Sometimes we don’t stop to think about how much power our words have.

It’s easy to blurt something out that you really have no right to share, something that can hurt someone else, something that is probably better left unsaid.

Speechless is a novel by Hannah Harrington that explores this issue. The main character, Chelsea, has a really hard time keeping secrets. In fact, she doesn’t see any need to keep them whatsoever.

Until. . .

She shares a secret that incites violence, almost gets somebody killed, and in the process isolates her from her peers. That one secret had far reaching implications for quite a few people.

The novel is told from the bully’s point of view, but it’s hard to see her as a bully. After all, it’s just words. She doesn’t start fights. She isn’t violent herself. She just throws words around with reckless abandon.

She wishes she could take back her words. But she can’t. So she decides that since her words have hurt so many people, she just won’t speak anymore. She takes a vow of silence.

This is a great novel for teenage girls to read. I think this is an issue that really needs to be addressed. We often see boys bullying each other because they do it physically.

When bullying is done with secrets, gossip, shunning, and other silent ways, it can go unnoticed. It can also seem to be “not as serious.”

Hopefully that changes soon. We need to hear stories like this. We need to have this discussion. That is why I am thankful for books like this one.

Speechless by Hannah Harrington is beautifully bound. It had a plain white cover with raised text on the front and back cover.

“The story is about how harmful our words can be. It’s also a story about how we can take action individually or with our friends to make our schools and communities better places for everyone. We can stop the bullying and gossip that hurts so many people. We can help ourselves and others feel better and more connected.”

Here is a way we can help spread the word about this topic.

Read the book, pass it around.

Earlier today, I asked if anyone wanted to read it and then pass it along. I received an email and will be mailing this book out free of charge to Betsy.

I’m asking her to sign her name on the inside cover and then pass it on to someone else with instructions to do the same thing. She told me that she already knows who she will be passing it on to. Hopefully, the reader after her will pass it along as well.

I hope we can get a few dozen autographs in this book. Wouldn’t that be cool?

We can also have a discussion about it here in the comments.

Please leave a comment or send me an email.

And if you want to find out more

http://www.loveislouder.com/speechless

http://www.harlequin.com/article.html?articleId=1742

http://harlequinblog.com