In this article, three English Language Arts teachers draw on their teaching experiences of addressing sexual violence in assigned young adult literature. The authors use their experiences to guide a series of suggestions for other teachers who wish to teach these texts in their own classes. First, the authors offer suggestions for legitimizing…

"Speak," by Laurie Halse Anderson, is one of the most powerful young adult novels to come along in the past decade. It has won numerous awards, including the "School Library Journal" award for "Best Book of the Year," and was a National Book Award Finalist. Despite this acclaim, many English teachers are uncomfortable teaching "Speak" in their…

Describes how Laurie Halse Anderson's insightful novel, "Speak" (1999), reminds readers of the distance women have come in identifying the "oppressive and unhealthy behavior of the silences that so often betray them." Concludes that the oppression of silence which generations of women have stoically accepted is now being…