Time to Speak (with giveaway)

If you didn't already know, April is Sexual Assault Awareness month. Find out more details here on how you can participate in spreading the word or with a contribution.

~*~

Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson
my review
Amazon | Goodreads | Website
The first ten lies they tell you in high school.

"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.

~*~
IF you have not already read this...

--~ eBook Giveaway ~--
WIN a Kindle version of this book!

Open to all.

Offer ends: May 3, 2014

TO DO: (2-parts)

1. ADD this book to your GoodreadsWant To Read list.

OR

Tweet about this giveaway.

OR

Recommend this on Google using the mini-button at end of this post (g+1).

OR

Facebook or Instagram or Pinterest or Tumblr the Book Cover image.

2. TELL me what you did in comments.

AND, leave your email.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Contest has ended - winner is here

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Wintergirls Dress

If books were dresses...

(a weekly post where I create fashionable wear with book cover art)

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Synopsis from Barnes & Noble:
"Dead girl walking," the boys say in the halls.
"Tell us your secret," the girls whisper, one toilet to another.
I am that girl.
I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.
I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.

Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest.
But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend's restless spirit.

In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the multiple-award-winning Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia's descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia, and her painful path toward recovery.

*source for silhoutte

Speak (2004) movie

Speak (2004)
Director: Jessica Sharzer
Based on book: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Rating: 5
Tagline: The Truth Will Change Everything.

Inspiration:
After reading the amazing book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, I found out that there was a movie version of the story. Of course the fact that the lead actress in it is the latest hottie Kristen Stewart from Twilight, was enough to get my interest peaked to see this movie.

My thoughts:
Pretty good movie adaptation. It held true to the book and although a few scenes were tweaked, it still conveyed the basic message about character's experience in dealing with the aftermath of her traumatic event. Also, Kristen acted well as the Melinda character. Now, I want to go out and watch Kristen in Adventureland. The supporting cast were just as good. So, I say YES, this is definitely a watcher.

Cameo: Laurie Halse Anderson appears as the cafeteria worker spooning out mashed potatoes on the first day of school.

Fun fact from IMDB: 'Sordino' (Melinda's last name) means muted.

Read my book review.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Genre: Emotional Problems
Published: 1999
Paperback: 240 pages
Rating: 5

Inspiration: The 10th Anniversary hype and the reviews on Reviewer X and Presenting Lenore led me to read this gem.

Description from amazon.com:

Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth.

My thoughts:

In-a-word: Him!

Whoa! I can see how this book is becoming a classic. I love how this story unfolds until the very end where the main character, Melinda, finally breaks out of her self-induced prison to save her friend.

If you haven't already, go check out Laurie Halse Anderson reading of her poem, Listen, which is based on all the fan mail she received about Speak. The poem is just as touching as the book.

Read my movie review.