The power of finding one's voice

Anderson, L. H. (1999). Speak. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux. This powerful novel tells the story of Melinda, a popular, well-liked student preparing for her freshman year. But before the new school year begins, Melinda attends a party and is sexually assaulted by one of the most popular boys in high school. She calls the police, who break up the party, but tells no one of the rape.

By the beginning of the school year, Melinda has become a pariah, the girl who called the cops on her friends for a party. Alternately ridiculed and shunned, Melinda attempts to hide from the world, so traumatized is she from her experience. Her only refuge is art class and a rarely used janitorial closet that provides her a safe haven from the cruelty of her classmates and former friends.

Melinda’s struggle and her eventual triumph over the vicious attach she suffered is a slow, painstaking process, Like many rape victims, Melinda blames herself for the crime committed against her, which makes us root for her all the more as she struggles to find the strength to face down the person who wronged her. Speak paints a stark, insightful portrait of an inspiring young woman’s reentry into th

e world after a painful, emotional journey.

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