Independent Reading Response // Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

            Recently, I’ve finished the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, a beautifully written story about a high school freshman named Melinda Sordino. Melinda wasn’t always so quiet. She used to be a bright, social girl, until she called the cops at a party last year and became rejected by her friends. So this year, she decided she wouldn’t speak, out of fear of being shunned even further. Throughout the book, Melinda worked to perfect a tree she had been working on in her art class. Trees and other plants were reoccurring subjects in the story. This repetition symbolized Melinda’s growth and development.

            In the beginning of the story, Melinda is very closed off from the rest of the world. She reserves herself from her classmates and doesn’t share any part of herself with them. She resembles the tree she has been trying to create in class- stiff and cold and plain. Nothing to say that it is a tree. “I have already ruined six linoleum blocks. I can see it in my head: a strong old oak tree with a wide scarred trunk and thousands of leaves reaching to the sun… But when I try to carve it, it looks like a dead tree, toothpicks, a child’s drawing. I can’t bring it to life. Id love to give up,” (Anderson, 78). Melinda and her tree can be easily compared to one another, both so far from what they have the potential to be. If only they’d make a bigger effort to be human and tree, be heard and not only seen. They still have a long way to grow.

            Near the end of the story, Melinda has developed greatly, and it shows through the plants and trees that are mentioned in the story. At last, Melinda has decided to speak. “I rake the leaves out of my throat. Me: ‘Can you buy some seeds? Flower seeds?’” here, not only does Melinda chose to talk, but shows that she is ready to open up and grow like the flowers she will plant. This is a very important moment in the story because it shows a huge character change in Melinda. From this scene, we begin to realize that Melinda is no longer the quiet girl we first met. She is blooming into something new. She is starting over as a new seed.

            In conclusion, Speak teaches readers the importance of growth and development. In order to become our true selves and be the best that we can be, we need to open up and let ourselves grow.