In 2023, Anderson was named the laureate of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which is given annually to authors, illustrators, oral storytellers, and reading promoters 'for their outstanding contribution to children's and young adult literature.' In 2009, Anderson was selected by the American Library Association for the Margaret A. Laurie Halse Anderson is the New York Times-bestselling author of many award-winning books including the groundbreaking modern classic Speak, a National Book Award finalist which has sold over 3.5 million copies and been translated into 35 languages. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself. In Laurie Halse Anderson's powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether.

She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. 'Speak up for yourself-we want to know what you have to say.' From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. From 2023 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award laureate Laurie Halse Anderson, the groundbreaking modern classic Speak is a bestselling National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature with more than 3.5 million copies sold.

Speak anderson novel