Laurie Halse Anderson's, Speak , dives into the murky, muddy waters of adolescent rape culture. When the book was published in 1999, rape was not a comfortable topic to discuss with adults, let alone teenagers. Anderson writes about Melinda Sordino and her freshman high school experience which is turning out to be rather negative. Soriano stands as a thriving young role model for struggling teenage girls all over the world. Although she isn't an outstanding student or have plenty of friends to juggle, through Melinda, other young women can see that it's completely normal and okay to struggle in high school not only academically, but socially and emotionally. One of my favorite parts of the novel isn't a super obvious quality. Throughout the novel, Melinda's attitude changes and grows with the coming of spring and through nature and art, she learns to move past her troubling end of summer experience and once again find the importance of her voice. Melind...
This sounds like an incredibly important book. Now that I think about it, I don't think there was ever a lesson in school about eating disorders except in health class when we were told what each one was. There was nothing about body positivity, or how people who have eating disorders can find help.
ReplyDeleteI also think this book might help other young girls realize they have an eating disorder. Without proper education, some people may not know they are suffering through something so many others are as well.