Speak (Laurie Halse Anderson)

Speak is Laurie Halse Anderson's young adult novel that tells the story of a young girl, Melinda and as she goes through a period of depression & recovery.
Melinda was raped before her freshman year of high school at a party. Melinda calls the police and they come and break up the party. She is then shunned by all her peers including her best friend Rachel. She remains silent & slowly sinks into depression. Unable to verbalize what happened, Melinda stops speaking & expresses her feelings through her art. She slowly begins to acknowledge the fact that she was raped and finally starts speaking up.
This book is a must read for all teens. The author gives us the message through "Speak" that if anything like this were to ever occur to any teen, they must Speak up.