Rachel Falb

Rachel Falb
Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson
Realistic Fiction
Just right
150

1) I am currently reading Speak, and the main character Melinda is in ninth grade and is an only child. She is having a hard time at her high school because of something that happened last year. The only information that is given is that she went to a party and something happened that we do not know yet, and she is the one who calls the cops because it has gotten out of hand. Because she did this, everyone who went to the party, (most of her grade/school) hates her. She knows that she will have a hard time fitting in at her high school, but on the first day she meets a new girl who knows nothing about the party. Heather, the new girl, is completely opposite of Melinda but they still tend to hang out. Heather joins a "clan" called The Martha's. This group of girls does everything perfectly, including their charity work and the clothing that they wear. It is very hard to join The Martha's. Heather of course wants to join, but to join their group, she can no longer be friends with Melinda, so she drops her and joins The Martha's. Melinda now has no friends and is failing every class except art. She skips school, and when she does go to school she often skips class and goes and sits in the janitors closet. Her parents fight about her grades and how she needs an attitude change. She attends school now more frequently but still isolates herself in "her" closet during some classes or during school events. Her old friend Rachel from middle school will no longer talk to her.  Rachel is now dating a boy named Andy. Melinda refers to Andy as IT in the story up until recently and I think that the auther is trying to show that he has some sort of significance to Melinda.This is where I currently am in the book and I am almost finished with the book.

2) So far, I like this book and find it interesting, but some parts are a bit depressing. I like it because I really want to know what happened at the party and why none of her friends will talk to her anymore. Anderson really hooks me into this book because most books I have read about teenage girls are about the good girl, the girl who gets great grades and has lots of friends. But in this book, its the opposite. Melinda is basically failing school, her only friend just dumped her and her parents are very upset with her behavior at home and at school. This book is a nice change from what I usually read. Although it is intriguing to read from the opposite view, it is also depressing because Melinda has no friends and people are very mean to her. At some points earlier on in the book I wanted to stop reading because it was sad to hear how people are so mean to her and how she often doesn't go to school because of the way she is often treated. This is why I like the book, but also find some parts harder to read.

3) A theme that I have noticed so far in the book is isolation. I have mostly seen this appear in the characters, especially Melinda. She seems to purposely isolate herself from her school, her family, and the world. She isolates herself from her school because she is always alone there. She knows before school started that she will have a hard time fitting into high school, but when she gets there she doesn't attempt to talk to her old friends or even try to make new ones making herself alone. Another place that I see the theme of isolation is within her family. She comes home from school and sits in her room. She and her parents do not have a great relationship and she has no sibilings so she is lonely at home. The main place that I have seen isolation is when she locks herself in her secret hiding spot, a janitors closet. She brings her paintings of trees from her art class, posters from her room and herself. She spends most of the time cleaning the closet and often stays there during the academic day and sometimes after school. She is really showing how she is trying to disconnect herself from the rest of the world and just be by herself. These are ways that I have seen Anderson display isolation through the characters.

4) My favorite character so far in the book is Melinda's art teacher, Mr. Freeman. He is my favorite character because he seems different then most art teachers. At the first class of the academic year, he has everyone pick a subject and that is what they will work on all year. Melinda picks a tree and thinks it will be easy as she learned how to draw trees in second grade. Mr. Freeman believes that it is more complex than that. He is also a bit different then most teachers because instead of keeping his grades in a grade book, he draws each of his students a column on the wall and writes down how they work. During the whole year, Melinda just has a question mark underneath her name. He is also my favorite character because he is so laid back. If Melinda doesn't want to go to her next class, he lets her stay and writes her a late pass. Also, during every class he works on his own work which are usually big canvas's that he works on for a long time. This then lets the students be more independent with their work, which I like. These are some reasons why I like Mr. Freeman, even though he is a bit different than most teachers.

5) My least favorite character in the book is Heather, one of Melinda's former friends. She is my least favorite character because she is not loyal. Melinda is nice to her on the first day of school and they become friends, but Heather drops her once a better opportunity comes along, The Martha's. She is also my least favorite character because when The Martha's ask her to decorate the place where the Prom is going to be all by herself, Heather comes crawling back to Melinda. She cries and tells her she needs help and acts as if they are great friends. I think that it is unfair of Heather to do that because she told her that they were no longer friends. Another reason that I dislike her is because she is mean. She took the friendship necklace that Melinda got for her for Christmas and taped it onto her locker saying that they were no longer friends. These are some reasons why Heather is my least favorite character in the book.

6) I predict three things will happen by the ending of the book. The first thing that I predict will happen is that we will find out what happened between Melinda and IT (Andy.) I can predict this because Melinda is having more interactions with IT like in art class and in the halls. It seems as if Anderson is trying to hint that the readers will eventually find out why she lives in fear of him. I also predict that there will be a resolution between Melinda and Rachel, her old best friend. I predict this also because of recent interactions with her. She sees her in the library with the foreign exchange students and sits near her during lunch. She is also in her art class, but they are still not talking. Because IT and Rachel are dating, I think something will happen between the three of them because they are coming up in the story a lot. One last thing that I predict will happen is that Heather will move away to Houston. I can predict this because when Heather is upset that Melinda won't help her with the prom decorations, she mentions that she might move again to make Melinda feel bad and help her, but Melinda doesn't seem to care. These are three things that I predict will happen by the ending of the book.