From the Bookshelf of The Challenge Factory…

Speak

Laurie Halse Anderson

Start date: December 1, 2024

Finish date: December 15, 2024

Discussion: Archived-A Year of Banned Books

Discussion leader: Erica

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Archived-A Year of Banned Books

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* Reading List
By Erica , Quality Control Supervisor · 1 post · 97 views

last updated Dec 12, 2023 04:05PM

* A Year of Banned Books Info
By Erica , Quality Control Supervisor · 1 post · 122 views

last updated Dec 12, 2023 03:53PM

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What Members Thought

Feb 01, 2011 Juana "Darkness" Duran rated it liked it

Shelves: 2012

Speak is about a girl named Melinda Sordino, who is raped but doesn't know how to tell anyone. In her silence she goes through school in a dais alone. So alone that Melinda is so startled when someone sits by her at lunch. Melinda emiadetly takes a dislike to her but is afriad to move away because she is the only friend she has. Melinda's favorite class is art and in that class they get asigned a subject and they have to use everything to make the picture. But it's a different story in History w ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 26, 2014 Jenn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: taboo-topics, contemporary, book-to-movie, 4-star-reads, read-in-2014, young-adult

This was a rare instance where I had actually watched the movie before reading the book, so I knew the outcome while reading. With that being said, it was interesting to watch the story unravel. Anderson does a great job of getting inside the head of a teenager. It's extremely hard to write realistic teenage internal dialogue and Anderson not only does that, but the does that with a depressed teen.

Melinda suffered a traumatic event that isn't revealed to us until close to the end (although you ...more

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Sep 26, 2019 Mary Bronson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, oldesttbrpick2019, young-adult, realistic-fiction, women-fiction, own, contemporary, own-2019, women-reads-2019, read-women-2019

I made sure to read this book during Banned Book Week 2019 because this has been banned/challenged. Even though it was challenged for the contains and themes this book has such a powerful message about rape and sexual assault and the troubles of starting high school. Before Melinda and her old set of friends started high school they went to a end of summer bash done by the upper classmate. During that time Melinda was assaulted by boy and calls the cops. Because she called the cops nobody wants ...more

2 likes · Like · see review