(4 bks)
Anderson, L. (1999). Speak. New York, NY : Farrar Straus Giroux.
Book type: Novel, 197 pages.
Grades: 8th and up
Awards:
Michael L. Pritz Honor Book
National Book Award Finalist
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Booklist Editors’ Choice
The Horn Book’s Honor List
Summary: The focus of this book tells the story of peer pressure, a sense of needing to fit in, and rape. Melinda Sordino, a student who is just entering high school, finds herself with no friends just because of a summer party gone wrong. Her friends don’t know the whole story of why she called the cops, all they can think about is how she ruined a great time. Unable to deal with what happened at the party, Melinda finds herself unable to speak about what happened and begins self-destructing. As the school year continues, she finds the courage to speak up about what happened in fear that the same thing will happen to an ex-friend who she still cares about. She regains her courage and her voice but will it happen to her again? While cleaning out her safe room that she finds during the school year to escape to, Andy Evans is furious because she has told her ex-friend what happened. Will Andy rape her again or does he just want to talk?
Credibility of Author: Laurie Halse Anderson suffers from nightmares. One night she awoke to what she thought was a woman crying. Unable to go back to sleep, she starts writing. The development of Melinda begins. She used a lot of her high school memories to create this novel. To research, she headed to the twin touchstones of suburban adolescents: Taco Bell and The Mall. She watched, she talked, and she listened. This novel was not written about her or her daughters.
Illustrator/Illustrations: The jacket art is by Michael Morgenstern.
National Standards: Physical Education Standards: Responsible Behavior, Respect for Others, and Understanding Challenge
Health Standards: Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Health Information, Products and Services, and Using Communication Skills to Promote Health
Access features: There is a book jacket that tells a short summary of the book and information about the author. There is a dedication page and topic headings that help the reader to understand what they are about to read about.
My response to the book: This book definitely captured the sense of wanting or trying to fit in. It really brought home the emotions that teenagers feel when seen as an outcast. I liked the way that the author let Melinda tell the story instead of just telling the reader how she felt. This helped the story become more powerful in understanding her thoughts, rage, and anger at the people who hurt her. This really drew me in to wanting to help Melinda to open up and speak.
How I would use this book in my classroom: This would be a great book to discuss how we can self-destruct if we don’t talk about what is bothering us. I feel that most students can relate to wanting to fit in or being seen as an outcast. There are many discussions that could come from this book such as: rape, prejudice, and prom-night.
Related text: Cut by Patricia Mccormick and It Happened to Nancy: By an Anonymous Teenager, A True Story from Her Diary by Beatrice Sparks
3 comments:
This sounds like such a great way to teach students about how their behavior and the things they do affect other people. I think this would definitely be a sobering experience for some students.
This book was recommended to me by a colleague when looking for literature to use in another course I was taking. She summarized it for me and it sounded interesting but not what I needed. After reading your annotation, it would be a good book for me to read!
The author's website is: writerlady.com. Has interesting information about her life. She's written a nonfiction book for children about Saudi Arabia--I didn't know about this.
Other awards posted on this website for Speak: National Book Award Finalist, Printz Honor book, a Booklist “Top10 First Novels of 1999.
I recommended this book to a 9th grader when she had to choose a book for a book report. Her mom asked me for a recommendation because her daughter had no idea what a good book might be. She LOVED it and she recommended it to her sister and several friends. Now they read it as a class novel in high school--I actually think they wait a bit to late to use this book--11th grade, I think. Similar situations arise much earlier and I think reading and discussing this book could help young people think about these issues, hopefully before they arise.
I liked the book better than the movie (go figure!)
Another aspect of the book that's important is the use of the art work to show how the character developed--I loved the symbolism of the tree throughout, even on the cover.
Post a Comment