Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson's young adult novel follows Melinda Sordino, who begins her freshman year of high school as an outcast after she called the police during a summer party, an act that turned her classmates against her. The reader gradually learns that she called for help after being raped by an older student, a trauma she cannot bring herself to name. Withdrawn and nearly silent, Melinda retreats into herself while trying to survive the social cruelty of school, finding a fragile outlet in an art class assignment. Anderson writes in Melinda's wry, wounded inner voice, tracing her slow movement from silence toward speaking the truth. The book became a landmark of young adult fiction for its honest treatment of sexual assault and recovery, and it is widely taught and read.
What you might want to know about Speak
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A high school freshman stops speaking after a traumatic event, and slowly finds her voice again through art.
It is aimed at older teens, since it deals seriously with sexual assault, though it does so without graphic detail.
Speak was written by Laurie Halse Anderson, published in 1999 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Speak is 197 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Speak takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
Speak is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.