The significance behind the title Speak

I read the book called Speak. I believe that the significance of the title is that you should simply speak. There’s a young girl going into her freshman year, and she and her best friend went to a party. They were drinking and a cute senior boy came up behind her and started to kiss her. Then he took her up to this bedroom and began to take advantage of her. She was in complete shock and didn’t know what to do after all she was only fourteen. After he was done he got up and left, she then went downstairs and she didn’t know what to do so she called the cops. Someone close by her saw that she was on the phone so they grabbed the phone from her ear and saw that she had called 911, that person yelled the cops are coming. Someone punched the girl who called the cops in the face, and then everyone started to run all over the place as quick as they could to get out of there before the cops showed up. She and her best friend were no longer friends anymore; no one wanted to talk to her after the party because no one knew why she called the cops. So she spent the whole summer alone. When school started back up again no one was still talking to her except a new girl, that hadn’t heard about the incident. She never told anyone because she thought it was her fault. However, towards the end of the book she tells someone, and she realizes it’s not her fault. So I guess the reason the author title this book Speak was for simply the reason that it’s never too late to speak up and your always ashamed of what happened and scared of how people are going to judge you, but in all reality it feels way better to actually speak up.

Wintergirls

I liked this text because I could relate to a lot of things that were going on. Lia is the main character and she has been battling an eating disorder for a very long time now. When reading the book Wintergirls, I compare myself to Lia a lot. I also am always concerned about my weight. My sophomore year of high school I was what I would consider overweight. It wasn't until I was in a bad on again off again relationship when I realized that I needed to lose some weight to make myself and someone else happy. I started off just cutting my meals in half, and then it would get to the point where I would eat a small meal only one time a day, I would constantly be working out, and counting my calories. I have four sisters and I never thought they looked up to me. I was constantly talking about my weight, and how fat I was. It wasn't until my eight year old sister started talking about how fat she was getting when I realized I really needed to be careful about what I was saying. Even though my problem didn't get as bad as Lia's and I never had to go to treatment, I will always worry about my weight, and how I look. Like Lia said it has something to do with being able to have control over your life. There's so many things in life that happens and you don't have any control over it, but there's one thing you can control and that's what you put into your body.

Review of Wintergirls

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson is an awesome book for young teenage girls to read. It goes into depth about a teenage girl named Lia who struggles with an eating disorder that seperates Lia and her best friend. Her eating disorder also makes her relationship with her mother difficult. Her mother is a doctor, and so when dealing with her daughters eating disorder she acts more as her doctor than her mother. Young girls are constantly struggling with their weight and are obsessed with being skinny. They think that just not eating will make them "healthy", healthy is not just being stick skinny. Wintergirls takes young girls through the struggles and loses of having an eating disorder. It helps you understand that eating disorders are not healthy and in fact can kill you, seeing as how it took Lia's best friends life. In this book Lia also has a problem with cutting herself, now a days cutting is a serious problem. Many young girls cut for the same reason they develop eating disorders, they're depressed, their parents are divorced, they feel like they're not good enough, or there's a bigger problem that they don't want to talk about. Lia has been in and out of treatment facilities trying to conquer her eating disorder, and every time she fools her family, and the people at the treatment facility. She couldn't see how much the people around her cared about her. After her friend had died, and was haunting her she saw that she couldn't keep doing what she was doing.

What I think of the main character.

I’m reading the book called Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. I would describe the main character Lia as insecure, lonely, depressed and sneaky. I would describe her as insecure because she struggles a lot with her weight. She has an eating disorder and she went to a facility to get help twice, but every time she was released she relapsed. I’d describe her as lonely because her parents are divorced, and she’s not close to either one of her parents especially her mom. Lia and her mom don’t see eye to eye so she moved in with her dad and stepmom. She doesn’t have very many friends; actually she doesn’t have any friends. The only friend she had, the two of them made a pact to be the skinniest girls in school, and in fact they were. However, something happened and they weren’t friends any more. I’d also describe her as depressed. I’d describe her as this because her parents are divorced, and a lot of kids get depressed when they’re parents are divorced. Also she’s not happy with her weight and a lot of girls that develop an eating disorder is because they feel like they can’t control anything going on in their life except what food goes into their body. She doesn’t have any friends, and going throughout high school especially your senior year and not having any friends can be hard and depressing. I’d also describe her as sneaky because she does a really good job of hiding her eating disorder from her father at least. Her mother and stepmother know that something is up again.

Letter to the Author

Dear Justine Larbalestier,
My name is Ashleigh Minton; I'm a freshamn at ICC. My reading class selected your book LIAR to read as a class. I enjoyed your book very much. Usually it takes me quite a while to get into a book. I'm not much of a reader as it is. After reading the first couple of pages I was hooked instatnnly. I liked how you put so much detail int the book. It made me feel as if I was there inside the book. However, I didn't really like how you broke up the "chapters". It made me a little confused about whether it was before or after Jach had died. How did you decide to write a book about lying, or about werewolf's? You must have a really good imagination. I was wondering did someone lie to you in your childhood and that's why you decided to write a book about a girl who lies? How do you get your ideas for your books? How many other books have you wrote? I would recommend this book for anyone to read. you are a very good author and I like your writing. What made you want to become an author? Have you had a lot of experience with people who are in the writing business, and that got you interested? Well anywasy overall I thought the book LIAR was a very well written and interesting book. I look forward to reading some of the other book you have wrote.

Letter to Micah

Dear Micah,
I’m writing this letter to you because I would like to know why you lie so much. You say it’s a “family disease”, you only say that because your dad lies. At least you say he lies for all we know maybe he doesn’t, maybe you lied about that as well. I guess I just don’t understand how someone could lie as much as you do and not feel guilty or ashamed of yourself as much as you should. It honestly surprises me about some of the stuff you lied about. Its one thing to lie about big things to spare a person’s feelings, and maybe to keep yourself from getting in trouble, but to lie about being a boy? I don’t really understand that one. Why lie about the little things, why not just tell the truth if it wasn’t going to hurt anyone? I’m not going to lie I’m kind of impressed with some of the lies you come up with because honestly I believed them. I never thought someone could make up some of the things you did because they were so believable. Okay enough with the lying I have another question. How did you and Zach keep it a secret that you were seeing each other? No one ever suspected a thing. You’d see each other at school and act like you’ve never talked before. It amazes me because when I like someone as much as you two acted like you liked each other there’s no way I could keep away from them, and act like I’ve never spoke to them before. Alright I think that’s all I have to say.
Sincerely Ashleigh

The emotions the text stirred up within me.

In the book Micah talks about how it’s one of her “family diseases” to be a pathological liar. That her dad is one, she is one, and her grandma and great aunt are probably ones as well. I can relate to her because I have a family member that is a pathological liar. Although she can control it because it is not in fact a “family disease”, she goes along with it and tells lies. I know that stuff like that doesn’t run in the family, you won’t be a pathological liar just because a member of your family is. I have a relative that I would say is a pathological liar, but just because I believe they are and we share the same blood does not mean that I am going to be one either. Micah can choose not to lie but since she believes that it’s a “family illness” she thinks its okay, and that she can’t help it that it just basically comes naturally. I tell lies occasionally but it’s usually just to spare someone’s feelings, like because I don’t want to hurt them. In my opinion it’s okay to lie occasionally because let’s say someone asked you does my butt look fat in these jeans? Would u say yes? Of course you wouldn’t because you don’t want to hurt their feelings. In Micah’s case she lies about bigger things like to the cops about not really knowing Zach that well. In that case lying isn’t okay and she should tell the truth.