Speak

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York: Puffin, 2001. Print.

Annotation
After something terrible happened to Melinda at an end-of-summer party, she called the cops; the party was busted and all her friends - even people she doesn't know - now hate her. Not the best way to start high school. Anderson's book manages to be dark, moving, and funny at the same time.

Booktalk
Melinda is a leper. Every friend she used to have now hates her. Her teachers distrust her and strangers knock her around. Her parents don't speak to her except to fight. She's a leper and she's got the stained
clothes, dried scabs and dirty hair to prove it.

It's the first day of 9th grade, the beginning of high school, and Melinda has a secret that she can't speak. And everyone hates her for it. She's flunking every class but art, she can't sleep, and her only sanctuary is a forgotten janitor's closet which may or may not be home to some dead rats. Summer school is a given. She'll be lucky to make it through the year without going crazy.

She can't speak, and the only one who knows her secret is getting dangerously closer. If Melinda doesn't want to relive her terrible secret, she needs to learn quickly; she needs to learn how to Speak.

Awards
2000 Prinz Honor Book
1999 National Book Award Finalist
Edgar Allan Poe Award Finalist
Golden Kite Award Winner
ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults
ALA Quick Pick
Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
Booklist Top Ten First Novel of 1999
BCCB Blue Ribbon Book
SLJ Best Book of the Year
Horn Book Fanfare Title

Speak was the subject of a 2004 movie starring Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame.

(Image credit: Madison Public Library)