Teen Tuesday: Speak: a graphic novel by Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak: a graphic novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. Illustrated by Emily Carroll. 384 p. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, February, 2018. 978037400289. (Review from copy borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features Speak: a graphic novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. Illustrated by Emily Carroll. The novel, Speak, was published nearly twenty years ago, in 1999. It won a Printz Honor. I recall saying to a colleague, "This should be required reading for every rising eighth grader, boys and girls, before heading to high school." Since then, I have reread it several times and find it just as (sadly) relevant and powerful.

Melinda has lost her voice after an awful attack at a big high school summer bash. She starts her freshman year as an outcast because she called the police, not to bust up the party, but to report the attack. She could not speak of it - not to the police, her parents or her best friends. 

Laurie Halse Anderson reworked her novel to accommodate the graphic novel format and updated it to reflect the technology that wasn't available back then. Emily Carroll's haunting black and white illustrations depict Melinda's isolation and loneliness. 

When Speak: a graphic novel published, I was out of budget money.Speak: a graphic novel  will join her sister, Speak at TMS in the fall. Both are must-reads for teens.