Speak: The Graphic Novel

Starred review from January 1, 2018

Gr 7 Up-Melinda is already a pariah on her first day as a freshman at Merryweather High. She involved the police in an end-of-summer party, and now everyone shuns her. Unable to tell anyone what actually happened at the party, Melinda withdraws more and more into herself. Rarely speaking, ditching classes, and ignoring school assignments, she spirals downward into apathy and depression. One of the few people to reach her is her art teacher, who helps her express with art what she has so deeply and painfully buried. This potent retelling of the modern classic Speak blends words and images to create magic: a new representation of a teen whose voice is ripped from her, the battles she must wage to find it again, and the triumph of finally being able to speak out. Carroll's grayscale artwork perfectly depicts the starkness of Melinda's depression through strong ink lines and striking panels that rely on pencil and charcoal textural effects for the backgrounds. The characters are distinct and the action flows naturally; it is amazing how closely this version evokes the style and feeling of the original. The dialogue is pulled directly from the novel and enhances the progression of the story and of Melinda's emotions. VERDICT This gripping, powerful work will introduce Speak to a brand-new audience and enthrall longtime fans. Admirers of Carroll's Through the Woods will also appreciate this timeless tale.-Kelley Gile, Cheshire Public Library, CT

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2018
Grades 8-12 *Starred Review* Anderson's searing debut novel, Speak (1999), about Melinda, a high-school freshman dealing with the traumatic aftermath of rape, is filled with deep feeling, empowering triumph, and moments of startling horror. Not only is Melinda trying to forget her rapea challenge when her rapist freely wanders the halls of their schoolshe's flailing in her classes and an outcast among her peers, until an art-class assignment and some slow-building friendships give her the courage to speak up. Carroll, well-known for her horror comics, does an excellent job of bringing the vignettes of Anderson's novel to the graphic format. In fine-lined grayscale artwork, Carroll powerfully evokes moods with creeping, smudgy shadows; faces with missing eyes and mouths; and jagged panel borders. Grasping hands reach down from tree branches until trees and hands are tumbled together in a juddering haystack of overlapping lines. Those moments are striking, but they're even more striking when set against scenes of Melinda's quiet, isolated day-to-day reality, as well as her gradual growth and steps toward recovery. Carroll strikes a deft balance, gracefully juggling the acute terror of Melinda's rape, the pernicious paranoia that follows her in its wake, the swirling rumors and bullying surrounding her, and glimmering moments of hope and comfort. With spellbinding artwork, this exceptional adaptation masterfully does justice to its source material while adding new depth and nuance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
A new graphic-novel adaptation of Anderson's Speak--a powerful narrative of a high school freshman's year of self-preservation after a brutal sexual assault. Artist Carroll starkly renders protagonist Melinda's pain and healing in black and white, expertly deploying visual perspective and tension to sharpen the emotional impact. A tumultuous first-person narration juxtaposed with the third-person visual perspective offers a new way to experience Melinda's story.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from May 1, 2018
In this new graphic novel adaptation of Anderson's Speak (rev. 9/99)?a powerful narrative of a high school freshman's year of self-preservation after a brutal sexual assault?artist Carroll starkly renders protagonist Melinda's pain and healing in black and white, expertly deploying visual perspective and tension to sharpen the emotional impact. As she withdraws further and further under the strain of coping with her classmates' cruelty and the terror of crossing paths with the senior who raped her at a party, silence becomes sanctuary. Art becomes a means of expression for her, making the graphic novel format especially resonant with the original theme. Much remains the same narratively as Melinda moves through a world and relationships that cannot be as they were but that still offer tentative hope. The addition of smartphones and social media provides some modern window dressing, and the juxtaposition of a tumultuous first-person narration with the third-person visual perspective will give even longtime devotees a new way to experience Melinda's story. anastasia m. Collins

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from February 15, 2018
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.Powerful, necessary, and essential. (Graphic novel. 13-adult)

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