Speak Loudly

With all the new books coming out that I want to read, I haven't gotten a chance to read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Thanks to Wesley Scroggins I plan on buying it the next time I'm at the bookstore and encouraging everyone else I know to as well. Referring to rape as "soft porn" is just despicable and if YOU get turned on by that dude, then you've got bigger problems than trying to ban a book meant to HELP teens deal with the issue. The fact that anyone would view any of the books mentioned in the article or any novels in teen literature as inappropriate and porn means you have obviously missed the point entirely about writing. We write to learn things and we read to experience them and take away lessons and opinions about life. I won't ever take away your opinion, and you can hate certainly novels all you want, but HOW DARE YOU try to take away mine. The reasons people teach certain novels at school is to help and censoring kids from things that happen in the world is only going to make their lives harder.

Here's a secret: teens drink, smoke, have SEX, curse, do drugs, have the best days of their lives, have the worst, make life long friends and have experiences.


Authors just write about them.

Speak up everyone. We need to start a fire and ignite it. No one has the right to tell you what you should or shouldn't be able to read.A few people have mentioned buying Speak (and the others) enough to have them surface on the bestsellers list as an extra kick in the ass. I'm for it. I'll be getting my copy soon. But for now, speak up about this issue. Don't let someone else take away our rights.