Speak

Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Published by Scholastic (1999)
198 pages; ages 16+

Synopsis: Melinda starts her first of year of high school as everyone's enemy. After a party at the end of the summer, Melinda called the police and made everyone who was there get in trouble. She can't bring herself to tell anyone that she only called the cops because she fell victim to abuse from Andy Evans. Little by little she begins to disappear as she suffers silently. Her grades continue to drop, fewer people even talk to her, but she won't speak because she doesn't want to reveal the truth.

Genre: New Realism/Problem; Romance

Warning: language, mature sexual themes, depressing subject matter

Recommendations: Green Angel by Alice Hoffman; Inexcusable by Chris Lynch; The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle