“You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?”

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson is a book I think everyone can relate to. 

Melinda Sordino has a rough start to her freshman year of high school. She talks all about the school’s culture, students, classes, and teachers. 

Melinda Sordino is the main character in this story. She is full of sarcasm and is completely honest and careless. She doesn’t have a strong relationship with her parents. When she gets home from school, her parents are at work, while she stays home alone. She also has trust issues, which makes it hard for her to make friends. Melinda never talks. She just sits quietly without saying a word. Whenever she tries to talk to a teacher or her parents, she just sputters or freezes. Her comfort space is her closet. She even found the janitor’s closet to hide in at school. 

Mr. Freeman was Melinda’s art teacher. They had an art project that year. She had to choose a random word from a bowl and make an art piece from that word. Melinda’s word was “Tree.” If only Melinda knew how much Mr.Freeman and that project would impact, help her speak up, and help Melinda find her voice. 

But at some point, Melinda had to call 911 and deal with trauma the rest of her life. “It wasn’t my fault. He hurt me. It wasn’t my fault. And I’m not going to let it kill me. I can grow.”

My overall opinion on Speak is that this book is relatable to the max. This book kept me on the hook. Each and every chapter was something relatable or something that’s could happen in the future for everyone heading to high school. All the feelings, questions and thoughts Melinda felt or asked herself were almost the exact ones I felt, asked and thought throughout my life. 

I’ve read other books that are in the same genre but all of them were not as eye-catching as Speak. They mostly all stated unimportant and uninteresting things. Not like Speak. The first chapter of this wonderful book, talked about Merryweather High, Melinda’s high school. The author explained each aspect of the setting of this high school, which gave me a clear setting of a stereotypical high school. Melinda’s sarcasm made this book so much more pleasant to read.

I totally recommend reading this book, or even skimming through it. If you’re into sarcastic, relatable, heart-touching, inspirational, or sad books, Speak is the book for you. Go and join Melinda as she finds her voice.