During the summer just before she is to start high school, Melinda calls the police during an end-of-summer party. When word gets out that she is the cause of the police breaking up the party, Melinda is shunned by her friends and starts high school as the school pariah. The book shows Melinda's steady decline over the course of the school year until finally, she becomes a mute. Though she is only a mute because she is too afraid to speak the truth about what really happened at the party that started it all....

Laurie Halse Anderson was born Laurie Beth Halse in Potsdam, New York, on October 23, 1961. She first became interested in writing in the second grade, when her teacher taught the class about haikus. However, originally she thought she would be a doctor. When she was sixteen and in her senior year of high school, she spent thirteen months as an exchange student in Denmark, where she lived on a pig farm. She then attended Onondaga Community College. In 1981, she transferred to Georgetown University, where she got her BSLL in Languages and Linguistics. She married Greg Anderson and had two children with him: Stephanie (1985) and Meredith (1987).

Her first book, called Ndito Runs, was published in 1996. Her book Speak was published in 1999. Anderson actually wrote the book while she was taking a break from writing another book of hers, Fever 1793 (published in 2000). Since then, Anderson has written many books, her most recent being Prom, published in 2005. She has two other books in the works: Twisted, which is due out March 2007, and a historical novel due in 2008.

Laurie Halse Anderson now lives with her new husband, Scot Larrabee, and his children Jessica and Christian in Mexico, New York.

A more detailed biography can be found here.

Other novels by Laurie Halse Anderson:

Fever 1793 -- 2000

Catalyst -- 2002

Prom -- 2005

CNN.com's review of Speak

Politicizing Young Adult Literature: Reading Anderson's Speak as a Critical Text Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Newark: Oct 2003. Vol. 47, Iss. 2; pg. 158. By Janet Alsup

Speak on Wikipedia

1. Who does Melinda sit next to on the first day of school?

2. What is Melinda's art subject for the year?

3. What is Heather's Plan?

4. Who is IT?

-What did he do to Melinda?

5. What is Melinda's hiding place?

-What significance does it have?

6. How does Mr. Freeman affect Melinda?