Comments (95)

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1 to 25 of 95 items
Oct 29, 2023
Speak is a book about a teenage girl going through high school and trying to find her voice after being raped at a party. Ostracized by her classmates for calling the police and breaking up the party, she has no one to turn to in this dark…
Aug 09, 2023violet_dolphin_6433 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Speak By: Laurie Halse Anderson Nobody likes Melinda Sordino. She’s an outcast, unwanted . . . all because she called the cops at the big summer party before her freshman year. Now IN her freshman year, she’s stuck with no one to talk to,…
Aug 03, 2023skyekilaen rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Really powerful stuff. I hadn't read the original, so all I had to go on was this graphic novel, and I thought that worked fine. Definitely recommend this.
Jul 12, 2023InnisfilTeenReads rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
“Speak” is a book by Laurie Halse Anderson about a girl named Melinda. Melinda is starting high school but she’s having a difficult time because of an incident she experience last summer at the party. Melinda lost her best friend, her…
May 17, 2023GillianAlice rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
I probably would have enjoyed this more back when I was an angsty teen. It definitely has value though, and, like most challenged or banned books, is not actually inappropriate for the target audience.
Apr 26, 2023
*******Trigger warnings for rape and self-harm. ******* Please take caution with this book. Other titles by this author have been fine, but this one is dangerous, in my opinion, if the reader is experiencing any degree of depression or…
Mar 30, 2023vampire1111 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
ily melinda sordino
Mar 05, 2023GBchristchurch rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Personally this book was amazing and i totally recommend it
Dec 30, 2022JCLPiepieB rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I'd never read this book before! Painfully beautiful. Beautiful in that the writing was really lovely and lyrical. And painful in that, well... you know. Your heart just breaks for poor Melinda. You'll find yourself just wanting to hug…
Dec 09, 2022WorkaholicInProgress rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
It probably wasn't a good idea for 4th-grade me to read this, but it was an amazing experience and kick-started my love for books.
Dec 01, 2022
Speak is about a character named Melinda Sordino who narrates her experiences during her freshman year of high school in the Syracuse area of New York. I found parts of this book relatable in that the main character finds trying to fit in…
Sep 10, 2022indigo_swan_111 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Melinda Sordino is a freshman in high school and she is unable to find her voice after going through a traumatic experience. She is the school outcast because she called the cops and busted an end of the year school party, and struggles…
Aug 29, 2022numbkitten rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The book started off kind of slow for me. I was about half way when it started to pick up for me. The second half of the book had me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't put it down until I finished the book. It took a crazy turn and I was…
Jun 07, 2022pacl_teens rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
"The book ¨speak¨ was a book I recently read, this book was not what I expected, I hear about this book from a friend and wanted to read it. This book tells the story of a teen who had an incident that caused her to become depressed. This…
May 07, 2022
“Speak” is an incredible book that I was physically unable to put down as I read. As I read, I was blown away by how realistically Laurie Halse Anderson was able to portray teenagers, and the experience of high school. I was able to…
Apr 11, 2022Anita_Dickey rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I read this book for the 52 books in 52 weeks reading challenge. I used the 2021 prompt read a book with discussion questions inside. It is also on Listopia's 300 books everyone should read once list. I found this book to be very powerful.…
Mar 01, 2022VaughanPLMinnie rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Speak follows an ostracized high school student as she navigates self-recrimination, insecurity and doubt after experiencing a traumatic assault, but ultimately finding the courage to claim her worth by speaking up for herself. The…
Dec 10, 2021
March 2022 - Michelle
Nov 29, 2021devilsmistake rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
this book caught me. i could barely put it down. Melinda is a high school student, reeling from an incident-possible rape-during the summer that made her lose her friends and made her the outcast of the school. she then goes to art class…
Oct 25, 2021JerryJennings rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, 1999, is an important book. It was a National Book Award finalist. I just read it, now 22 years after it was published, and it still is important. Especially, for pre-teen and teenage girls, teenage boys,…
Jul 23, 2021kmcdouall rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
In the 20+ years since this seminal novel was published, YA literature has blossomed into a universe that explores many difficult topics. Domestic abuse, sexual assault, and rape are subjects that would fill a lengthy YA shelf, but we can…
Jul 20, 2021
The novel Speak is about Melinda, a Freshman in high-school who will not speak ever since she called the cops on a summer party. She tries her best to keep her big secret from her family and old friends, no matter how hard it may be. One…
Jul 11, 2021gab_04 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
The novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is about Melinda who starts off high school being a total outcast (even from her “best friends”). During the summer Melinda called the cops at an end-of-summer party and it got busted; since then…
Jul 09, 2021
This book is about a young girl named Melinda who was raped by a senior at her high school, Andy Evans. She is traumatized by this event and struggles with accepting the fact that it was not her fault that a senior at her high school…
Jul 05, 2021shathhh rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
TW: Mention of rape in this book review In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, fourteen-year-old Melinda is raped by a senior at her high school. She initially struggles with her self-identity in coping, having no friends, being…