The book I read is called Out of my Mind by Sharon M Draper. The book is about a girl named Melody who has cerebral palsy, a disease that doesn’t allow you to talk or walk. In her head she knows so many things but she can’t let the world know because she has no way to talk. Everyone at her school is normal except for the room H-5 where all the kids who have disabilities stay, including Melody. When she moves up to middle school she had inclusion classes that allows her to get along with the other kids. But soon enough she gets a device that helps her talk called a medi-talker. She names it Elvira. The books takes place in Ohio, mostly at her house or her school.
Melody is special, smart, and nice. Melody is special because ever since she was a few months old, things stuck to her and every moment had a word to go with it. She is smart because she knows a lot of things. Anything she learns stick to her because she has a great memory. But know one knows. Melody is nice because she cares about other people. She is thankful for everyone who helps her do things for her. Melody has a hard time eating and drinking by herself. That is why she is nice.
In the book Melody gets a medi-talker that she names Elvira. It helps her talk in school and at home so she can respond for the first time in her life when people talk to her. But she gets jealous because her sister Penny can walk and talk normally, and she can’t even speak one sentence from herself not from a machine. I think that’s interesting because a lot of people in the world can talk and walk, but some people can’t and it makes me think how lucky I am to have a pair of legs and a working mouth. In the middle the book Melody takes a test to determine if she can be part of the quiz team that takes place in the book. But when they leave to perform on live TV in Washington, they leave without Melody. I thought that was interesting because Melody was the smartest one on the team.That’s what I think made the team loose when she wasn’t there with the rest of the team in Washington DC. Those are two things I found interesting. One quote that would be good to describe the main character would be: “All of my memories have words, and all my words and meanings. But only in my head.” I think this describes the main character because she has a lot of memories and all of them stuck with her throughout her whole life. But she couldn’t tell anyone because they were only in her head.
I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed this book because it was from a point of view from someone different that you would usually see. It taught me how lucky I should be that I can you talk and walk properly. I would recommend this book to anyone because it seem special in a way that I can’t explain. Like I’ve known it in a different universe. This book sort of reminds me of Wonder because August, the main character tries to fit in in school. So does Melody, they both wish they could be normal like everyone else around them. I would rate this book four stars out of five stars which means I really liked it.
