This book is about a girl named Melinda Sordino. In this book, Melinda tries to keep forgetting a secret of her past. This secret has ruined everything for her. From loosing her best friends, to her grades. Melinda used to be part of the clan, the plain jamses. Before a event at a party changed her life. Melinda had called the cops because she was scared. And with that, ex best friends hadn't given her another thought. They didn't even think to ask her what had happened, and they don't forgive her for a mistake she can't take back. In school she gets these nasty glares, and whispers across the room like, "I hate you." Mr. Freedman is Melinda's art teacher he believes that you can create your emotion into art. At the beginning of the year her class was given a assignedment for the whole year. You would need to pick out of a glob that his child had kicked a large hole through. Melinda had gotten the word, "Tree." She believed this was going to be an easy task until she actaully tried working with it. She would draw trees, and leaves..but she felt as if there was no meaning to it. But by the end of the book, she finds a way to interact emotion to the tree. Melinda has a class with a boy she finds, "cute" in science. On valentines day she gets over excited when she finds a card on her locker, believing it was from him but was from Heather. She had gotten a card from Heather saying, "Thank you." for understanding the fact she didn't want to be friends anymore. Heather didn't want to be friends with Melinda anymore because she thought Melinda was too much of a depressing person and that she was bringing her down, and because of that she left her. Even after all the favors Melinda did for her, and for always be there for her. Melinda hates the sight of Andy Evans, she can't look at him for too long before she goes into shock. He is now dating her former best friend, Rachelle. Melinda strains herself from telling her everything, but eventually she finds the courage. She explains to Rachelle the reason she called the cops, and Rachelle becomes over weal med with guilt for not believing her the first time.

The theme of the novel, "Speak." is I believe being strong even when it almost seems impossible to. Melinda didn't have to go through what most normal teens do. She in my opinion is a suriver. She went through bullying, losing all the people she cared about (friends), and she was sexually assaulted. But even through that, she still found a reason to be there. She didn't give up because she had hope that things would get better. And most people wouldn't be able to be as strong as Melinda, most people wouldn't be able to take that kind of pain. Another theme in this book is moving on. This theme takes place in the book speak because Melinda had to learn to move on from her past because it was the one thing holding her back from living her life. When she learned to accept things, and to let go, she became a happier person. Those are the two main things of the book, "Speak."

People tended to like this book.