Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson
If you were attacked, who would you tell?
"Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say" (Anderson 9).
Melinda is starting her first year at Merryweather High completely alone. Her friends and acquaintances deserted her after she called the cops on a party at the end of the previous school year. But she can't tell anyone what really happened at the party: she was raped by an upperclassman named Andy Evans. As the year begins, she gains and loses friends, struggles through classes, and tries to work up the courage to tell people about the incident. The trouble is, Andy still goes to Merryweather, and things are only getting worse for Melinda as he gets closer to her old friend Rachel. Speak is the story of how Melinda recovered from her struggles and found herself again. Be one of many to join the story.