“The ninth graders are herded into the auditorium. We fall into clans: Jocks, Country Clubbers, Idiot Savants, Cheerleaders, Human Waste, Eurotrash, Future Fascists of America, Big Hair Chix, the Marthas, Suffering Artists, Goths, Shredders. I am clanless. I wasted the last weeks of August watching bad cartoons. I didn’t go to the mall, the lake, or the pool, or answer the phone. I have entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don’t have anyone to sit with.” Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak kept my attention with a relatable story line and dark humor.
A ninth grade girl by the name of Melinda Sordino tells us about the life of a teenage outcast. Melinda, like all of the characters, seemed like a realistic teenager with an issue that any teenager can have. Anderson defined all of the characters in this story so well; with great detail. She not only describes a character’s physical appearance to where the reader can get a clear picture of the character in his or her mind, but Anderson also describes the character’s behavior to where you feel as though you have met the character before. A variety of characters that are not hard to keep up with, unlike some books, assists in making this book an interesting read. It varies from Heather from Ohio, who is described as a fellow wounded zebra with nice shoes and $5,000 worth of orthodontia and desires to fit in to a crowd (preferably the Marthas) to Mr. Freeman, the hideous but laid-back art teacher with a grasshopper body and what looks like a credit card between his eyes as a nose. The reader can easily identify Melinda’s enemies, so some characters are more dislikable than others.
The story starts out with Melinda getting on the bus to go to her first day of high school. Every person including people who have never met her personally and her old friends will not talk to her. Because of her desperation to find friends, Melinda becomes friendly with Heather, the super self-centered new girl from Ohio. Heather immediately clings to Melinda. A former “solid B student”, her grades go down as she distances herself from friends and family. Melinda started skipping school with only own aspiration: to take a nap. She finds a hide-away, an abandoned janitor’s closet, to go to when she wants fulfill her aspiration or whenever she feels anxious. The janitor’s closet and Mr. Freeman’s class are the only places Melinda begins to feel secure. Throughout the book, the reason why Melinda is a social pariah is revealed. She called the cops at an end-of-summer party. Why she called the cops is revealed near the end of the story.
We should raise our voice and speak the truth no matter what. Melinda eventually speaks up and tells one of her friends the reason she called the cops the night of the party. After that point, life got easier for Melinda. The story shows that keeping the truth from everyone not only hurts us, but it hurts others.
All teenagers who feel like they do not fit in should read this book. I read Speak every year, because I get a better understanding of the book each time I turn the page. The plot never gets old, in fact; I enjoy the story more and more each time.
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