Laurie Halse Anderson – Page 3

Required reading for all teens, parents of teens, or anyone who knows a teen.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

August 4, 2019 by kella Leave a Comment

CBR11 Bingo: Youths! This was one of those books that I had heard of but really didn’t know what it was about. I picked it up at a discount book sale based on name recognition alone; when I needed a YA selection for this bingo square, I dug it out of the TBR pile. Speak is a novel about a girl named Melinda, and picks up just as she starts her first year of high school. From day one she is a social outcast […]

When the Words Are Caught in Your Throat

Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson

July 10, 2019 by Classic 6 Comments

Trigger warning: Rape I don’t know what to say. I loved “Speak” when I read it back in 2015. I felt for Melinda and wanted to hug her throughout the story and loved how Anderson takes a long road to showing us what happened to Melinda and how her life became unraveled before her freshman year of high school. The graphic novel does a great job with showing us Melinda in the present day and her memories of her friends and of a party that […]

“We should teach our girls that snapping is ok, instead of waiting for someone else to break them.”

Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson

April 26, 2019 by cosbrarian Leave a Comment

I only learned that Laurie Halse Anderson wrote her modern classic and much challenged novel Speak in response to her own rape as a young teen. But where Melinda came to art to find her voice, Anderson came to writing. Anderson writes in verse that runs the gambit of emotion and holds no punches. It is a memoir of her full life, opening with a reflection on her father, whose severe PTSD sets the tone for her complicated home (later reflected in her YA fiction The […]

This review does not do this book justice. I should have written OMG THIS IS AMAZING a thousand and two times

Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson

March 29, 2019 by BlackRaven 2 Comments

Twenty years ago, a book called Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson came out. A book about a subject we still do not really talk about today. Speak told the story of Melinda, a freshman in high school, the night she was raped and the fall-out from that. Speak: The Graphic Novel keeps to the feel and message of the novel. I was surprised at what I remembered but things I had forgotten came back and rediscovered other things. I think it has been rearranged a […]

Disney said it best: “What makes a Monster and what makes a Man?” (or in this case hero and villain)

Guys Read: Heroes and Villains by Jon Scieszka

February 18, 2019 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

This series rocks! READ THEM! You need more? (sigh) Okay…… Guys Reads started around 10 years ago with Guys Write for Guys Read: Boys’ Favorite Authors Write About Being Boys. Jon Scieszka, however, is no stranger to getting boys to read. His Time Warp Trio series was his way of writing for the boys in his classroom who did not have anything to read. Flash forward a few years and Scieszka is knows for many picture books and novels, including the Guys Read series. I […]

29: An excellent adaptation of a beloved YA novel

June 10, 2018 by bonnie Leave a Comment

When I was a sophomore in high school, I had a student teacher for English II. He read out loud at the beginning of class, which was fun and exciting—the first book he chose was Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak. It’s been a favorite of mine ever since. Last year, Anderson teamed up with Emily Carroll to transform her groundbreaking novel into a graphic novel. I was not sure how it would turn out, but one of my former professors is a frequent contributor to a […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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