Just Speak, why don't ya?

The first YA novel I read for my class was Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.

Now I had always wanted to read this book. I had first heard of it when I was a freshman in high school, the same age as the protagonist. But I never had the opportunity to read it then.

I would see it almost every time I went to the bookstore to buy some new novels to read just for fun. I often picked it up, read the back cover, and put it back down. Why? Gosh, I have no idea. I would be saving it for another day.

And so finally when we had our pick for a YA novel, and my professor was passing around her copies of books, I snagged it as soon as it hit my desk, so grateful that I would finally, FINALLY read it.

Now first off, I will say that I didn't particularly LOVE this book. I most certainly enjoyed it, and I most certainly got caught up in everything that was going on (especially the excellent ending scene!). However, I didn't love it. Just liked it.

The story follows a girl, Melinda, who is just starting up her freshman year of high school. If that wasn't bad enough, she's starting her year as a hated outcast. Not even her former friends will talk with her, and some are just downright mean. Everybody came to hate her because of what she had done the summer before school started-- she called the police to break up a party.

Melinda has a secret, however, and she chooses to keep it deep inside, thinking that nobody would believe her anyway if she said it aloud.

Even though Melinda houses this deep, dark secret, she also struggles with the same things that every teenager struggles with. She struggles with dealing with her parents, she struggles with grades and school, she struggles with finding friends, she struggles with her feelings for a boy-- all things that an average teenage girl has to deal with. Every teen has challenges, and every teen has to find their voice, just like Melinda.

Everyone has to learn to speak.