Speak

• **__Publishing information:__**Published by puffin books in 1999.Laurie dedicated the book to sandy bernstein who helped find her voice and her husband greg who listens.
 * __• Plot Summary:__**Melinda Sordino is starting high school with a terrible secret and without any friends. At an end of summer party, Melinda was raped by a senior. Dazed and drunk, she called the police but left before they arrived. Now everyone thinks she called the police to break up the party. Everyone is mad at her, including her group of good friends from middle school. Melinda has told no one, not even her parents. She carries the burden of this alone, confused and inwardly tortured.
 * __• Symbols & Themes:__**Most teenagers experience some degree of alienation-from parents, teachers, society-but Melinda feels it in the extreme. Almost any teen, or anyone who's lived through his or her teenage years, will recognize the self-consciousness in the cafeteria and in the halls, the difficulty being understood by parents and teachers. The change from middle school to the new world of high school can be brutal and that's certainly what it is for Melinda.
 * __• Period and/ or Style:__**//Speak// is written in the first person
 * __• Awards and/ or literary importance:__**Michael l. printz award