Speak
By Laurie Halse Anderson
Summary
In the book speak Melinda the main character first makes a new friend that moved to the school. She was her only friend because nobody else would talk to her. The new girl is Heather from Ohio, she becomes Melinda’s best friend for a while until she finds a new group of friends. Heather decides to ditch Melinda she ends up in the crowd with Melinda’s ex-best friend. Melinda has a secret that she hasn't told anybody because she does not know how too. She tried to tell Rachel, her ex-best friend, what happened but she does not believe her.
About Melinda Sordino
Melinda is a student that nobody else talks too so she does not speak to many people at all. The very first thing she thinks when she gets to school is “I am an outcast”. She only really talks to her parents through notes on the counter and makes one few friends through the whole year. Melinda spends most of her time in school skipping class because she does not want to be there and everybody ignores her.
Conflicts and Resolution
In Speak there is a character vs. character conflict. Melinda is battling herself about how and when to tell somebody what happened at the party. She does not know how to say what happened and talk about it. Through the whole book she is trying to find out how to say it and what to say. Her resolution was to tell Rachel what happened, she decided this because they went to the party together. But when Melinda tells Rachel she does not believe her because she is dating IT. Rachel just thinks that she is jealous and wants to date him.
Theme
Never believe rumors that are spread around, what actually happened to that person could be very different than what you heard. Everybody started ignoring Melinda because of a rumor that they heard. She was the only person who really knew what happened and why she did what she did. Once she finally told someone what happened they did not believe her because the rumor had been spread around to everybody in school.
Textual Evidence
I believe that the most powerful part is when Melinda tells Rachel what happened at the party. Rachel says "What? I can't believe you. Liar! You're jealous! I'm popular and i'm going to prom and you're telling me this. That's twisted, Melinda! Seriously, you're sick. You need help!" This part is so important because after she tells Rachel Andy tries to do it again. When there are witnesses Rachel finally believes her so it shows meaning in not spreading rumors. Everybody was mad at Melinda for calling the cops at the party when actually she was the only person who really knew why she called the cops.
Review
I would give Speak a 5 star rating because I think it was very well written from the point of view of a person that was being bullied. Melinda got ignored and it talked about how she felt and what was going through her mind when something happened.