the banned or challenged books I read, this was amazing. Yes, it’s a hard topic. But, it was done so well. The characters were all so well written. And, it was so multi-layered that it showed a great respect for its young readers. Beautifully done - I will require this for my daughters when they are ready for this topic.

Like · see review