Speak: a graphic novel by Laurie Halse Anderson | Banned Book Project
Speak: A Graphic Novel Synopsis:
Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won’t talk to her, and people she doesn’t even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that’s not safe. Because there’s something she’s trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth. This extraordinary first novel has captured the imaginations of teenagers and adults across the country.
–From http://madwomanintheforest.com
Awards:
School Library Best Books of the Year – 1999
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Award
California Young Reader Medal – 1999
BCCB Blue Ribbon Award, Books for the Teen Age – 1999
New York Public Library – 1999
Golden Kite Award Winner – 2000
National Book Awards Finalist – 1999
NYPL Books for the Teen Age – 1999
Booklist Editors’ Choice – 1999
American Library Association Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adults – 2000
ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adults – 2000
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year – 1999
American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults – 2000
Golden Kite Award for Fiction – 2000
PA Carolyn W. Field Award – 2000
Michael L. Printz Award – Honor – 2000
American Library Association Quick Picks for Young Adults – 2000
Kentucky Blue Grass Award – 2001
ALA Best Books for Young Adults – 2000
Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominee – 2000
Horn Book Magazine Fanfare List – 2000
New York Times Paperback Children’s Best Seller – 2001, 2005
Locations Banned or Challenged:
Challenged – Republic, Missouri 2010 – Wesley Scroggins, associate professor of management at Missouri State University, cautioned parents of the Republic School District that Speak’s rape scenes were akin to “soft pornography” and should not be used in the school’s curriculum.
Challenged – Sarasota, Florida 2013 – Parents at Laurel Nokomis Middle School in Sarasota, Florida, became outraged when they equated the book Speak about a 13-year-old girl being raped as pornographic. Ultimately the school board voted to keep Speak on the gifted language arts class reading list.
Reasons:
Promotes “group rate abortions”, bad behavior (a student steals a hall pass), obscene language, glorifies drinking and encourages sexual promiscuity.
Articles:
Flood, Alison. Authors and readers rally to defend rape novels from the school ban. The Guardian, September 29, 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/29/defend-novel-school-ban
Staino, Rocco. Anderson’s Speak Under Attack, Again. School Library Journal, October 13, 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2018, from https://www.slj.com/2010/10/industry-news/andersons-speak-under-attack-again/
Florida Middle School students reading child pornography. Retrieved May 2, 2018, from http://drrichswier.com/2013/07/02/florida-middle-school-students-reading-child-pornography/
Banned Book Week Review: ‘Speak’ by Laurie Halse Anderson.
