Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

This week I am diving into another one of Laurie Halse Anderson's books. I will leave a post about Winter Girls as soon as I finish with Speak.

The front graphic of the book, a teenage girl in the midst of a forest or maybe a solitary tree has always made me inquiry about the text written inside. The title of Speak along with the graphic makes me think of a tree whisperer. This sounds corny, I know, but that is what comes to mind. When I opened up to the first page and started reading, I realized that the setting in the typical high school, and that the main character, Melinda, is the victim as she describes herself as a "wounded zebra". Anderson gives Melinda great language to describe her surroundings and the actions of herslf and others. My favorite characteristic of Melinda is her choice of animal metaphors to describe people.

Animal similies and metaphors thus far:
-describes her self as a "wounded zebra" (5).
- hairwoman (English teacher), "I can't decide if she had pissed off her hairdresser or is morphing into a monarch butterfly" ( 6).
- "Mr. Freeman is ugly. Big old grasshopper body..." (10). Mr. Freeman is the art teacher.
- "...Heather geeking around me like a moth" (19). Heather is the only person who is nice to her at school.
- Speaking about Rachelle her ex-bestfriend. " She waves her hand in the air and you find yourself thinking of young chimpanzees" (20).
- On multiple occasions Melida refers to an animal in her stomach. "An animal noise rustles in my stomach"(28). " There is a beast in my gut, I can hear it scraping away at the insides of my ribs" (51).

Melinda also has a hysterical personality who always likes to point out the irony of situations. I find myself laughing hysterically at the depiction she gives. Describing her art class she states, "He'll rant for the rest of the period, forty-three minutes. The room is warm, filled with sun and pain fumes. Three kids falls dead asleep, eye twitches, snores, and everything" (31). I am amazed at her sarcastic attitude towards much of school life; yet, I am predicting that this is just a cover. Something happened over the summer where multiple people got arrested and it is all her fault. She hasn't come out and said what exactly it is yet though.....I am dying to find out!
There are other seens when Melinda describe her teachers, I just need to make sure that I do not wear hideous dresses or have multi-color hair!! This makes me want to know what my students think of what I wear!!

With in the first 10 pages, the reader finds out what the tree represented on the front comes from. Mr. Freeman, the ugly artsy grasshopper, states, "Welcome to the only class that will teach you how to survive" (10). He then continues and says,
"Why not spend that time on art: painting, sculpting, charcoal, pastel, oils? Are words or numbes more important than images? Who decided this? Dose algebra move you to tears? Can the plural possessive express the feelings in your heart? If you don't learn art now, you will never learn to breath!!!" (11). What a powerful statement. I would argue that an English class would teach a student more about survival than an art class; yet, I am biased!

I can't wait to read more.
I will leave off with this quote, which is becoming my new facebook status!
"Homework is not an option. My bed is sending out serious nap rays. I can't help myself. The fluffy pillows and warm comforter are more powerful than I am. I have no choice but to snuggle under the covers" (16).