Starred Review for Publishers Weekly (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

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, a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special."""" Though the symbolism is sometimes heavy-handed, it is effective. The ending, in which her attacker comes after her once more, is the only part of the plot that feels forced. But the book's overall gritty realism and Melinda's hard-won metamorphosis will leave readers touched and inspired. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)

ALA Booklist (Wed Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 1999)

Having broken up an end-of-summer party by calling the police, high-school freshman Melinda Sordino begins the school year as a social outcast. She's the only person who knows the real reason behind her call: she was raped at the party by Andy Evans, a popular senior at her school. Slowly, with the help of an eccentric and understanding art teacher, she begins to recover from the trauma, only to find Andy threatening her again. Melinda's voice is distinct, unusual, and very real as she recounts her past and present experiences in bitterly ironic, occasionally even amusing vignettes. In her YA fiction debut, Anderson perfectly captures the harsh conformity of high-school cliques and one teen's struggle to find acceptance from her peers. Melinda's sarcastic wit, honesty, and courage make her a memorable character whose ultimate triumph will inspire and empower readers. (Reviewed September 15, 1999)

Horn Book (Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2000)

Speaking out at the "wrong" time--calling 911 from a teen drinking party--has made Melinda a social outcast; now she barely speaks at all. While her smart and savvy interior narrative slowly reveals the searing pain of that night (she was raped), it also nails the high-school experience cold. Uncannily funny even as it plumbs the darkness, Speak will hold readers from first word to last.

Kirkus Reviews

A frightening and sobering look at the cruelty and viciousness that pervade much of contemporary high school life, as real as today's headlines. At the end of the summer before she enters high school, Melinda attends a party at which two bad things happen to her. She gets drunk, and she is raped. Shocked and scared, she calls the police, who break up the party and send everyone home. She tells no one of her rape, and the other students, even her best friends, turn against her for ruining their good time. By the time school starts, she is completely alone, and utterly desolate. She withdraws more and more into herself, rarely talking, cutting classes, ignoring assignments, and becoming more estranged daily from the world around her. Few people penetrate her shell; one of them is Mr. Freeman, her art teacher, who works with her to help her express what she has so deeply repressed. When the unthinkable happens—the same upperclassman who raped her at the party attacks her again'something within the new Melinda says no, and in repelling her attacker, she becomes whole again. The plot is gripping and the characters are powerfully drawn, but it is its raw and unvarnished look at the dynamics of the high school experience that makes this a novel that will be hard for readers to forget. (Fiction. 12+)

School Library Journal (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

PreS-Gr 2-George is a lovable and dependable basset hound whose humans have always been happy to have him around. When a stray comes into their lives, though, things suddenly change. Zippity runs, fetches, swims, and chases, and he zooms circles around George, who feels left out and displaced. Unfortunately, the newcomer is scared to death of thunder and runs away when a storm hits. The man and woman ask George to help, and he uses his trusty nose to track Zippity, rescuing him from the muck where he is stuck and frightened. The watercolor-and-pencil illustrations perfectly capture the exuberance and spirit of this tale. George's wrinkled, floppy, lovable face speaks volumes, and Zippity's energy is equally clear. Children who have had their own feelings of doubt, and of being overshadowed by the arrival of a new sibling, will relate to and embrace this story of each individual's importance and place in a family.-Genevieve Gallagher, Murray Elementary School, Charlottesville, VA Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.