the truth will change everything

For my second chapter book, I decided to read “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book is a story about a young girl going into high school who was sexually abused at an end-of-the-summer party. Instead of telling anyone what really happened that night, she called the cops to stop the party and is not shamed and bullied by the entire school. This book depicts the scary reality of what victims of sexual assault go through. Do I tell someone? Will the believe me? Will the look at me differently? I thought that this book, while sad, was an extremely well written and a must read book. I read this book when I was in seventh grade and I decided to read it again this year because of how common sexual assault is, especially on college campus’.

I think that anyone from middle schoolers to adults can, and should, read this novel. It would also be a great book to read as a class. Some discussion points you, as a teacher, could use are sexual assault, the effects of it, where and what you can do to get help, as well as bullying. Bullying is so common in our generation today with technology always at our hands, and we, as teachers, need to present how harmful this can be. Since we are constantly around large populations of children, we need to keep a special eye on any forms of bullying, big or small, because we need to stop it at its source.

 

Overall, this book was a great read for several purposes. This book is comprehensible for anyone ranging from middle school through adulthood. It would be especially good for anyone who has been sexually abused and feels as though they don’t have a voice, because they do. There is always help out there and nobody should be afraid to find it.