Reaction to Speak

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Speak was a very hard novel for me to read. Every day I struggled to sit down and find the courage to actually read the words. Sometimes I would sit down, book in hand, and find myself staring at the pages without registering anything that the text was saying. It wasn't because of the text itself but because of my deep and personal connection to the meaning of it. Being homeschooled my whole life I was thrown into public high school for the first time in my senior year. Like Melinda, I was thrown into a new school with extremely heavy baggage on my shoulders and I had absolutely no idea the appropriate way to handle it. I suppose that the largest area we differed in, was the fact that she entered a school that was filled with people whom she has known for some time, and her baggage was directly tied to these very students. Me on the other hand? Mine was 600miles away, but it didn't seem to matter. I had no idea how to be social or how to connect to the "normal kids." In this regard Melinda and I are very much the same, going through school living in our heads and experiencing heavy trends of isolation. Because of this, we are vulnerable to be used by others who are trying to get ahead. You see this play out in Melinda's "friendship" with Heather. Heather was an entirely new ice to the town, but she used Melinda's desperate state to try and get ahead for her own status.

This book is very important for teens and should be encouraged to be taught in high schools today. The events that take place in the novel are not "off the wall," they are very realistic events that actually happen to many students in the halls of our schools. By reading the novel it will help to bring about awareness to teens who are particularly naive and don't have any idea of these very real problems that impact so of their peers. With hope, this novel will give perspective to these students and adolescents so that they can think twice when interacting with one another. So that when they see that one shy kid that everyone picks on, they will hopefully not jump on the bandwagon but rather they will recognize that there may be something larger going on and help to befriend them. In addition to this, this novel will help struggling teens realize that they are not alone and perhaps even help them to "Speak" up.

Speak is not just a novel for teens however, I believe that it adults also should be highly encouraged to read it. The important themes that take place and the events that happen, as mentioned earlier, are very real things that actually happen. It's important for all people to make an effort to really listen to our teens when they open up about their day because far to often it is ignored with the label of "just high school drama." It also can be very beneficial to educators and really anyone who works with this group of individuals because sensitivity is essential to understanding and working with any high schooler and/or adolescent who may be struggling like Melinda. And lastly, upon completion of reading the book it may help and encourage you to "Speak" up about your own past.

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