1. You have 10 minutes - create!
Journal
Was being a child better than being a teenager?
Why is it hard to be in-between childhood and adulthood?
You have 10 minutes - create!

3. Laurie Halse Anderson
Laurie Halse Anderson is the New York Times-bestselling author who writes for kids of all ages. Known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity, her work has earned numerous national and state awards, as well as international recognition. Two of her books, Speak and Chains, were National Book Award finalists. Laurie was honored with the Margaret A. Edwards Award given by YALSA division of the American Library Association for her “significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature…”. Mother of four and wife of one, Laurie lives in Northern New York, where she likes to watch the snow fall as she writes. ~

4. Speak
The Novel
Themes
Speak is considered a problem novel, or trauma novel. Melinda's story is written in a diary format, consisting of a nonlinear plot and jumpy narrative that mimics the trauma she experienced.
Identity
Finding one’s voice
Isolation
Loneliness
Friendship
Recovery
Speaking out
Against violence and victimization

5. Censorship
Censorship is suppression of speech or other communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the general body of people as determined by government, media outlet, or other controlling body.
In the back of our book. Laurie Halse Anderson writes, “Most of the censorship I see is fear-driven. I respect that. The world is a very scary place…It is human nature to nurture and protect children as they grow…but censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect them. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in darkness and leaves them vulnerable.”

6. Speak
Melinda Sordino busted an end- of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won’t talk to her, and people she doesn’t even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that’s not safe. Because there’s something she’s trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth
This book is often challenged because of two scenes. While undoubtedly emotional, they are important scenes that are told in a sensitive manner.

7. Speak Vocabulary List 1 List 2 Inconspicuous Pseudo Mayhem Harried
Conundrum
Asylum
Gargoyle
Imbecile
Vulnerable
Wan
Interim
Battered
Imperial
Demented
Delinquency
Indoctrination
Symmetrical
Blathers