Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Title: Speak
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Publisher: Penguin Group
Year: 1999
# Pages: 198 plus bonus material

Category: Banned/Challenged
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Awards & Honors: (This is only the list of national awards. This novel has also won many state and bookseller awards.)

• ALA Best Book for Young Adults
• ALA Top-10 Best Book for Young Adults
• ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults
• Edgar Allan Poe Award finalist
• IRA Young Adult Choice
• Junior Library Guild Selection
• Michael L. Printz Honor Book
  
• National Book Award Finalist
• New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
• New York Times Bestseller List
• SCBWI Golden Kite Award
• YALSA Popular Paperback for Young Adults
  

Although this book was published in 1999, it received attention in 2010 when it was the subject of a book challenge in Missouri, instigated by an article written by a college professor who argued its appropriateness for inclusion in the curriculum of a local school system mainly due to descriptions of two rape scenes. A formal, written complaint was filed and this novel was included in a number of complaints about information found in the school system's history and science textbooks as well as the sexual content of two other novels. I was not able to find official information about a decision made in the school system. However, there was quick and overwhelming support for Speak among the local and broader public and literary community. The author of Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson issued several responses, including a video in which she reads an original poem called "Listen." Click here to go to the author's blog and watch the video response. It was actually this poem by Laurie Halse Anderson that made me want to read this book. I stumbled upon it during my Children's Literature class a few months ago, and filed it away in my memory --gotta read that book when I get the chance. So, even though the book fell technically out of our copyright date range for our class assignments, I asked permission to read this book for one of my "challenged books."

My Summary & Critique:

This is the type of book that I stumble to describe because the words don't seem to do it justice. The book opens in Melinda's voice, giving account of her first day of high school, and it is clear that she has a particularly grim view of life. Although she longs for friendship and acceptance, it eludes her as her former friends shun her and she is taunted by others. The reader soon learns that students are upset with her because she called the police at a party over the summer and several people got into a lot of trouble because of this call. Through most of the novel, Melinda chooses not to speak, instead retreating into a dark world of loneliness and isolation. Her silence becomes an integral part of her voice as a character. Melinda takes the reader through her thoughts, her observations and her feelings without using a lot of dialogue to do it. It takes two thirds of the novel before Melinda reveals the details of what happened that night--she was raped. Through a series of events, others eventually learn the truth and she is able to confront her fears and her pain and begin to work through it.

I thought this book was masterfully written. Young adult readers can connect immediately with Melinda and identify with her pain, her depression, and her isolation even when they do not know the cause. Her parents seem disconnected, her family, dysfunctional, so Melinda retreats inward and shuts everyone out through her silence. Much of this book deals with her darkness and depression, but there is also hope. She lives with parents who don't hear her so she chooses not to speak to them; she has terrible teachers, but in the end, she also has teachers and friends who reach out to her and help her through her problems. Melinda is able to find skills and strengths she didn't know she had and she is able to find therapy through art. One thing I liked about this story is that it seems real--no planned happy ending where the bad guy gets the expected punishment. There are loose ends, but they make the story real and not a "made for tv movie." I think young adult readers connect to this story because of its honesty and darkness. Laurie Halse Anderson has brought readers of all ages into the world of teenagers and into the mind of a victim struggling to make sense of senseless situations. There is SO much that could be discussed with a group of students--the silence and shame, symbolism of the trees, clues Melinda gives, turning-points, etc. Yet, I am content to leave it alone, to digest it and not ruin it by pulling everything out in the open. In one of the supplements to the text, the author responds to the many requests that readers have had for her to write a sequel. She doesn't discount the possibility entirely, but I think she probably feels as I do--that this book doesn't need one, shouldn't have one. Sometimes silence is exactly what we need.