Award-winning author Sharon Draper’s Out of My Mind, the story of a brilliant girl who cannot speak or write, is on CD from Simon & Schuster Audio!
Melody is not like most people. She cannot walk or talk, but she has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom—the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged, because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy. And she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow.
In this breakthrough story—reminiscent of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly—from multiple Coretta Scott King Award-winner Sharon Draper, listeners will come to know a brilliant mind and a brave spirit who will change forever how they look at anyone with a disability. Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there’s no delete button. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people–her teachers and doctors included–don’t think she’s capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can’t, because Melody can’t talk. She can’t walk. She can’t write.
Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind–that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.
From multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner Sharon M. Draper comes a story full of heartache and hope. Get ready to meet a girl whose voice you’ll never, ever forget.
A Note to Readers from Author Sharon Draper
People often ask me, “What was your inspiration for Out of my Mind?” I reply, “All great stories emerge from deep truths that rest within us.” But the real truth of a story often can be found in places that not even the author has dared to explore. I suppose the character of Melody came from my experiences in raising a child with developmental difficulties. But Melody is not my daughter. Melody is pure fiction–a unique little girl who has come into being from a mixture of love and understanding. Out of my Mind is the story of a ten-year-old-girl who cannot walk or talk. She has spirit, determination, intelligence and wit, and no one knows it. But from buildings that are not wheelchair–accessible to classmates who make fun of her she finds a strength within herself she never knew existed.
I was fiercely adamant that nobody feel sorry for Melody. I wanted her to be accepted as a character and as a person, not as a representative for people with disabilities. Melody is a tribute to all the parents of disabled kids who struggle, to all those children who are misunderstood, to all those caregivers who help every step of the way. It’s also written for people who look away, who pretend they don’t see, or who don’t know what to say when they encounter someone who faces life with obvious differences. Just smile and say hello!
–Sharon M. Draper
A Must Read!!! Melody is trapped in her own body. Born with cerebral palsey, she is unable to perform most of the basic physical functions that the rest of us take for granted. But her mind is completely normal – actually, it’s significantly above normal. However, almost no one realizes that she has any intellectual capabilities. She attends school as part of the special education program, being partially integrated into the regular classroom, where kids are outright mean or awkwardly nice. When she gets a…
A view from someone like Melody I’m writing this review after consulting with my 11-year-old daughter Laurel, who has severe cerebral palsy and can’t walk, talk, or do activities of daily living for herself. In other words, she’s a lot like Melody, the protagonist of this book. In Laurel’s case, she communicates by using eye gaze to indicate yes/no or one of two choices (Laurel very badly wants a communication system similar to Melody’s that would work with eye gaze, and we’re looking into it now). We read this book together…
Helped me see my daughter with new eyes A few weeks ago, Kelly wasn’t feeling well so I took off work to fill in for her at the kids’ Valentine’s Day parties at school. First I went to Chloe’s second grade class. Chloe is non-verbal and has some physical limitations and development delays due to an unidentified genetic disorder. Prior to this year, she has been in special ed classes, with part of her day spent in regular ed classes. Now she is in a regular ed class all day with a full-time assistant and is the only child in her…