Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a 1999 National book award finalist.  The idea behind the book is a very good example of how a teenager’s life actually works.  The story ties the reader’s mind to the main character. Melinda Sordino takes her experiences and uses them to get to people that went through the same exact thing.

The story behind Speak is Melinda is starting her ninth grade year off and everyone hates her.  She is a outcast.  She has one friend.  Her name is Heather.  Melinda walks through school with her other classmates  glaring at her.  The story said that Melinda calls the police and they bust the party that all her friends were attending, so all her old friends hate her.

Melinda holds a big secret too.  Something happened to her in the summer that changed her whole life forever.   She says that the safest place for her to be is in her own head.  As the story goes on, it shows you the events that went down at that party that made people hate Melinda and why she keeps to herself now.  A lot of things change for her.  Her life was turned upside down.

The feeling of the book is the similar feeling teens now a days have.  I shows the stress and the pain of a teenager.  This book is perfect to relate to if you go through the same struggles as Melinda does.  Plus,  the book keeps you tied in with all the twist. It’s a good book to read for hours.