What do you think of SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Popular Poll: National Book Award/Children's Literature : One Thread

Sounds interesting. Comments?

-- Darcy Pattison (ddpattison@aol.com), October 14, 1999

Answers

I've spent time in Hawaii; I thought the voice and many of the concerns were very realistic for kids living in this part of the world. Elske by Voight and the Raging Quiet also deal with rape in one form or another. Perhaps reading this book third made the overall impression less favorable. I like the book but I cannot see it winning an award. The first person format works well to see a fully rounded character for the narrator but too many of the other characters are too flat, especially the villain who, while doing a villanous deed, nevertheless should be written to be a human villian. He seems more like a formula.

-- eve (espicer@accn.org), October 29, 1999.

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