Why read this book
Meet Melinda, who is beginning her high school career with a bundle of problems, not the least of which is that she called the police in on a back-to-school party where all the coolest kids at school were having a great time.
Plot summary
Like most students entering ninth grade, Melinda is a bit nervous, but she has more reason to be than most. Word is out that she’s the one who called the police to bust up a big party held right before school started. None of her middle school friends will talk to her, and none of the older students pay any attention to her, either, except for senior Andy Evans, whose attentions are wholly unwanted. But it’s kind of okay with Melinda that almost no one is talking to her, because she doesn’t want to talk to anyone anyway. Not her parents, not her teachers, not her classmates. She is greatly relieved when she finds a janitor’s closet at school where she can hide out during the day. Art class is the only place where she will even consider expressing herself. The adults all think she’s just being a difficult teenager, but there’s more to the story than that. Doesn’t anyone care why she had to call the police?
Critical evaluation
Speak is a powerfully told story, primarily for two reasons. First, Melinda’s voice as first-person narrator is captivating. She’s clever:
The climax of mating season is nearly upon us – the Senior Prom. They should cancel school this week. … The gossip energy alone could power the building’s electricity for the rest of the marking period (p. 176).She’s perceptive:
I’ve been going to most of my classes. Good girl, Mellie. Roll over, Mellie. Sit, Mellie. No one has patted me on the head, though. I passed an algebra test, I passed an English test, I passed a biology test. Well, hallelujah. It is all so profoundly stupid. Maybe this is why kids join clubs – to give them something to think about during class (p. 143).She is a classic unreliable narrator (Roxburgh, 2005, p. 7-8). She can’t speak. She can’t tell us what happened at the back-to-school party. She can’t verbalize the most important event that is shaping her narrative. And that’s the second reason the narrative is so powerful. Like Melinda, we readers are in unknown territory. We feel her inability to verbalize her pain as our own suspense and bewilderment. Our resolution will not come until she finds hers, which is a very effective narrative strategy.
About the author
Laurie Halse Anderson was born in upstate New York in 1961. She graduated from Georgetown University in 1984 with a degree in languages and linguistics. Speak was her first young adult novel to be published, although she had previously published children’s books and she began the young adult historical novel Fever, 1793 (2000) before Speak. Speak was a commercial and critical success, winning numerous awards. Anderson has followed it up with both young adult fiction (Catalyst, 2002; Prom, 2005; Twisted, 2008; Wintergirls, 2009) and young adult historical fiction (Chains, 2008) (Anderson, S. H., 2008).
Genre: Life is hard
Curriculum ties
Speak would be a great read in a high school literature class. It is an engaging narration of a story with important social implications, and it stands up to literary analysis. The symbolism around trees is a little obvious, but that’s not a bad thing in a high school literature class. Curriculum guides for teachers are available on Anderson’s Web site.
Book-talking ideas
• Reading any of Melinda’s first-person narration is likely to engage potential readers. For better or worse, the social topic that the book explores can’t be the focus of a book talk without spoiling the story.
• Show a clip from the film that was based on the novel.
Reading level/interest age
Although the central topic of the book is difficult, it remains off-stage through most of the book, which means that even younger teens are likely to handle the book okay. Readers understand the powerful impact of the dark event not through explicit description but through its ongoing consequences for the narrator. Most middle school and high school libraries in the San Francisco Unified School District include multiple copies of Speak.
Challenge issues
Although there is no explicit sex in the novel, some adults might object that the topic of sexual assault is inappropriate for younger teens.
Responses
• Remind the challenger of the policy (in the case of the San Francisco Public Library) to present “all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”
• Direct the challenger to the long list of positive reviews and awards on the author’s Web site.
Why I chose to read this book
A friend who is a librarian told me that any novel by Laurie Halse Anderson is worth reading. She was right about this one.
References
Anderson, S. H. (2008). Officially long official biography of Laurie Halse Anderson. Laurie Halse Anderson. Retrieved October 25, 2009, from www.writerlady.com
Roxburgh, S. (2005, Winter). The art of the young adult novel. The ALAN Review, 4-10. Retrieved August 23, 2009, from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v32n2/
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