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Melody is an 11 year old girl that has Cerebral Palsy and is very intelligent. She faces a lot of ups and downs through out the book. At five years old, Melody's doctor told Melody's parents to send her to a special school for the developmentally disabled or put her into residential facility to allow her parents to not have to be responsible for her anymore. This really upset her mother and she decided against what the doctor said and sent her to a normal elementary school. Melody was placed in a five year program designed for students with special needs. She was very excited to be in this classroom, however she learns that there is a lot of repetition and the work to be unchallenging.

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I feel that Butterscotch was truly her best friend. Ever since they met Butterscotch was always by Melody's side. I started crying when Melody fell out of her wheelchair and Butterscotch went to her bedroom door and started barking to alert Melody's mom. I think that Melody feels her and Butterscotch are similar because they are both really smart, but neither can really communicate with what they want.

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When Melody is in 3rd grade, her teacher does the same thing every day, which is playing the same songs and going over the alphabet. One day Melody has enough and she starts screaming and throwing a tantrum out of frustration. The teachers call her mom down to the school to help with the situation, but once she gets down their Melody is calm again. Her mom then tries to figure out what happened and how to help her daughter with her learning. She then starts to lay into Melody's teacher about how boring the activities must be for the students. She stands up for her daughter as well as the other students in the room. The teacher ended up quitting and Melody's classroom had substitute teachers for the rest of the year.

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I was so so so upset when Melody's mom finally came in the room and was mad at melody. She was just trying to save the fish after it jumped out of the bowl. The fish has a lot of symbolism in this book for how Melody feels. She also talks about how she has a better life then Ollie because she gets to leave her house while Ollie is stuck in his bowl.

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Melody ends up getting a dog when she turns 8. She gets a golden retriever that falls in love with her the second they meet. A little while after getting this puppy she finds out that her mom is pregnant. This creates some worry within the family about them having another kid that has similar needs as Melody. However, Melody's baby sister, Penny is born healthy and happy. Melody is going to be starting 5th grade soon and she is a little nervous. The program she is in has started some inclusion classes for the students involved. Her first inclusion class was a music class and she made a new friend Rose while also learning about the mean girls. Melody also receives a new aid that will go to her inclusion classes with her. The aid is a college student named Catherine.

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One day her friend Rose brings in her new computer to show off to her classmates. Melody gets an idea of having a computer that is specifically designed for her. She talks to Catherine about it and they end up looking on the internet for one. They found one that will help her tremendously and Catherine sends home information on the computer. She talks to her parents and her old babysitter about it and insurance will cover half of the cost. Melody ends up getting her new computer that can talk for her. She finally gets the chance to tell her parents that she loves them. Melody is in an inclusion social studies class with a teacher that runs the whiz team. The whiz team is a group of smart students that work together to answer questions at friendly competitions. In order to be on the team the students need to take a practice test and receive a better score then their peers.

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I have never read this boom before and I am so glad I did. I was crying, laughing, feeling sympathetic, and hoping everything would work itself out for Melody. After reading, I have learned so much about people with disabilities and how much they struggle in silence. I feel that I take a lot of things I do everyday for granted and don't stop to think about those who can not do what I do. I believe that everyone should read this book and get a better understanding of those who are different from the "normal". I really loved this book and it has opened my eyes to see how crazy life can really be for others.

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Melody shows up to take the test after school the teacher isn't very welcoming at first. He feels that this shouldn't be a fun recreational activity. This makes Melody feel nervous and not welcomed. However, Melody was the only student to get a perfect score on the test. She was one of the four that was on the team instead of an alternate. The team competed in a state championship and if their team won then they would go to nationals in Washington D.C. Melody spends all of her free time studying for the competition and works really really hard. The day of the competition comes and everyone is nervous since it is televised. Melody's team ends up winning and gets to represent their state at nationals. They go through the same process like before with lots of practice tests and lots of studying before nationals. The day finally comes when they have to go to the airport and fly out to Washington D.C. for the competition.

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Melody and her family arrive at the airport to find out that their flight was cancelled due to the weather in Washington D.C. Her mom then tries to figure out what happened with the rest of the team. They find out that the team had already boarded an early flight before all of them were canceled and left Melody behind. The family is heart broken for her and they have to go back home. The next day they find out that the team placed 9th overall. Melody still wants to go to school even though the weather is really bad. Her parents try their best to get her there, but her mom ends up hitting Penny, her younger sister with the car. Melody tried to stop her mom because she saw Penny run out of the house but she can not communicate due to being in the car with out her communicator. Penny is taken to the hospital and has to get surgery on her leg. She recovers well and has to wear a cast for a little bit. Melody goes to school on Monday and has to face her team that left her behind. She questions them about why they left her and finds out that when they boarded the plan it would take to long for her to get there. All of her teammates come to the agreement not to call her and let her know. The frustrates Melody and makes her feel really sad. The team tried to give her their trophy, but she ends up laughing hysterically and knocking it over and breaking it. The end of the book starts to discuss her autobiography for another class and goes into how the book started.

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I found an article that helps with understanding children who have Cerebral Palsy and how the disability can affect s=children in different ways.

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Children with cerebral palsy have trouble controlling their movement. This is because of a brain injury or abnormal brain development early in life or before birth. It affects different children in many different ways. Learn more here.

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Melody faces a hard thing when her teammates leave her behind at the airport to go to the competition. I felt so sad for her. She was the rock of their team and I think if she went they might have placed better then ninth. I had something similar happen to me once. I was on a volleyball team and my teammates didn't really like me very much. They would always ignore me and never include me in their conversations. I felt left out and very lonely. However, I never let that stop me from pursing something I was good at just like Melody. I was always showing up as their captain and pushing them to be better even if we didn't get along.

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One big take way from this book is that family is very important. From day one, Melody's parents loved her and supported her no matter what. Even when there was a lot going on, they still tried their best to give her the attention she needed. A big part of the book was how the entire family broke down when the team left her behind. They all came together to help one another heal form what had happened. Both of her parents were frustrated and wanted to take the pain away from her if they could because they didn't want to see her hurting. This shows how much they truly loved her and supported her with what she wanted to do.

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The Medi-Talker change Melody's life, along with everyone around her. This gave her all of the words she ever wanted to say but couldn't right at her finger tips. She proved that she was not just someone who has no thoughts. She was a person who has feelings and ideas. When she first used it to tell her parents she loved them I was crying so hard because I knew how much that meant to her. I connected with this because there was a time my grandfather could not communicate very well and would get very frustrated if no one understood him. I saw what it was like for him and can see how he might have felt while reading this book. I was so happy that her paretns did everything they could to get this device for her so she could communicate with everyone around her. They stopped at nothing to help her out always.

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This picture relates to how Melody can see colors when she is listening to music. 

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This book connects to this class in many ways. One major ways is how to handle a student that is disrupting a class from learning. When Melody is frustrated with what she is learning for the millionth time she starts to have a screaming tantrum that sets off the other kids in the class. We have talk about having a behavior plan in place for when something like this happens as well as did a project to practice our behavior plan. I feel that the teachers in the room did not fully have a plan in place since they could not get her to calm down with out calling her mom.

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Stephen Hawking was an inspiration and an icon for Melody. She chose him to do her biography on for her English class. This allowed her to know that there was someone like her out there who was very successful, as well as had his own family. I like to think that she used him to motivate her to study for the Whiz kids competitions.