Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

It’s Melinda Sordino’s first day of high school, and, from across the room, her best friend mouths to her, “I hate you.” Everyone seems to know who she is, and everyone seems to hate her, too.

Infamous for being the girl who ruined the best party of the summer, Melinda quickly retreats into her own world. All she wants is to be left alone, but she is keeping a terrible secret, a secret that, if told, would destroy the insular little cocoon that Melinda has wrapped around herself.

Dark and sarcastic, Melinda’s take on high school is smart and piercing. She watches from the outside – an angry ghost. But the truth of what happened that night needs to be told, eventually.

Bbliotherapeutic value: Writer Anderson emphasizes that victims must expose the victimizer to break the cycle of rape and abuse. An affecting tale of violence and healing.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. 2009.

ISBN: 0142414735. $11.99.