Thunderstruck

Author's Note: " Speak is a very good book, it won some awards back when it was brand new. I think this is a book that all teens can relate to and I highly recommend it to all middle school students."

Do you know what its like to feel alone, to feel helpless, to feel like you don’t even have a choice? Melinda Sordino, the main character in Speak, knows exactly how that feels.  She has felt alone ever since her friends ditched her because she busted them for drinking at a party. Now no one talks to her, looks at her, or even takes the time to listen to her side of the story. Some people might call her an outcast, but I look at her as a hero. The book Speak will teach you that its easy to go down the wrong path and make erratic choices, but if you stand up for what you believe in and guide others in the right direction then there is nothing that can stop you.

Melinda in not your average girl: she doesn’t like anything girly, she hates attention, and she doesn’t get the best grades in school, but she is smart enough to make to know right from wrong. It’s simple choices that we make everyday that determine our entire future. For example, if you’re the quarterback on your high school football team and you get caught drinking, your entire sports career will come crashing down: no scholarship, no adoring fans, no nothing. With every year that we mature we get a little more freedom, but its what we do with that freedom that matters most. I just hope that if I’m ever put in the same position as Melinda that I will be able to make the same decisions that she did. It’s not exactly an easy thing to rat your friends out to the cops, it takes a lot of courage and they aren’t very forgiving: but if that’s what it takes to show them that what they’re doing is not right, then so be it.

I think all teens should read this book, it captivates you from the moment you pick it up to it’s very last word. It’s so touching, it’s what all teenagers think but are too afraid to say. Speak describes real world situations that can happen at any given time. It prepares readers for the future. This book is not a good book for upper elementary school students like 5th and 6th graders, it talks about some pretty serious subjects, and its not something to joke around about. In books like this you really notice how the character grows as a person from beginning to end, you watch her learn new things, and discover who she really is as a person. By the end of this novel readers will feel like they know Melinda, like somehow she is apart of them. Speak is definitely one of those books that you will become attached to, it’s hard to get out of your head once you’ve read it.

This book has a lot of very serious topics in it, such as peer pressure. If you ever feel like your being forced into something, you’re not, you always have a choice in what you do. No one can make you do anything that you don’t feel comfortable doing. Real friends don’t make you change, they like you just the way you are. Now I understand that sometimes you’re with the wrong people at the wrong time, but don’t give into their demands, they can’t force you to do anything. Don’t make decisions that you’ll regret tomorrow, it’s not worth it to put your and possibly someone else’s lives in danger. You always have an option. Never forget that you have a choice, don’t let other people influence you to change.

Helping others is always a nice thing to do but sometimes you have to put yourself first: don’t let yourself slip away and make choices that you will regret in the morning. Life is full of hardships, but when you figure out right from wrong it makes your life a whole lot easier. Hold onto yourself. Whenever you make a mistake just get back up and try again, because isn’t that what life is all about, taking risks and making mistakes?