Speak Essay

In the book Speak, Melinda is a lazy, weird high-schooler who gets bad grades in everything except for art. Her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, told everyone to pick a piece of paper out of a hat. Melinda's piece of paper said "tree"on it. She had no idea what this meant, but Mr. Freeman kept pushing her to draw and sculpt trees.

I think that at the end of the book, Melinda will finally start to be able to take control of her actions. This is because when she starts to draw trees, they look messed up and have no leaves. But as she spends more time with others, her trees start to look better, and they start to "grow" leaves. It is kind of changing her, in a good way, because while her trees are getting better, so is she.

Using what I read so far, I think Speak will be a comedy. This is because of Melinda's trees, which are getting better each time. In a comedy, the problem gets solved at the end. A similar book called Radiance, by Alyson Noel, is about a 12 year old ghost girl, Riley, who has a mission: Catch the wandering souls of dead people on the earth plane. She thinks she knows everything, so she doesn't listen to her guide, Bodhi, who is supposed to help her at school.


But at Riley's school, where all the kids in heaven go, some pretty weird things happen, nothing like Melinda's school. There is an assembly every day where a few bright-green glowing kids come up to the stage and do things that Riley doesn't understand. Then she gets this dorky, nerdy kid assigned to her as her guide to apparently help her. Melinda has Heather not really as a guide, but as a friend.


Riley has the same personality as Melinda; at the beginning of the book she doesn't take control of her actions, and she can be rude/bossy. But then she learns to listen, and eventually she becomes more successful. Melinda might turn out the same way, if she will listen to others instead of trying to take matters into her own hands.

Both Melinda and Riley are lost in school, and they need to control their actions. But maybe after some time, they can fix their actions and listen to others who want to help them.