Vulnerable, hurt, and betrayed are just some of the emotions 14 year-old Melinda Sordino had to deal with while navigating through the great sea of mysteries called high school.

Speak is a novel by Laurie Halse Anderson based on her experience as a high school freshman. The story starts with Melinda waking up to go to her first day of high school riddled with anxiety. At this point, the reader is in the dark about the traumatic experience she had recently gone through. But, we are made aware that her best friends now seem to hate her. On the first day, she navigates classes and even embarrasses herself by spilling her lunch on her clothes. However, one of her classes would prove to be her sanctuary. Her teacher had each student draw a card and have that as their primary focus and subject for the rest of the year. Melinda gets a tree.

At a bird’s eye view, most elements of this book seem pointless. Like the fact that Melinda was assigned to focus on drawing or creating a tree in art class. However, this tree represents Melinda’s growth throughout the novel, from a hurt and broken shell to a flourishing, strong, and resilient beauty who has conquered her pain and becomes a better person.

This book was awarded the “Golden Kite Award” which is given to children’s books. I do not fully agree with this award because it does suggest tough themes. However, if it were a child of an older age, it is certainly important to spread awareness of the themes. Melinda has to deal with her old friends’ bullying, adjust to more responsibility in school, and the pain of her torment, so that she may grow into a strong tree that can endure the harshest of climates, which some kids could relate to or empathize with.

This story is genuinely revolutionary, so I recommend it. However, I have to warn of the hard themes. Even if many do not directly relate, it will instill empathy to the possible internal struggle of those deemed ‘weird’ and ‘unapproachable’ at school. Anyone could be struggling with similar things to those Melinda Sordino and most people could be completely oblivious to it. This novel does an outstanding job highlighting the intricate struggles of a ‘nobody’ who is often overlooked and bullied.