Book Review - SPEAK - TWU LS 5603 assignment

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Laurie Halse.  1999.  SPEAK.  Platinum Edition.  New York:  Penguin.  ISBN
            0142407321

PLOT SUMMARY

Where is the pre-party Melinda?  Who is the post-party Melinda?  Anderson explores the confusion, heartache, and fears of a young teen girls’ freshman year of high school following a tramatic summer event.  Melinda traverses the high school halls of horror alone and lonely, trying to block out what happened .  This terrible secret envelopes Melinda’s life, casting a shadow over her former self, and taking its toll over her emotional well-being.  She can’t ‘speak’ of what happened, who would believe me?  Basically, she doesn’t ‘speak’ much at all.  Melinda is befriended by her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, and works through a lot of her emotions with art class projects.  She also receives support from two new friends, David and Ivy.  It is with Ivy by her side that Melinda exercises her first act of ‘speaking up’ (p. 175), “I hold the cap in my teeth.  I start another subject thread on the wall:  Guys to Stay Away From.  The first entry is the Beast himself:  Andy Evans.”

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Anderson captures Melinda’s sense of lost identity and need to hide on page 124, “Eyes after eyes after eyes stare back at me.  Am I in there somewhere?...I pull the side flaps of the mirror in closer, folding myself into the looking glass and blocking out the rest…” Even Melinda is having trouble figuring out who and where the girl is that she once was.

The author demonstrates her understanding of fear, confusion, and heartbreak in her passage on page 132 where Melinda is fighting with herself about whether to go have pizza with David:
            Melinda One: “Get a life…You worry too much…You’re never going to let us have any fun…I can’t stand you”
            Melinda Two: “The world is a dangerous place…Assume the worst.  Plan for disaster. Now hurry up and get us home.  I don’t like it out here. It’s too dark”
            She ends with, “If I kick both of them out of my head, who would be left?”
This passage reeks with self-loathing, terror, and lonliness.

 Anderson includes several different styles of language.  This [profound] statement by David is an example of the strength and power of the author’s symbolism (p. 159), “But don’t expect to make a difference unless you speak up for yourself.”

This topic cuts across generations, genders, and cultures.  It tackles a subject matter that must be given a voice; men, women, boys, and girls need to feel free to ‘speak’ about such atrocities.

AWARDS

1999 National Book Award Finalist in Young People’s Literature
2000 Michael L. Printz Honor Book
New York Times Children’s Best Seller: September 11, 2005
2008 ALAN Award
2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award

REVIEWS

YOUNG ADULT LIBRARY SERVICES (YALS)l:  “Non-traditional  form…divides her novel into four sections that reflect a school year’s traditional grading periods…then presented in a series of short scenes told in the first person voice of protagonist”

BOOK LINKS:  “The story presents a realistic picture of American highschool life and its concomitant social pressures”

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy:  “The novel is written in an unconventional style including short, vignette-like chapters and life-like visual representations of Melinda’s report cards…a skillfully written novel, is a book that might ‘speak’ to teen readers and help them cope with problems”

HORN BOOK MAGAZINE: “Melinda’s smart and savvy interior narrative slowly reveals the searing pain of that 911 night....nightmare discloses itself in bits throughout the story…we feel her choking on her untold secret”

PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY:  “is remarkable for both Melinda's strong voice--an ironic twist for a character who rarely speaks but has a pungent internal monologue--and for its taut structure”

CONNECTIONS

LESSONS

http://www.bookrags.com/lessonplan/speak/funactivities.html http://madwomanintheforest.com/teachers/youngadult-speak/ http://www.viterbo.edu/perspgs/faculty/GSmith/LessonPlanforSpeak.htm

Books

Alexie, Sherman.  THE ABSOLUTELY TURE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN.  ISBN    978-0316013697Anderson, Laurie Halse.  WINTERGIRLS.  ISBN  978-0142415573Asher, Jay.  THIRTEEN REASONS WHY.  ISBN  978-1595141880Cisneros, Sandra.  THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET.  ISBN  978-0679734772
Myers, Walter Dean.  MONSTER.  ISBN  978-0064407311