Speak by Anderson

Several years ago, I started a new job at a discipline campus.  This is a concentration of a select group of students who have done something to warrant removal from the main campus for a period of time.  I've honestly never been in the kind of trouble that these kids are facing.  I know how to listen.  I'm learning how to watch for signs.

When I started, a friend gave me the book Speak by Anderson because she thought it would be a book to which my new students could relate. She was right.  It is.  It has also been a good book for me to read as a teacher and a parent.

Many times, the point of books is more than the theme.  The point of many of these books in general is to help students learn to empathize with others.  There are several specific themes for this particular book:

• Speak up and don't be silent.  
• You don't have to be perfect, and that's ok.  
• Sometimes you have to get rid of the bad things in life so you can keep living.  

I love all of these themes and that the book really dives into the mind of the main character.  As the reader, I can really experience how Melinda feels as she goes through an intense withdrawal from society before she begins to find strength to deal with the tragedy.  As an English teacher, I love the symbolism of the tree that builds throughout the book.  As a parent, I would put a warning on this book.  It isn't for everyone.  I won't let my daughter read it.  At least not yet.  Maybe later.  She is close to the same age as Melinda is in the book.  However, my daughter's life experience is different than that of Melinda.

My friend's daughter read Speak after going through a tragedy of her own.  The book helped her to find a way to deal with her own unique situation.  That's the point.  That's the biggest point.  The student doesn't have to experience the exact same thing to be able to learn that there is hope in this world.