By: Carolyn Griffith
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper Atheneum Books, 2010 Eleven-year-old Melody Brooks is brilliant, smarter than anyone else in her fifth-grade class, but almost nobody knows it – because she can’t talk, and sometimes drools and flails uncontrollably in her wheelchair. Sharon Draper’s Out of My Mind gives readers a vivid, poignant sense of the daily frustrations and searing hurt that come from being a normal kid locked inside a nearly useless body. |
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Melody was born with cerebral palsy, can’t sit or stand or walk or feed herself. Her doctor pronounced her profoundly retarded, but Melody’s mother doesn’t believe it, nor does next-door neighbor Mrs. V. And we, the readers, don’t believe it either, because we’re sharing Melody’s wry first-person observations of the world around her: |
Melody’s voice is enough to keep you reading straight through in one sitting. The thought of that voice silenced is heartbreaking. She witnesses her goldfish, Oliver, fling himself out of his small round bowl – is powerless to tell anyone or rescue him – and understands exactly why he might not be able to stand the tiny prison any more. |
Melody is assigned to the special ed classroom at school, where a succession of teachers go over the alphabet – and over it and over it, year after year – and play the Twinkle Twinkle CD ad nauseum. Until one day Melody can’t stand it and has one of her epic, flailing meltdowns. Melody’s mother is called and discovers that the teacher is reviewing the letter “B” – in February, seven months into the school year. When she hears Twinkle Twinkle she takes the CD and breaks it in half, and all the students cheer. |
The next year – fifth grade – everything changes. Melody gets a motorized wheelchair, so now she can move herself from one place to another for the first time. New teacher Mrs. Shannon actually cares about unlocking her special students’ potential, and advocates for an aide, Catherine, whose sole charge is Melody. |
Image used under creative commons: http://bensblogspgsd.blogspot.com/ | With the school’s new inclusion policy, Melody has the chance to make friends with Rose – and encounter daily ridicule from mean girls Claire and Molly. By far the most important development – with Catherine’s help, Melody discovers and convinces her parents to obtain the Medi-Talker, a specially adapted laptop computer that speaks aloud the words typed into it. Suddenly Melody has a voice! |
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“I’m not trying to be mean – honest – but it just never occurred to me that Melody had thoughts in her head.” (p. 143) |
Her classmates learn that Melody not only has thoughts in her head – she has a mountain of knowledge: she has a photographic memory, and never forgets anything. Years of watching the Discovery Channel and a week of intense studying with Mrs. V pay off. When she tries out for the Quiz Kids team, she is the first person ever to get 100 percent on the qualifying test. The team wins the preliminary rounds and is all set to go to the national competition in Washington, D.C. Melody has never been happier. |
But… And then… Draper is the author of more than 25 young adult and middle grade novels and books of poetry. She has received dozens of awards, including two ALA Coretta Scott King Awards, two such Honors, and the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent. According to her website, Draper was inspired to write Out of My Mind because her own daughter has cerebral palsy. |
Neither Melody nor any other character in the novel is given a physical description (other than the fact that two are in wheelchairs). Says Draper on her website, “Melody's difficulties far supersede any racial or cultural problems she might encounter. She is purposely made generic because I wanted the reader to see her as a unique individual that could be anyone's child.” |
What does Draper want readers to take away?
“I want them to say, ‘Wow! That was great! That book made me think, and it made me realize that all human beings are more alike than different. I never knew what it was like to be handicapped-I learned to think differently.’" www.sharondraper.com.
A few years ago I went to the movie with my husband and another couple. It was a matinee showing, nearly empty. Two people came in and sat a row or two ahead of us. They looked to be a mother and son; his body was twisted, his gait distorted and shambling. He made incoherent noises but not loud ones. Our friend Frank was rude, offended at not being able to watch the movie in peace. The three of us scolded him and I thought about the mother, hoping she hadn’t heard Frank. I didn’t really think about the young man. I guess I assumed that his vocal incoherence indicated mental incoherence. I won’t make that mistake now. | Photo used under creative commons from OpposingViews.com |
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* Title comes from text (p.294.)