Speak Reading Quizzes

1st Marking Period:

1. What is the setting of this story?

Merryweather high
2. Who is the PROTAGONIST, or main character, of this novel?
Melinda Sordino
3. How does our protagonist communicate with her parents?
Notes on the fridge.
4. What happens to the protagonist in the lunchroom?
She is hit with mashed potatoes, gets in trouble with Mr. Neck
5. What assignment does Mr. Freeman (the art teacher) give his students?
To take a piece of paper and they must figure out how to represent the item on the
paper artistically.
6. What ‘safe place’ does our protagonist find at school while escaping Mr. Neck?
An abandoned Janitor’s closet.
7. Why won’t Melinda’s friends talk to her anymore? Why is everyone so mad at her?
She called the cops at a party at the end of summer.
8. Who are “The Girls Who Have It All”?
Cheerleaders.
9. Describe Heather in 2 sentences:
She is very organized and determined. She likes to set goals, belong to clubs, and
make friends.
10. How does the protagonist react when her parents tell her she can’t go trick-or-
treating?
She pretends to be upset but really she doesn’t care because she didn’t have
anyone to go with anyway.
11. What does the protagonist’s room say about her? How does your room express who
you are?
Her room shows that she’s a follower, she didn’t really decorate her room on her
own and it doesn’t really express who she is. 2nd part, opinion.
12. Who are “The Martha’s”? What are they like?
They are a group that Heather decides to join. They dress perfectly and do
community service.
13. Our protagonist mentions “IT” at the end of the chapter. Who or what do you think is
IT? Why does IT make her so upset?
Opinion.
14. When our protagonist describes “The First Ten Lies They Tell You in High School,”
why does she feel they are lies?
Because she feels that none of it is actually true—she feels that no one cares about
her and she hates high school, so she won’t really remember this fondly years
from now.
15. PREDICT: What do you think will happen next in the novel?
Opinion.
2nd Marking Period:

1. Which author gets banned from Melinda’s library? She hangs a poster of this author
in her janitor closet:
Maya Angelou
2. What does David Petrakis do in Mr. Neck’s class and why does it stun everyone?
He challenges Mr. Neck, then protests the class and walks out.
3. Explain, in a few sentences, what happens at Melinda’s house on Thanksgiving:
Her mom forgets to thaw the turkey, then tries a few different ways to thaw it. Her
mom has to go to work and her dad hacks it up with a hatchet, then tries to make
turkey soup. He finally gives up too and they order pizza.
4. What does David Petrakis do in Mr. Neck’s class in order to document “potential
future violations”?
Brings a tape recorder, then a camera, to document his teaching.
5. What is the new mascot of Merryweather High?
The Wombats.
6. What is her favorite present that Melinda receives for Christmas from her parents?
A sketchpad and charcoal pencils.
7. Why does Melinda faint while dissecting frogs in biology class? What does it remind
her of?
It reminds her of her rape.
8. Who or what causes Melinda to throw up after lunch?
IT. Andy Evans, the one who raped her.
9. Melinda is actually pretty decent at what sport?
Basketball.
10. What does Mr. Freeman do to his picture?
He rips it apart with a chisel.
11. Melinda could best be described as _____________, due to her negative outlook on
life.
B. Pessimistic
12. Melinda is the _____________________ or main character of the story.
A. Protagonist
13. Andy Evans could be considered the ______________________ because he is
working against the main character of the book.
B. Antagonist
14. The point of view from which the story is told is _____________________.
A. First Person
15. “She stood in front of the altar, shaking like a freshly caught trout,” is an example of
a ____________________.
B. Simile

Third Marking Period

1. Why does the author purposefully misspell some words, like “additood” (meaning
attitude)?
She’s trying for an authentic 9th grade voice, sometimes showing that Melinda is
sarcastic and mocking things.
2. Why does the author capitalize certain words or phrases, like My Lab Partner?
The author capitalizes certain words or phrases for emphasis, to show that
something needs to stand out or is important.
3. When Melinda cuts school, where does she go?
The mall.
4. What does Melinda compare the Mall to?
a. Milk in the refrigerator
b. God
c. Both A and B
d. None of the above
5. How does the English class get punished for Rachel/Rachelle speaking up about
symbolism? What does Melinda learn about speaking up?
They have to write an essay on symbolism. Melinda thinks that you get punished
if you speak up.
6. What does Heather tell Melinda at lunch? How does Melinda react to this news?
Heather doesn’t want to be her friend anymore because Melinda is depressed.
Melinda is actually kind of upset.
7. Who gives Melinda a card on Valentine’s Day?
A. David Petrakis
B. Andy Evans
A. Heather
C. No one
8. While at the hospital, Melinda says, “There is nothing wrong with me. These are
really sick people, sick that you can see.” What does she mean by that statement?
How might Melinda be ‘sick’?
Because she is sick inside, in her head. She feels bad for being able to see their
troubles and pain so obvious and out there.
9. What happens between Andy and Melinda during In-School Suspension?
Andy blows in her ear.
10. What art movement started by Pablo Picasso helps Melinda to start drawing better
trees?
Cubism.
11. What does the word “conundrum” mean?
12. What does the word “wistful” mean?
13. What does David invite Melinda to do? Why does she say no?
Come to his house for pizza. She’s too scared to say yes, she’s afraid something bad
will happen.
14. We finally read about Melinda’s rape at the end of the marking period. Why do you
think the author waited so long to write about that night?
So we would see how that one night has affected her, even months later. So that
we could learn about Melinda first before learning about what happened.
15. What do we learn about that night that we didn’t know before?
That Melinda was a little drunk, that after she called the cops Rachel slapped her.

Speak Fourth Marking Period

Pages 141- 198
1. What are “the winter rats?”
Rusty junk-heap cars that people drive in the winter.
2. What is Ivy doing at the mall?
Sketching faces for her art project
3. Write one more of the lies they tell you in high school that Melinda lists in these
pages:
Page 148
4. Who were the suffragettes?

5. How does Melinda protest having to speak in Mr. Neck’s class?

She makes copies of her report, then writes her message on the board.
6. What does self-incrimination mean?

7. What advice does David give Melinda?

That she needs speak up for herself.
8. We find out that Melinda is pretty good at what other sport, besides basketball?
Tennis.
9. What does Melinda write on the bathroom stall?
Guys to stay away from: Andy Evans.
10. Heather asks Melinda to help her with decorating, and what does Melinda say and
do?
She says no, and stands up to Heather. Then she kicks Heather out of her room.
11. What information about Andy Evans has been added to the bathroom stall?
That he is a bad guy, has tried to get with and/or possibly hurt other girls.
12. “All plants are like that. By cutting off the damage, you make it possible for the tree
to grow again. You watch—by the end of summer, this tree will be the strongest on
the block.” How might this quote by Melinda’s Dad actually apply to Melinda?
13. What happened between Andy and Rachel at the prom?
He got too touchy with her and she got mad, then they fought about whether or not he
raped Melinda, and she spent the prom with the foreign-exchange students. Andy got
drunk and passed out, then she burned all the stuff he gave her and left the ashes in
front of his locker.
14. How does Melinda finally stand up to Andy?
As he is attacking her in the closet, she breaks the mirror and threatens him with a
shard of glass.
15. Melinda finally starts to tell her story to who?
Mr. Freeman
16. What did you think of this book? Did you like it, did you hate it? Why?