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Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Finding Your Voice: A Powerful Tale of Speaking Up

Title: Speak

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult

First Publication: 1999

Language:  English

Major Characters: Ivy Hall, Heather, Nichole Smythe Burnell, Melinda Sordino, Andy Evans, David Petrakis, Mr. Freeman, Rachel Bruin

Setting Place: Syracuse, New York (United States)

Theme: Communication versus Silence, Appearance versus Reality, Family and Friendship, Isolation, Loneliness, and Depression, Memory and Trauma

Narrator:  First Person

Book Summary: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

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. 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. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether.

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.

Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him . But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication.

Book Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a character driven novel about a girl named Melinda who has just started high school. She is withdrawn, feels like an outcast, and has troubling talking as a result of being raped at a party over the summer. The story is a coming of age for Melinda as she learns how speaking up can be a good thing.

At the start of her Freshman year, Melinda finds herself a social pariah, having been dumped by all of her friends after attending a summer bash gone wrong, resulting in Melinda calling the cops and earning herself a leper status. While the events that occurred at the party remain a mystery until nearly the end of the story, Melinda’s torment, shame and silence are evident from page one.

As a reader, it is not hard to guess what happened that night, but everyone in Melinda’s life are completely oblivious as to what plagues her day in and day out. What follows is a truly heart wrenching story about a broken girl  trying puzzle out the pieces of herself.

When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time.

What makes Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson great is the time when it was published. This book was published in 1999, almost 20 years ago. Twenty years ago, the YA genre didn’t exist. When Laurie Halse Anderson tried to get this published, a publisher emailed her back and said “it’s good, but teens don’t like reading”. The YA genre didn’t really become what it is today until after Twilight was published.

The first person narrative is fluid and natural. The paragraphs are short. To a large extent, this feels like a journal written by the narrator Melinda. To pull the reader closer to the action, the book is written in the present tense, so we’re encountering everything directly alongside Melinda. Melinda is struggling with her voice and with trying to figure out how to communicate her troubles and with whom.

You have to know what you stand for, not just what you stand against.

As the reader, we are the only one she truly communicates with. But even with us, she holds back. She keeps us at arms length so we don’t penetrate her wall and expose her pain and vulnerability. The voice is uniquely teenage and is a good portrayal of the thoughts of a teenage girl ostracized by her friends as she begins her Freshman year.

Art without emotion its like chocolate cake without sugar. It makes you gag.

I watched the movie right after I finished, and it’s a very faithful adaptation of the book that successfully captures the tone of the novel. If you enjoyed the book at all I would highly recommend giving movie a watch. Kristen Stewart actually played Melinda. She was fourteen years old when the movie was shot, and she did such a beautiful job of conveying Melinda’s emotions while having minimal dialogue.

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Book Review

• Laurie Halse Anderson
• Coming-of-Age , Drama

Readability Age Range

• Penguin Group
• 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award forCatalyst, Fever 1793andSpeak

Year Published

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine .

Plot Summary

Melinda Sordino begins the first day of high school as an outcast because of something she did over the summer. (What she did isn’t revealed until later in the story.) She makes an instant enemy of her social studies teacher when she fails to find a seat in the auditorium during freshman assembly. But at orientation, Melinda forges a tentative friendship with Heather, a transfer student from Ohio. Heather is desperate to fit in and is unaware of Melinda’s outcast status.

Only Mr. Freeman, the art teacher, is able to somewhat connect with Melinda. He challenges the students in his class to find their souls. Each student is asked to pull a slip of paper from a hollow globe. The art they create in his class must focus on that one word. Melinda draws the word trees. When she tries to put it back, Mr. Freeman scolds her, saying she must learn to embrace her destiny.

Melinda’s former best friend, Rachel, or Rachelle , as she prefers to be called now that she’s hanging out with the exchange students, ignores Melinda when she isn’t treating her poorly. At a pep rally, students pick on Melinda because she called the cops to break up a keg party over the summer. The kids in the stands pull her hair and ridicule Melinda while she tries not to think about the real reason she called the police.

Melinda names one boy IT in the hallway, at least in her mind. He is part of the nightmare that she can’t wake up from. IT is Andy Evans, the school’s “bad boy” — gorgeous, but with a dangerous reputation of sleeping around. He plays with Melinda’s hair while he flirts with the other girls at her lunch table. She excuses herself to the bathroom and vomits her lunch.

Melinda cleans out an old janitor’s closet and uses it as a refuge. She finds it more and more difficult to talk to her parents or teachers. Sometimes she longs to scream what happened to her, but her throat closes up. When Heather tells Melinda she no longer wants to be friends with her, explaining that Melinda is just too depressing, Melinda flees to her closet where she bites her wrist and cries. The next day she skips school and finds solace hiding in a hospital.

The principal calls a meeting between Melinda, her parents and the guidance counselor to discuss Melinda’s failing grades. She remains silent as the adults around her try to discover what has caused the change in her behavior. Instead of coaxing words from her, they argue about who’s to blame for the transition. Melinda is given in-school detention. Andy Evans is there. He blows in her ear. She wishes she could kill him.

When David Petrakis, her lab partner, asks Melinda to come back to his house for a pizza party after a basketball game, her façade begins to crack. She makes up an excuse why she can’t go, even though part of her wants to.

That night she relives the nightmare of the last party of the summer. Melinda drank too much and ended up wandering alone outside in the moonlight. It was then that Andy Evans raped her, leaving her bruised, scared and alone. Melinda vaguely remembers seeing a phone and calling 911 for help but being unable to speak when the dispatcher answered.

Later, Heather tries to manipulate Melinda into helping her put up the decorations for prom, but Melinda sticks up for herself and refuses. After her small victory, she decides to talk with Rachel. Her friend is dating Andy Evans and is planning to go to prom with him. Melinda confesses that Andy raped her. Rachel doesn’t believe her.

The Monday after prom, Melinda hears rumors that Rachel dumped Andy because he wouldn’t keep his hands off of her during the dance. When he tries to make up with Rachel at school, she snubs him. Empowered by Andy’s fall from popularity, Melinda decides to dismantle her secret hiding place. Andy follows her into the closet and locks the door. He is furious at her. Her stories caused Rachel to dump him. He assaults Melinda.

This time, however, Melinda is not silent. She screams and fights back to free herself from Andy’s hands. Eventually she uses a piece of a broken mirror as a knife and holds it to his throat. He is speechless, and Melinda is satisfied. She gets the closet door unlocked, and other students run for help.

Melinda turns in her last tree picture on the final day of school. It has been beaten and bruised, but there are new branches on it seeking sunlight. The entire school now knows what happened in the janitor’s closet, and Melinda has become a kind of celebrity. When Mr. Freeman offers her a box of tissues and comments that she’s been through a lot, Melinda sits down and starts to tell her story. She is finally ready to speak.

Christian Beliefs

God is used as a comparison, a simile, to represent something that is supposed to always be present.

Other Belief Systems

Melinda comments that her parents didn’t give her any religious values, saying they only worship credit cards. Melinda thinks maybe if she’d gone to Sunday school she would understand how the cheerleaders can sleep with the football team on Saturday night and come back as virgins on Monday.

In Rachel’s effort to fit in with the foreign exchange students, Rachel experiments with Islam.

Authority Roles

Melinda has little respect for any of the adults at her school — dubbing them with nicknames such as Mr. Neck, Hairwoman and Principal principal. She feels Mr. Neck is on a personal vendetta to label her as trouble; Hairwoman has no face and speaks to objects in the room rather than her students; and a student without a hall pass easily outwits Principal principal.

Melinda’s parents are self-absorbed. They don’t question her personality change until confronted with her failing grades. Her mother and father argue with each other and seem content to ignore Melinda. They impose restrictions on her after their meeting with the principal, but they never dig deeper into what has caused Melinda’s drastic decline.

In Melinda’s social studies class, Mr. Neck rants about his son not getting a job because of reverse discrimination. He opens a debate about whether America should have closed its borders to immigration in 1900. When pro-immigration students begin to take the upper hand in the debate, Mr. Neck abruptly ends the argument. David Petrakis stands up for the students’ right to have their opinions heard, whether the teacher agrees with them or not. David walks out on the class and hires a lawyer to help protect his First Amendment rights in Mr. Neck’s class. He tapes Mr. Neck’s lectures and later brings in a video camera to stop Mr. Neck from sneering at him during class. Mr. Freeman is both revered and considered weird for his “free spirit” attitude toward art and life. His classroom is considered a haven because he is nonjudgmental and challenges the educational hierarchy.

Profanity & Violence

Profanity is scattered throughout the book, including a–hole and bulls— . Several girls are called b–ch . The word crap is used, and God’s name is used in vain with thank, oh my or for the love of .

A girl jams her knee into Melinda’s back at a pep rally. Another yanks her hair. While dissecting a frog, Melinda passes out and cuts her head on the table. In her emotional turmoil, Melinda cuts her wrist with a paper clip, chews her lips until they are scabby and bleeding, bites her wrist and hits her head repeatedly against a wall.

Melinda’s memory of the actual rape, while emotionally horrifying, is not told in graphic detail. Andy’s attack in the janitor’s closet is much more violent in nature. Melinda is slammed against the wall, her hands pinned above her head. Andy hits her in the face. Later he holds one hand over her mouth and tries to choke her with the other. After Melinda breaks a mirror, she holds a shard of glass to Andy’s throat and draws a single drop of blood.

Sexual Content

At the beginning of the book, the school board doesn’t believe “the Trojan” as a mascot sends a strong enough abstinence message. Melinda is raped before the book starts. The rape is not told in graphic detail. It is described with sensory details — what the ground smelled like, how hard it was to breathe, how she tried to scream but remained silent. Andy tries to assault her a second time in the janitor’s closet.

A model with gold eyeliner is considered sexy. Melinda watches Heather at a modeling job, and the photographer keeps urging her to be sexier and to think about boys while she models a swimsuit. Melinda frets about the changes in her body when she looks at herself in a mirror.

Students giggle during a biology class on reproduction. Several students kiss on Valentine’s Day. The cheerleaders create a suggestive cheer and dance when the school mascot is changed to a hornet. Prom is referred to as the climax of the students’ mating season. Melinda overhears some girls saying that Andy will sleep with anything. Her friend Rachel is said to pant after him like a dog. When Melinda recalls the party, she tells about Andy’s first kiss, which was gentle and exciting. His second kiss was brutal, and Melinda became afraid, unable to speak while Andy raped her.

Melinda writes a note on a bathroom wall warning girls to stay away from Andy. Other girls leave their own negative comments, some of them explicit about Andy’s actions.

Discussion Topics

Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books .

Additional Comments

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Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

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Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

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Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is multiple award-winning books, but it is also listed by the American Library Association as one of the top 100 books challenged between 2000-2009 . Every year several books are challenged and banned across the nation by individuals and organizations who believe the content of the books is inappropriate. In this review you will learn more about the book Speak , the challenges it has received, and what Laurie Halse Anderson and others have to say about the issue of censorship.

Melinda Sardino is a fifteen-year-old sophomore whose life is dramatically and permanently changed the night she attends an end of summer party. At the party, Melinda is raped and calls the police , but doesn’t get the opportunity to report the crime. Her friends, thinking she called to bust the party, shun her and she becomes an outcast.

Once vibrant, popular, and a good student, Melinda has become withdrawn and depressed. She avoids having to talk and doesn’t take care of her physical or mental health. All her grades start to slide, except her Art grade, and she begins to define herself by small acts of rebellion such as refusing to give an oral report and skipping school. Meanwhile, Melinda’s rapist, an older student, subtly taunts her at every opportunity.

Melinda doesn’t reveal the details of her experience until one of her former friends begins to date the same boy who raped Melinda. In an attempt to warn her friend, Melinda writes an anonymous letter and then confronts the girl and explains what really happened at the party. Initially, the former friend refuses to believe Melinda and accuses her of jealousy, but later breaks up with the boy. Melinda is confronted by her rapist who accuses her of destroying his reputation. He attempts to assault Melinda again, but this time she finds the power to speak and screams loudly enough to be heard by other students who are nearby. 

The Controversy and the Censorship

Since its publication release in 1999 Speak has been challenged on its content about rape, sexual assault, and suicidal thoughts. In September of 2010 one Missouri professor wanted the book banned from the Republic School District because he considered the two rape scenes “soft pornography.” His attack on the book elicited a media storm of responses including a statement from the author herself in which she defended her book.

The American Library Association listed Speak as number 60 in the top one hundred books to be banned or challenged between 2000 and 2009. Anderson knew when she wrote this story that it would be a controversial topic, but she is shocked whenever she reads about a challenge to her book. She writes that Speak is about the "emotional trauma suffered by a teen after a sexual assault" and is not soft pornography.

In addition to Anderson's defense of her book, her publishing company, Penguin Young Readers Group, placed a full-page ad in the New York Times to support the author and her book. Penguin spokeswoman Shanta Newlin stated, "That such a decorated book could be challenged is disturbing."

Laurie Halse Anderson and Censorship

Anderson reveals in many interviews that the idea for Speak came to her in a nightmare. In her nightmare, a girl is sobbing, but Anderson did not know the reason until she started to write. As she wrote the voice of Melinda took shape and began to speak. Anderson felt compelled to tell Melinda's story.

With the success of her book (a National Award finalist and a Printz Honor Award) came the backlash of controversy and censorship. Anderson was stunned but found herself in a new position to speak out against censorship. States Anderson, “Censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. It leaves kids in the darkness and makes them vulnerable. Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. Our children cannot afford to have the truth of the world withheld from them.”

Anderson devotes a portion of her website to censorship issues and specifically addresses the challenges to her book Speak. She argues in defense of educating others about sexual assault and lists frightening statistics about young women who have been raped.

Anderson is actively involved in national groups that battle censorship and book banning such as the ABFFE (American Booksellers for Free Expression), the National Coalition Against Censorship, and the Freedom to Read Foundation.

The Recommendation

Speak is a novel about empowerment and it is a book that every teen, especially teen girls, should read. There is a time to be quiet and a time to speak out, and on the issue of sexual assault, a young woman needs to find the courage to raise her voice and ask for help. This is the underlying message of Speak and the message Laurie Halse Anderson is trying to convey to her readers. It must be made clear that Melinda's rape scene is a flashback and there are no graphic details, but implications. The novel is focused on the emotional impact of the act, and not the act itself.

By writing Speak and defending its right to voice an issue, Anderson has opened the door for other authors to write about real teen issues. Not only does this book deal with a contemporary teen issue, but it's an authentic reproduction of the teen voice. Anderson deftly captures the high school experience and understands the teen view of cliques and what it feels like to be an outcast.

We grappled with the age recommendations for some time because this is such an important book that needs to be read. It's a powerful book for discussion and 12 is an age when girls are changing physically and socially. However, we realize that because of the mature content, every 12-year-old may not be ready for the book. Consequently, we recommend it for ages 14 to 18 and, in addition, for those 12 and 13-year-olds with the maturity to handle the topic. The publisher's recommended age for this book is 12 and up.

• Laurie Halse Anderson, Young Adult Author
• The Harry Potter Controversy
• About Lois Lowry's Controversial Book, The Giver
• Censorship and Book Banning in America
• Kids' Book Censorship: The Who and Why
• Banned Books: History and Quotes
• Biography of Lois Lowry
• Controversial and Banned Books
• Banned Books in America
• Monster Book Review
• An Interview With Ellen Hopkins
• Why Was "The Great Gatsby" Banned?
• Modern Fairy Tales for Teen Girls
• 10 Contemporary Biographies, Autobiographies, and Memoirs for Teens
• How Media Censorship Affects the News You See
• The Murder of Shanda Sharer

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Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

"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. 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. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. 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. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. 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. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself. Speak was a 1999 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature. (Cover and synopsis from Goodreads.)

FTC Disclaimer: I borrowed a copy of this book from my local library. I was in no way compensated for this review.

A Confession…

So, I watched the movie adaptation of Speak first. I know, I know, that’s kind of blasphemy. I do usually try to read books before seeing their adaptations, but I honestly don’t even know why I watched the movie adaptation. I’m pretty sure it was like a Showtime movie and I just watched it because it was on. I didn’t know anything about the book back then. But I do have to say that I think Kristen Stewart did a fantastic job in the movie. I haven’t watched it again, but I do remember thinking she was really good in it. (And no, I’m not a KStew fangirl. But I don’t really have hate for her, either.)

Back to the Book…

But anyway, I’m glad that I finally got around to reading the book. I read it for my book club, and we all seemed to agree that it was a good and important book. I feel like it should be taught in high school. It does have some triggering content (rape and sexual assault) in the book, so it would be hard for some people to read it, and I don’t think those people should be forced to. But I think that teen boys should read it, as well as teen girls. And not just for the rape aspect either, but for the empathy that a reader might gain in reading what Melinda goes through when she’s shunned by her entire school. I also really liked the writing and the sarcasm throughout the book.

Great Quotes…

I wrote down some lines that I really liked from the book, and here are a couple of my favorites:

“If I ever form my own clan, we’ll be the Anti-Cheerleaders. We will not sit in the bleachers. We will wander underneath them and commit mild acts of mayhem.”

“Sometimes I think high school is one long hazing activity. If you are tough enough to survive this, they’ll let you become an adult. I hope it’s worth it.”

Overall…

I really enjoyed Speak , and I think most of the others in my book club enjoyed it, too. I think it’s a YA classic at this point, and that any fan of YA should read it. And I really think it’s an important book for teens to read.

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Andrea is a mom, writer, and spoilerphobe. She works in a library and mostly loves YA SciFi and YA Fantasy.

Kate @ Midnight Book Girl

I read Speak shortly after I started book blogging for Banned Book Week, and really thought it was a powerful book. I still haven’t seen the movie- but I would totally watch it if it came on (not a huge KStew fan, but certain roles she just fits so well, and I can see her as silent Melinda).

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What's .css-1msjh1x{font-style:italic;} speak about.

“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. 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. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. 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. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. A timeless novel about consent and finding the courage to speak up for yourself, the twentieth anniversary edition of the classic novel that has spoken to so many young adults now includes a new introduction by acclaimed writer, host, speaker, and cultural commentator Ashley C. Ford as well as an afterword by New York Times-bestselling author of All American Boys and Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds. This edition will also feature an updated Q&A, resource list, and essay and poem from Laurie Halse Anderson.Praise for Speak “In a stunning first novel, Anderson uses keen observations and vivid imagery to pull readers into the head of an isolated teenager. . . . Will leave readers touched and inspired.”–Publishers Weekly, starred review”An uncannily funny book even as it plumbs the darkness, Speak will hold readers from first word to last.”–The Horn Book, starred reviewPraise for Speak: The Graphic Novel: “[Emily Carroll] should be recognized as one of the best graphic storytellers out there.”–Kate Beaton, author of Hark! A Vagrant”What a talent. What a voice.”–Mark Siegel, author of Sailor Twain, or The Mermaid in the Hudson”Carroll knows how to capture uncomfortable emotions–guilt, regret, possessiveness, envy–and transform them into hair-raising narratives.”–New York Times Book Review Accolades for Speak New York Times BestsellerPublishers Weekly BestsellerMichael L. Printz Honor BookNational Book Award FinalistEdgar Allan Poe Award FinalistLos Angeles Times Book Prize FinalistALA Top Ten Best Book for Young AdultsALA Quick PickPublishers Weekly Best Book of the YearBooklist Top Ten First NovelBCCB Blue Ribbon BookSchool Library Journal Best Book of the Year

What Kind of Book is Speak

Primarily about, book lists that include speak.

The Creative Behind the Book

Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times bestselling author known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity. Her work has earned numerous ALA and state awards. Two of her books, Chains and Speak, were National Book Award finalists. Chains also received the 2009 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and Laurie was chosen for the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award. Mother of four and wife of one, Laurie lives in Pennsylvania, where she likes to watch the snow fall as she writes. You can follow her adventures on Twitter @HalseAnderson, or visit her at MadWomanintheForest.com.

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Speak : Book summary and reviews of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

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by Laurie Halse Anderson

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Published Oct 1999 240 pages Genre: Literary Fiction Publication Information

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Laurie Halse Anderson’s award-winning, highly acclaimed, and controversial novel about a teenager who chooses not to speak rather than to give voice to what really happened 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 that this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. 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. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. 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. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. In this powerful novel, an utterly believeable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.

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Reader reviews.

"The plot is gripping and the characters are powerfully drawn, but it is its raw and unvarnished look at the dynamics of the high school experience that makes this a novel that will be hard for readers to forget." - Kirkus Reviews "An uncannily funny book even as it plumbs the darkness, Speak will hold readers from first word to last. " - Horn Book "Anderson infuses the narrative with a wit that sustains the heroine through her pain and holds readers' empathy." - Publisher's Weekly "A story told with acute insight, acid wit, and affecting prose. " - Library Journal

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Laurie Halse Anderson Author Biography

Laurie Halse Anderson is the New York Times -bestselling author who writes for kids of all ages. Known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity, her work has earned numerous international, national, and state awards. She has been nominated three times for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Two of her books, Speak and Chains , were National Book Award finalists, and Chains was also short-listed for the Carnegie medal.

Link to Laurie Halse Anderson's Website

Name Pronunciation Laurie Halse Anderson: Halse rhymes with waltz

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Book Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Hello there, bookworms! Today, I’m about to take you on a journey into the world of a book that has touched hearts, opened eyes, and sparked conversations. The book I’m talking about is “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson. N

ow, this isn’t just any book—it’s a book that deals with tough issues in a way that’s both raw and relatable. I remember stumbling upon it in the corner of a cozy bookstore during a rainy afternoon. The intriguing cover and the title itself lured me in. I had no idea then how much of an impact it would make.

Book Summary of Speak

“Speak” is a poignant tale of a high school freshman named Melinda Sordino who, after experiencing a traumatic event, struggles with communication and self-expression. Our story begins after Melinda’s life-altering experience at a summer party, where she ends up calling the police. This event ostracizes her from her peers, but what they don’t know is the reason behind her call.

Melinda’s year unfolds in a series of academic seasons, from “First Marking Period” to “Fourth Marking Period.” Her journey is a complex one, riddled with internal battles, silent cries for help, and the ever-approaching confrontation of her trauma. The central theme revolves around finding one’s voice and the courage to speak up. This is aptly symbolized through Melinda’s art project, a tree that gradually transforms from dead to alive, mirroring her own journey.

Despite the gravity of its topic, “Speak” is interspersed with a wry, dark humor that reflects Melinda’s unique perspective and resilience. The narrative is raw and unflinching, offering a poignant exploration of a young girl’s battle with trauma, isolation, and the journey to reclaim her voice.

Book Review of Speak

“Speak” is a remarkable book, and it’s not just because it’s beautifully written, but also because of its relevancy and the universality of its theme. The book is a masterful exploration of a teenager’s struggle to regain her voice and identity after a traumatic incident.

Laurie Halse Anderson’s writing is both powerful and poetic. She portrays Melinda’s pain, isolation, and eventual healing with great sensitivity, making the reader empathize with the character. The narrative structure, divided into marking periods, effectively represents Melinda’s journey. What really stands out is the powerful symbol of the tree in Melinda’s art project, which mirrors her own growth and healing.

Despite the serious subject matter, the novel is not devoid of humor. Melinda’s sarcastic and observant narrative voice provides a sense of levity amidst the heavy themes. This balance makes “Speak” a compelling read that leaves a lasting impression.

Speak Rating

My rating for “Speak”: 8.5 out of 10. This book is a profound exploration of trauma and recovery, and its relevance in today’s society is undeniable. However, the heavy subject matter may not appeal to all readers.

Amazon Rating : 4.6 out of 5.

Goodreads Rating : 4.04 out of 5.

About the Author: Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times bestselling author who writes for kids of all ages. Known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity, her work has earned numerous national and state awards. Her books have been recognized as part of the American Library Association’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, and she has been nominated twice for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, among many other accolades.

Born in Potsdam, New York, Anderson gained a love for reading and adventure at an early age. Born on October 23, 1961, in Potsdam, New York, she spent her childhood engrossed in science fiction and fantasy. Her early interest in writing began to blossom in the second grade, but even then, she never saw herself becoming a writer .

During her senior year of high school, Anderson lived as an exchange student on a pig farm in Denmark. This experience, followed by a stint working at a clothing store back home, earning minimum wage, motivated her to attend college. She kicked off her career as a freelance journalist at The Philadelphia Inquirer before delving into the world of children’s and young adult novels.

Despite early rejections, Anderson persisted, releasing her first children’s novel, “Ndito Runs,” in 1996.

Anderson’s best-known work, “Speak,” was published in 1999. This New York Times bestseller was later adapted into a film in 2004. The novel, which has been translated into 16 languages, won Anderson honors for its portrayal of a thirteen-year-old girl who becomes mute after a sexual assault. In 2018, Anderson revealed that “Speak” was based on her own experience, as she went through her own traumatic experience at the same age. Anderson continues to use her voice and her pen to shed light on topics often shied away from, making her a beacon in young adult literature.

Where to Read Speak

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Laurie Halse Anderson. Farrar Straus Giroux, $17 (198pp) ISBN 978-0-374-37152-4

Reviewed on: 10/25/1999

Genre: Children's

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Speak: Find Your Voice, Trust Your Gut, and Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be Hardcover – May 3, 2022

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• Print length 240 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
• Publication date May 3, 2022
• Dimensions 5.5 x 1 x 8.38 inches
• ISBN-10 1982195444
• ISBN-13 978-1982195441
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster (May 3, 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982195444
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982195441
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.7 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.38 inches
• #182 in Happiness Self-Help
• #241 in Motivational Self-Help (Books)
• #265 in Success Self-Help

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THE GRAPHIC NOVEL

by Laurie Halse Anderson ; illustrated by Emily Carroll ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2018

Powerful, necessary, and essential.

Anderson’s timeless and important tale of high-school sexual assault and its aftermath undergoes a masterful graphic novel transformation.

Melinda, a nascent freshman, is raped at a party shortly before the beginning of school. In an attempt to report the crime, Melinda calls 911, and the party is shut down. When the semester begins, Melinda has become a pariah who spends her days silent. In addition to internalizing the emotional aspects of the assault, Melinda is relentlessly bullied by her peers and often runs into her attacker—a popular senior—who delights in terrorizing her. Although Anderson’s novel came out nearly 20 years ago, this raw adaptation feels current, even with contemporary teenage technological minutiae conspicuously absent. Melinda relies upon art to work as a vulnerary; this visual adaptation takes readers outside Melinda’s head and sits them alongside her, seeing what she sees and feeling the importance and power of her desire to create art and express herself. Carroll’s stark black-and-white illustrations are exquisitely rendered, capturing the mood through a perfectly calibrated lens. With the rise of women finding their voices and speaking out about sexual assault in the media, this reworking of the enduring 1999 classic should be on everyone’s radar.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-374-30028-9

Page Count: 387

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES | GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS

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by Laurie Halse Anderson ; illustrated by Leila Del Duca

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SEEN & HEARD

IF HE HAD BEEN WITH ME

by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2013

There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.

The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.

Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.

Pub Date: April 1, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES

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by Laura Nowlin

IF ONLY I HAD TOLD HER

by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.

In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me , three characters tell their sides of the story.

Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781728276229

Page Count: 416

Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE

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Flipping Off the Patriarchy, Three Chords at a Time

In her intimate memoir, “Rebel Girl,” the punk-rock heroine Kathleen Hanna recalls a life of trauma, triumph and riot grrrl rebellion.

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By Evelyn McDonnell

Evelyn McDonnell’s most recent book is “The World According to Joan Didion.”

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REBEL GIRL: My Life as a Feminist Punk, by Kathleen Hanna

Kathleen Hanna ’s ability to flip — and flip off — expectations has made her one of the most riveting frontpeople in recent musical history. As the singer for the band Bikini Kill in the 1990s (they reunited in 2019), she shifted from seductive dance moves she learned as a stripper to bullhorn roars of “Suck my left one!,” a riposte she borrowed from her older sister. In Le Tigre, her next major group (their reunion came in 2023), she delivered feminist history lessons with electro-pop glee.

But what has made Hanna a radical artist is not just the way she tears away preconceptions, but the fact that she re-centers the embodied experiences of women. Rape, incest, empowerment, harassment and what Bikini Kill famously called “Revolution Girl Style Now!” — it was the title of their first self-released demo — had rarely been the subjects of three-minute punk songs or Xeroxed manifestoes until the quartet made it so.

As with the riot grrrl zines Hanna and her sisters-in-arms once created, her first memoir, “Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk,” unfolds in raw, ragged segments. She has always explored difficult subjects, but without the music’s cathartic power and her commanding stage presence, the book can be dark. (I recommend the 2013 documentary “The Punk Singer” as a visual and sonic accompaniment.) Here, Hanna reveals details of the personal traumas she hinted at in such songs as the alienation anthem “Feels Blind”: a sexually inappropriate alcoholic father, a sister who overdosed and almost died, multiple rapes.

She writes that she can’t untangle her artistry “from the background that is male violence.” But the critiques from her peers seem to have been equally damaging to her psyche. The rock star who recorded for the formative indie label Kill Rock Stars was always a walking, shouting contradiction. She suffered vicious personal, political and physical attacks for standing out in a field of standouts; in Australia, they call this tall poppy syndrome.

Hanna could, and can, be polarizing. There’s a predictable pattern in the stories she recounts: a cycle where she stands up for herself, then caves in, then something bad happens. You want to shake her and warn her, “Don’t do it!” But she doesn’t hear you. A well-read graduate of Evergreen State College, she is still upset that news stories spread false information about her and the riot grrrl movement, but she does not seem to fully accept the role that her refusal to talk to the media played in allowing misconceptions to take root.

Mostly, Hanna is cleareyed. “I understand now why other women in bands may have resented us,” she writes. “Many of them worked hard for the little press they got, and then we showed up saying ‘NO THANKS’ to the media and were still written about everywhere.” She’s impressively forgiving of many who transgressed against her (though not so much Courtney Love, a longtime antagonist who, in Hanna’s telling, once “coldcocked” her backstage at a music festival). She’s also generous in her praise, etching lovely and loving miniature portraits of major figures, including Kathy Acker and Kurt Cobain, and some who should be better known: Tobi Vail, Tammy Rae Carland, Kat Bjelland.

Hanna gets schoolgirl-silly writing about her husband of nearly two decades, the Beastie Boy Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz. By letting go of Bikini Kill and embracing her marriage and other endeavors, she seems to have freed herself emotionally and creatively; there’s a welcome lightness to the memoir’s second half, even as she recounts her struggles with debilitating Lyme disease. She even manages to make a story about a miscarriage freaking hilarious, showcasing her continued ability to speak brat to power.

From the 1993 single “Rebel Girl” to this book of the same name, women’s sovereignty over their bodies has been Kathleen Hanna’s North Star and cri de coeur . Given recent court decisions sending America back to the Dark Ages, her story, along with Bikini Kill’s upcoming tour, couldn’t feel more necessary.

REBEL GIRL : My Life as a Feminist Punk | By Kathleen Hanna | Ecco | 336 pp. | $26.99

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A dewy-eyed look at the life and death of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy

Twenty-five years after her death in a plane crash, a new book, “Once Upon a Time,” delivers a cloying look into the life of JFK Jr.’s wife.

In 1996, Sotheby’s auctioned more than 5,500 items from the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who had died two years earlier. The winning bids shattered all presale estimates: A monogrammed silver tape measure went for $48,875, a faux pearl necklace for $211,500. The four-day total topped an astonishing $34 million . “Most of the items were not exceptional works of art or craftsmanship, nor were they even from the White House era,” Elizabeth Beller writes in a new book. “They were all Jackie.”

The enduring romance and glamour of Camelot cannot be overstated. The Kennedys were the closest this country gets to a royal family, and Jackie’s beloved son — handsome, playful, adored — was America’s crown prince and most eligible bachelor. When John Jr. married Carolyn Bessette a few months after the auction, the fashion publicist was transformed into an international celebrity overnight.

They were a beautiful couple. She was a tall, elegant blonde with a cool reserve that complemented his effortless charm. Many people believed that one day John Jr. would become president and she would be first lady. That dream ended tragically when John, Carolyn and her sister died in a plane crash in the summer of 1999.

Now, 25 years later, Beller has written a biography, “ Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy .” The writer, who never met Carolyn, very much wants her subject to be remembered as extraordinary in her own right, not as an ordinary young woman pulled into the Kennedy orbit. To underscore her point, the book opens with an author’s note: Beller says she wants to defend the “slanderous” rumors that Carolyn was shallow, difficult and manipulative, characterizations she attributes to a “dysfunctional culture,” the anti-feminist patriarchy and the media. Her decision to write this book “was not so much a choice as a compulsion.”

It’s fair to wonder if compulsion is the best starting point. A great biography is intimate but honest, compassionate but unflinching. Sigmund Freud believed that biographers were susceptible to transference — romanticizing and sanitizing the narrative in response to unconscious fantasies. At the very least, Beller stumbled into the classic rookie mistake: She fell in love with her subject and so could never see her objectively.

The result is an effusive, almost worshipful portrait of a modern-day princess, stripped of agency or nuance. In Beller’s telling, Carolyn is stunning, caring, brilliant, hilarious and passionate but surrounded and hounded by people who are jealous or simply cruel. Beller interviewed dozens of people — although not the Bessette or Kennedy inner circle, despite her efforts — and the memories are overwhelmingly positive. It’s not surprising that friends want to protect Carolyn’s legacy and diminish her flaws, but the book is a paean to a doomed goddess instead of a reflective examination of a woman thrust into a life she was unprepared for and ill-equipped to survive.

Carolyn’s star rose quickly. After graduating from Boston University in 1988 — a semester late because she was busy promoting local nightclubs — she landed a job as a saleswoman for Calvin Klein’s boutique in Boston. Soon she moved to Klein’s headquarters in New York. She was originally assigned to VIP clients and then became a public relations executive and a darling in Manhattan’s fashion and club scene.

In passage after passage, Carolyn is described as a muse, a mentor, dazzling yet unpretentious . Beller praises her subject as a “super empath” — someone exceptionally sensitive to the feelings of others. Never mind the friends who saw her throwing herself at her friends’ boyfriends. “It was a move at odds with her usually nurturing persona,” writes Beller, “but not necessarily with the fragility beneath the gentleness.”

Call it insecurity, call it vanity, call it a cry for help. Or don’t. Carolyn bragged that no man had ever dumped her. Beller argues that “it stands to reason” that Carolyn would have trouble trusting men because her parents had divorced when she was 8 and she was estranged from her father. (An armchair psychologist might call that unfair to her doting stepfather and to every daughter of divorce who doesn’t try to use friends’ boyfriends to soothe her ego.)

The problem, of course, is that this version of Carolyn has no flaws — or that any faults are uncharacteristic, or justified because of the actions of other people. This strips Carolyn of the capacity for self-awareness, maturity and growth, making everything that happened next a tragedy outside her control.

Myth has it that Carolyn and John met while jogging in Central Park. Beller writes that the two were introduced when he came into Calvin Klein’s headquarters in 1992, and they began a brief, turbulent romance. John broke up with her after receiving a letter from a friend claiming that she was a “user, partier, that she was out for fame and fortune.” Carolyn was down but not out: “She also knew, deep down, that this would not be the end,” a friend told Beller. “John was a prize and Carolyn had her eye on the ball.” Another said Carolyn wanted an “important life” and she thought she could have that with John.

They renewed the romance in earnest two years later — shortly after Jackie died — and picked up where they left off: two people addicted to each other and the drama they constantly brought to the relationship. When he was an hour late for a dinner date, she threw a glass of wine in his face and stormed out. By early 1996, engaged and living together, the two were filmed having a huge fight in Washington Square Park. The tabloids had a field day; it was a massive embarrassment for John, who had just launched George magazine, and a realization for Carolyn that the spotlight was never turning off.

Whatever doubts they had were pushed aside: Their wedding in September — pulled off in secret — was a sensational fairy tale, complete with one of the most romantic photos in history. The groom was 35, the bride 30.

But two people can be deeply in love and wrong for each other. John, born into a rarefied world of suffocating fame and fortune, was earnest, loving, spoiled, careless, struggling with ADHD and dyslexia, and sensitive to any intellectual slight. He was accustomed to a world eager to give him whatever he wanted. Beller may describe Carolyn as generous, funny and thoughtful, but her heroine also comes across as spoiled, headstrong and insecure. Her insistence on living her life as she wished — including a husband who was an equal partner — was at odds with the man and history she married.

One of the many unexplored questions in this book is the naiveté on both John’s and Carolyn’s part about what was likely to happen when they married. They believed that the media interest would die after the wedding; it intensified. “John and Carolyn were woefully under-managed for their outsize life,” a friend of John’s told Beller. “They needed aides-de-camp. They needed security. And they should probably have moved away from that building.” But the couple continued to live in John’s downtown loft — with no doorman and one exit — where photographers could catch them coming and going.

Everything the newlyweds did in public was scrutinized: They were the undisputed stars at any gala they attended. Carolyn was hailed one of the most fashionable women in the world. But a ski trip to Bozeman, Mont., also made headlines when she wore boots with four-inch heels and the locals laughed at her. Beller attributes it to “jealousy or just plain cattiness — it was the age-old tradition of women turning on women.” So, not just the patriarchy.

Carolyn quit her job to be available for her husband, then found herself bored and resentful of all the people and things that demanded his time. She blamed the paparazzi for her unhappiness — and Beller concurs. John grew up with photographers and had a cordial relationship; Carolyn was never reconciled to the constant presence of cameras or the request for one smile. “No!” she told a Kennedy family friend. “I hate those bastards. I’d rather just scream and curse at them.” It became a vicious cycle — she was angry, the photos were angry, and Carolyn once even spat at a photographer. Perhaps had she lived longer she would have learned — like Princess Diana — to leverage her fame for good.

Maybe Carolyn was clinically depressed, but Beller doesn’t explore the question of mental health and the pressures of being a celebrity. She does say, near the end of the book, that Carolyn was prescribed antidepressants, and that by the spring of 1999 the marriage was in shambles and the couple were in counseling. “She was pretty angry,” said a longtime friend of the couple’s. “But, at a certain point, you have to slow down and ask yourself, ‘Do I want to be in constant outrage?’ Because you can’t grow in that state.”

John confided in friends that his wife refused to have sex with him and that he believed she was doing drugs. The persistent rumors that Carolyn had a problem with cocaine are left largely unexamined. Beller repeatedly says Carolyn never touched the stuff; she quotes one friend who says she “barely drank wine.” In the same vein, Carolyn’s alleged affairs are dismissed as mere friendships. John, on the other hand, may have been unfaithful, but his “infidelity came from pain.”

In July 1999, John persuaded Carolyn to accompany him to his cousin’s wedding at the Kennedy compound on Cape Cod. Her sister Lauren, who had brokered a reconciliation of sorts, flew along in John’s small plane with a planned drop-off on Martha’s Vineyard. The plane went down shortly after dark off the Massachusetts coast; there were no survivors.

In her epilogue, Beller asks whether any woman who married JFK Jr. would have elicited this obsession and tells herself no — Carolyn was “fascinating, intriguing, exasperating … a revelation.” For the rest of us, she is a cautionary tale, and this book a lesson in the perils of celebrity worship.

Once Upon a Time

The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy

By Elizabeth Beller

Gallery. 352 pp. $26.99

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BREAKING: Tennessee judge delays the sale of Graceland and says Elvis' granddaughter Riley Keough is likely to prove her claims of fraud by the lender

'Not the time and place': Students speak out on Harrison Butker's 'uncomfortable' commencement address

Harrison Butker’s commencement speech last weekend left some graduates at Benedictine College outraged after the Kansas City Chiefs kicker asserted that one of the “most important” roles for a woman is being a homemaker and that Pride Month is an example of “deadly sin.”

In the six days since the address, neither Butker, 28, nor the small Catholic school have commented publicly about the backlash — and graduates who attended the ceremony have been left to grapple with the fallout.

Kyra Misuraca, a 22-year-old graphic design major, said she was shocked that Butker used the speech to address gender roles instead of encouraging her and other graduating women to follow their dreams.

“My jaw dropped at one point,” said another student, 21-year-old Susannah Leisegang, who also graduated with a graphic design degree. “It was just very uncomfortable, and I was looking back and forth at some of my friends and we were like, this is just not the time and place for this at all.”

Mary Aaker, who graduated from Benedictine in 2019, said Butker's remarks were “disheartening.” 

“All of that was boiled down to, ‘I bet you’re most excited to go out and start a family,’” she said on NBC’s “TODAY” show .

Butker used the speech to rail against President Joe Biden, abortion, IVF and the response to Covid-19. At one point, while criticizing a media report that mentioned the college, he said that students at the school felt “excitement and pride. Not the deadly sin sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it, but the true God-centered pride that is cooperating with the Holy Ghost to glorify him.”

Roughly 12 minutes into the speech, Butker addressed the graduating women directly and said that “the most diabolical lies” had been told to them. 

“How many of you are sitting here now, about to cross this stage, and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world. But I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”

Butker invoked his own success and attributed it to his wife, whom he said had converted to Catholicism, married him and “embraced one of the most important titles of all — homemaker,” he said.

The line drew applause, but Misuraca said all the women sitting around her audibly gasped.

“I was very irritated that he would say that to a bunch of women who are graduating college with a degree in something that they’re passionate about,” she said.

But to another student in attendance, the outrage over the comment is misplaced. The student, who declined to be interviewed by phone but corresponded with NBC News via text and social media, said that he didn’t believe Butker's comments should be interpreted as telling female students they should quit their jobs and become homemakers.

“Harrison said that women should appreciate the role of motherhood” more than they care about their jobs, he said.

“I don’t agree with everything he said but it’s also abundantly clear that everyone mad online didn’t listen to the whole speech and are taking things out of context,” he added. “I think the backlash is ridiculous; he was invited to speak at our small Catholic college where getting engaged/married right after college is a regular occurrence. He knew his audience and people on Instagram and X shouldn’t be mad about something they weren’t the target audience for.”

Misuraca took issue with that description of the school. She said the college regularly recruits athletes — she attended on a basketball scholarship — who are non-Catholic or “barely” Catholic.

“Obviously, we come in knowing that it is a Catholic school and we are going to be around a lot of Catholic beliefs and we aren’t Catholic, so we can’t really say you’re wrong, because that’s what you believe,” she said. “You can’t really turn around and tell us what we believe.”

The Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, a founding institution and sponsor of the college, said Butker’s comments do not  “ represent the Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts college that our founders envisioned and in which we have been so invested.”

“Instead of promoting unity in our church, our nation, and the world, his comments seem to have fostered division,” an  online statement  reads.

At the end of Butker's speech, there was applause and many in the crowd rose to their feet.

But Misuraca said she remained seated and booed. Leisegang also booed. They both said they hoped that school administrators would eventually address graduates about the controversy.

Misuraca said an explanation would be appreciated, though she said ultimately it was Butker who delivered the speech, not a school official. Leisegang went further saying she wants an apology and that Butker’s speech had overshadowed the day’s importance.

“There were women walking across the stage with children in their hands, earning their degrees,” she said. “And just to hear that — like, of course, his wife can become a homemaker. You’re a millionaire. But that’s not the reality for a lot of the country that we live in.”

Tim Stelloh is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

Minyvonne Burke is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News.

693 episodes

Everyday expressions and real English conversations to help make your everyday conversations easier. Find more at bbclearningenglish.com Follow us at bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followus

Learning English Conversations BBC Learning English

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The English We Speak: Shook

A word to express surprise or shock. (Image: Getty) TRANSCRIPT Find a full transcript for this episode and more programmes to help you with your English at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the-english-we-speak_2024/ep-240520 FIND BBC LEARNING ENGLISH HERE: Visit our website ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish Follow us ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followus LIKE PODCASTS? Try some of our other popular podcasts including: ✔️ 6 Minute English ✔️ News Review ✔️ Office English They're all available by searching in your podcast app.

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The English We Speak: Let loose

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IMPORTANT: This podcast is changing its name

This podcast is changing its name! Don’t worry, you will still be able to learn new expressions with The English We Speak. And we’ll also have some new programmes with authentic English conversation to help you learn. Make sure you follow this podcast: ‘Learning English Conversations’ on your podcast app to get all the latest episodes. Or find all our podcasts on our website https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/podcasts

• MAY 7, 2024

Zing is that special something that's hard to describe, but makes things more exciting.

• APR 30, 2024

Do the trick

Here's an expression that describes something solving a problem. (Image: Getty) TRANSCRIPT Find a full transcript for this episode and more programmes to help you with your English at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the-english-we-speak_2024/ep-240429. FIND BBC LEARNING ENGLISH HERE: Visit our website ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish Follow us ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followus LIKE PODCASTS? Try some of our other popular podcasts including: ✔️ 6 Minute English ✔️ News Review ✔️ Office English They're all available by searching in your podcast app.

• APR 23, 2024

An expression that describes a habit you find strange, but doesn't make you not like someone. (Image: Getty) TRANSCRIPT Find a full transcript for this episode and more programmes to help you with your English at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the-english-we-speak_2024/ep-240422. FIND BBC LEARNING ENGLISH HERE: Visit our website ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish Follow us ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followus LIKE PODCASTS? Try some of our other popular podcasts including: ✔️ 6 Minute English ✔️ News Review ✔️ Office English They're all available by searching in your podcast app.

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