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Speak | 
 enlarge | Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Creator: Mandy Siegfried
Publisher: Listening Library
Category: Book
List Price: $22.00
Buy New: $13.08
You Save: $8.92 (41%)
New (12) Used (7) Collectible (1) from $4.94
Avg. Customer Rating:  1175 reviews
Sales Rank: 716984
Format: Unabridged
Media: Audio Cassette
Edition: Unabridged
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 3
Pages: 300
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.2 x 4.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0807282642
EAN: 9780807282649
ASIN: 0807282642
Publication Date: July 5, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new Item. CD, DVD, Book, VHS more than 400 000 titles to choose from. ALL days Low Price !
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Amazon.com
Since the beginning of the school year, high school freshman Melinda has found that it's been getting harder and harder for her to speak out loud: "My throat is always sore, my lips raw.... Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze.... It's like I have some kind of spastic laryngitis." What could have caused Melinda to suddenly fall mute? Could it be due to the fact that no one at school is speaking to her because she called the cops and got everyone busted at the seniors' big end-of-summer party? Or maybe it's because her parents' only form of communication is Post-It notes written on their way out the door to their nine-to-whenever jobs. While Melinda is bothered by these things, deep down she knows the real reason why she's been struck mute... Laurie Halse Anderson's first novel is a stunning and sympathetic tribute to the teenage outcast. The triumphant ending, in which Melinda finds her voice, is cause for cheering (while many readers might also shed a tear or two). After reading Speak, it will be hard for any teen to look at the class scapegoat again without a measure of compassion and understanding for that person--who may be screaming beneath the silence. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
Product Description
Read by Mandy Siegfried
5 hours 1 minute, 3 cassettes
1999 National Book Award Finalist
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
Booklist Editors' Choice
Melinda is a friendless outcast at Merryweather High. She busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, and now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. It is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and who is still a threat to her. It will take another violent encounter with him to make Melinda fight back. This time she refuses to be silent.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1170 more reviews...
 Speak August 12, 2008
Speak is a good book that deals with a young girl who has been raped, but she doesnt tell anyone what has happened to her. she is an outcast at her highschool, and is depressed.
Speak is written well but its depressing...although, the end is very good, i liked that.
 ok purchase August 4, 2008
the price was great and the story itself was ok. it's another look at pressures placed on girls during high school
 Juvenile and poorly written July 25, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
Hmm.... what to say, what to say....
Okay- Speak.
The plot sucked and the character was obnoxiously TYPICAL - or rather, what an adult who doesn't know thinks a teenager is.
I thought that this book would be a real great story about being alone, being solitary, and depression. I was wrong. It was "oh I'm not popular, woe is me" type things, and the whole story about the rape is unreal and just blah.
The main character lacked any real depth no matter how hard the author tried- and so did all the rest of the characters. There was no character development or development of ANY kind - yes, it has a happy ending and all is well - but there wasn't any real journey and there was no plotline to follow along with.
I would only recommend this book to people searching for books featuring two-dimensional stereotypical teenagers at a high school that survives on labels.
The only reason I gave it two stars instead of one is because - at least I read the whole thing.
 This has meaning. Pain. July 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My mom found this book on a plane. Someone left it there perhaps accidently as they were gathering up their suitcases, or as I prefer to believe, because they finished reading it and wanted others to read about it. That's why I love books so much they are meant to be read, shared, enjoyed. My mom read it and then gave it to me to read. I may leave the book on a park bench or on the beach.
This book reads easy but that does not at all imply that this is a simple book. On the contrary, Anderson discusses the angst of being a young teenager, high school clicks, the inability to conform, losing friends, and loss of communication within families. In all honesty, I read the book in 4 or 5 hours because I couldn't put it down.
Anderson writes with fluid grace. Her style is quick, fluid, sarcastic, witty, and at times haunting. The protagonist, Melinda, hardly says anything. Her parents think she has become mute. They think she is rebelling, as all teenagers do. Their own relationship is a model of dysfunction and waste. Her only outlet is in her art class. Her assignment is simple: she has the whole year to do a project and recreate a tree that emotionally moves everyone. That would be well and fine, except, Melinda checked out emotionally last year. After a certain party. After she "called the cops" for reasons unknown to her friends. She doesn't tell anyone what happened that night, and since then her walls have come up and she feels like ice blocks her throat.
Every teenage girl should read this novel in my opinion. I think everyone can relate to at least one aspect of the book which is why I enjoyed this. I like novels that speak to me in some way and I can relate to it. Melinda has some powerful memories of certain instances that she remembered as a child - like when she was out in the snow - and recalling how life appeared much easier back then. She could talk to people. Clearly, something tragic shook Melinda to her very core at the party and she was suffering from PTSD.
I highly recommend this book to all young people and adults.
Great Book!! July 16, 2008
Great Service very quick. My daughter already read the book..and we are
ordering more by the same author...great summer reading
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