This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Speak, Catalyst, Twisted, Fever 1793. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Speak is a 1999 novel by Laurie Halse Anderson about a teenager named Melinda Sordino who is an outcast as a high school freshman due to reasons later revealed in the book. It was made into a film of the same name in 2004. The novel was a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller. Speak was also named a Printz Honor book in 2000. A few weeks before her freshman year of high school, Melinda Sordino and her group of friends are invited to a high school party. There, Melinda gets drunk and meets a senior, Andy Evans, who takes her to a secluded part of the woods and sexually assaults her. She calls 911 and the police break up the party for underage drinking, arresting some of the kids. Numb and alone, Melinda walks miles home to an empty house. She tells no one what happened in the following weeks, and as a result, no one realizes she was raped. She becomes depressed. All her friends and the party goers are angry with her for getting them into trouble, and ostracize her once school starts. Desperate for friends, Melinda becomes friendly with a new girl, Heather, who clings to Melinda only to abandon her when she gets the chance to join a popular clique. As Melinda's depression worsens, she begins to skip school, withdraws from her parents, and aspires to do nothing more than take a nap. She creates a makeshift hide-away in an abandoned janitor's closet at school, where she goes to sleep during the day or hide when she is feeling anxious. Her only solace is art class, taught by Mr. Freeman, who encourages his students to express themselves. She fails every class in school except art. Over time, Mr. Freeman seems to have an impact on Melinda's vi...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=54088