

Her new book, SHOUT, a memoir-in-verse about surviving sexual assault at the age of thirteen and a manifesta for the #MeToo era, has received widespread critical acclaim and appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for seven consecutive weeks. Combined, her books have sold more than 8 million copies.

UPDATE! SHOUT, my memoir in verse, is out, has received 9 starred reviews, and was longlisted for the National Book Award!įor bio stuff: Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times bestselling author whose writing spans young readers, teens, and adults. Speak was a 1999 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature. 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."įrom 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. The first ten lies they tell you in high school.
