Can I read Speak on EtoBox?

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a work of fiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is Speak about?

In a stunning first novel, Anderson uses keen observations and vivid imagery to pull readers into the head of an isolated teenager. Divided into the four marking periods of an academic year, the novel, narrated by Melinda Sordino, begins on her first day as a high school freshman. No one will sit with Melinda on the bus. At school, students call her names and harass her; her best friends from junior high scatter to different cliques and abandon her. Yet Anderson infuses the narrative with a wit that sustains the heroine through her pain and holds readers' empathy. A girl at a school pep rally offers an explanation of the heroine's pariah status when she confronts Melinda about calling the police at a summer party, resulting in several arrests. But readers do not learn why Melinda made the call until much later: a popular senior raped her that night and, because of her trauma, she barely speaks at all. Only through her work in art class, and with the support of a compassionate teacher there, does she begin to reach out to others and eventually find her voice. Through the first-person narration, the author makes Melinda's pain palpable: "I stand in the center aisle of the auditorium,

Who reads Speak?

Author

Laurie Halse Anderson

Publisher

Speak

Published

1999

Language

EN

ISBN

9781613834527

Category

work of fiction

Subjects

Children'S, Fiction, Juvenile

Rating

4 / 5 (367,367 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14