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These chapters more fully introduces Melody Brooks, a young girl living with a crippling medical disorder. Due to her illness, she is unable to walk or talk, and she can barely move her arms. On occasion, her limbs seem to act with a mind of their own and flail about even if she does not want them to. She has a pink wheelchair, which she uses to get around, though the fact that it’s pink doesn’t add much in her opinion. Melody has an incredible memory and can recall specific events even from when she was only a baby. She is a quick learner, so she picked up the meaning behind sounds and language very early on. Keeping on theme with her name, Melody enjoys listening to music. She has a knack for memorizing lyrics and rhythm. She associates different types of music with various colors and smells. Melody prefers country music, which makes her think of sweet and tangy lemons.

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Mrs. Violet Valencia lives next door to Melody’s family. Melody calls her “Mrs. V” and describes her as a big, unusual woman. Starting when Melody was about two, Mrs. V took care of Melody while Melody’s parents were working or when they needed an extra hand. Mrs. V never treated Melody as a disabled child. She has always challenged Melody to learn and do things Melody didn’t know she could do. Mrs. V taught Melody how to roll over on the floor and reach for a toy when Melody was two years old. By the time she was three, Melody had learned to crawl across a room.  When Melody starts school, she knows a lot of words but doesn’t know how to read a book. Mrs. V comes up with a plan to give Melody more language skills. She completely redesigns Melody’s communication board with a larger variety of nouns, verbs, adjectives, numbers, phrases, and pictures of people in Melody’s life so that she can point to them with her thumb and form a sentence. Mrs. V creates flash cards and Melody learns new words every day. They get along really well and have fun spending time together.Melody starts fifth grade with an electric wheelchair. She is excited to have the freedom to move without someone having to push her. She operates the wheelchair with a small lever but it can still be pushed if necessary. Mrs. Shannon, her new teacher in room H-5, sees potential in Melody. She brings back headphones and books on tape for her, which Melody thoroughly enjoys. Spaulding Street Elementary establishes an inclusion program to allow Melody and the other students in H-5 to interact with the general student populace.Melody’s first inclusion class is Mrs. Lovelace’s music class. Melody is exhilarated but also concerned that something might go wrong. After joining the music class, some of the students from room H-5 start to get overwhelmed and upset. All the other children stare at them. Two girls, Molly and Claire, make fun of them and laugh. When Mrs. Lovelace sees Molly and Claire’s behavior, she scolds them and makes them stand for the rest of the class. Mrs. Lovelace begins playing the piano, and Melody sees various shades of green as she slowly starts feeling more at ease. Mrs. Lovelace invites the children of room H-5 to sit closer to her students. Melody is relieved when a student who introduces herself as Rose asks if she would like to sit near her. Melody thinks Rose is a nice girl and begins to feel like a friendship is forming.

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On the way into Miss Gordon’s class, Melody sees a group of students crowded around Rose’s desk. As Melody and Catherine proceed over, they hear Rose talking about her brand-new laptop. Melody closes her eyes and imagines what the perfect laptop made for her might look like and then she has an idea. She tries frantically to get her thoughts across to Catherine, pointing at words on her communication board. After a few attempts, Catherine understands that Melody is wanting a computer specially designed for her.  Catherine watches as Melody spells out Stephen Hawking. Melody wants to know more about him as well as the computers and devices that help him speak. On her board, she taps out her desire for a computer. Catherine agrees to help Melody look into it.Melody and Catherine research communication devices and come across a device called the Medi-Talker that Melody can operate with her thumbs. Catherine prints out the information, and after school Melody exuberantly shows the paperwork to Mrs. V. After reviewing it, Mrs. V decides it would be perfect for Melody and passes the information along to Melody’s mother. Melody’s parents also think it’s a great idea and they submit all the paperwork necessary to order it. Soon after, Mrs. V has the package waiting at her house for Melody to open after school. Melody is so excited that she almost has a “tornado explosion.” Mrs. V removes the Medi-Talker from the box, plugs it in to charge the battery, and begins to read the instructions. Melody impatiently rolls over to it and pushes a button with her right thumb, which turns it on. They realize the device has more than a dozen levels that can all be accessed by a single button.  Claire makes a snide remark, but Melody turns it around on her and gets the class laughing. Then Melody has the Medi-Talker tell a silly joke, and the students laugh again, including Melody. Finally, for the first time in her life, she feels like one of them. Claire comments that she never realized that Melody had thoughts in her head. Miss Gordon tells her and the rest of the class that Melody has always had things to say but she’s never had a way to say them. Melody agrees with her. Rose comes over to Melody and they exchange a few words, establishing to Melody that they are friends.

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Melody goes to Mrs. V’s house after school in a sour mood. Mrs. V asks her what happened, but Melody won’t say. She turns off her Medi-Talker and looks the other way. Catherine calls Mrs. V on the phone and explains what happened in Mr. Dimming’s class. Mrs. V hangs up the phone, infuriated. She insists that Melody try out for the quiz team, and states that she is committed to helping her study, practice, and be fully prepared. Melody’s mood starts shifting from sour to enthusiastic and they begin studying. Mrs. V quizzes Melody well into the evening and then calls Catherine to inform her of their plan. Catherine is on board with helping Melody study in school. They study all day in classroom H-5. Melody doesn’t even want to go to her inclusion classes. No one from her other classes checks to see why Melody hasn’t come. Melody spends the next week preparing for the Whiz Kids quiz with Catherine in school, Mrs. V after school, and with her parents in the evening. The time passes quickly and soon it’s the weekend before team tryouts. Melody and Mrs. V are on Mrs. V’s porch when a bird flies by. Mrs. V asks Melody what she would do if she could fly. Melody slowly types that she’s afraid it would feel so good that she would just fly away. Mrs. V tells Melody that she is a bird and will fly when she takes the test. Melody’s mother, Penny, and Butterscotch walk over from next door. As Melody watches Penny, she reflects back on Mrs. V’s question about the bird and points to Penny and types freedom for Mrs. V to see. Mrs. V understands what she means. Melody’s mother praises Mrs. V for working so hard with Melody. Mrs. V points out that Melody learns no differently from Penny. The difficulty is more in other people trying to understand Melody’s thoughts. Melody believes in herself and feels the support of her family Melody listens to the morning announcements with excitement as the principal informs students that the tryouts for the Whiz Kids quiz team will take place after school in Mr. Dimming’s classroom. Melody nervously studies all day in room H-5 with Catherine, choosing not to go to inclusion classes again. As soon as the last bell rings, Catherine takes Melody to Mr. Dimming’s room. Rose asks what Melody is doing there, and Melody types up quiz team. Melody hears Claire whisper a derogatory comment about her to Molly and Molly laughs. Melody chooses to ignore them and stays focused. Mr. Dimming looks slightly disappointed when he notices Melody in the room. While holding the official test questions in hand, he tells Catherine that he does not feel that Melody should be here. Melody is angry that he is speaking as if she isn’t even there. Melody’s Medi-Talker says very loudly that she is there to take the test. Rose encourages Melody. Catherine tells Mr. Dimming that by law, he cannot exclude her from taking the test. Catherine leaves the classroom and Mr. Dimming proceeds with the test instructions. The students, including Melody, take the test. As Melody leaves the room, Mr. Dimming tells her he was not trying to demoralize her, he was only trying to protect her from being hurt All the students who tried out for the quiz team are busy talking about it the next morning. Melody feels anxious as she and Catherine enter Mr. Dimming’s classroom to hear the names of the students who scored the highest on the test and made the team. He announces the alternates first. Two are sixth graders, Amanda and Elena, and the other two are fifth graders from his class, Molly and Rodney. Then he names the four finalists. All of them are fifth graders in his class: Connor, Claire, Rose, and Melody. He tells the class that Melody got every single question correct. Rose can’t believe it and Claire comments that she will make the team look weird. Mr. Dimming is remorseful for underestimating Melody. He shares with the class that they will have mandatory practices after school up until the first competition. Melody starts getting excited at the thought of being on television. Her arms and legs begin to move wildly. She gestures to Catherine to get her out of there before she draws more attention and Catherine does.The quiz team spends the next two weeks studying and practicing after school. Melody is thrilled to be a part of the team, but she doesn’t feel a sense of belonging. During the practice sessions, students ask and answer questions so quickly that Melody doesn’t have the time to type in her answers. Finally, a question comes up that baffles the class, so Melody has enough time to type in her answer. She answers correctly, which has Claire questioning how Melody can know so much. Rose comes to Melody’s defense and simply says that Melody is smart. Claire again makes a remark about how odd Melody will look on television. Melody already had a response typed up and her Medi-Talker tells Claire that lots of people look funny on television and that Claire might be one of them. Melody is elated by her own response. One day, Rose’s mother orders pizza for the team during practice. When Elena asks Melody if she’d like some, Melody responds that she isn’t hungry. She doesn’t want to share with her teammates that she is unable to eat it by herself and needs someone to feed her.The day of the regional Whiz Kids competition is here. Mrs. V has a talk with Melody as they’re waiting for the school bus. She tells Melody of the day’s timeline and that the studio has prepared for her. She also tells Melody that some reporters may be there to ask Melody questions. Melody doesn’t comprehend why they would want to talk to her, and Mrs. V tells Melody that she is the Stephen Hawking of Spaulding Street Elementary. Melody’s mother picks Melody up after school, gets her something to eat, and brings her to the downtown TV studio. They meet a stage manager, Paul, who immediately puts Melody at ease. He shows her a special answer board that he has created for her. It will allow Melody to use her whole wrist to hit the answer button, not just her thumb as she does on her Medi-Talker. Mr. Dimming and the rest of the team start to arrive as well as the competing elementary school teams. Melody’s family and Mrs. V are in the audience. Catherine stands behind the camera just in case she is needed. Melody is ready and confident The moderator, Mr. Kingsley, welcomes the audience to the Whiz Kids Southwest Ohio Regional Competition. He explains the rules and says that the two highest scoring teams from the early rounds will compete against each other in a final round for the title of local champion and will then move on to the national competition in Washington, D.C. The national champion will make an appearance on Good Morning America. Melody’s team from Spaulding Street Elementary is up first against Woodland Elementary. After much back and forth between the two teams, Spaulding Street comes out victorious. Their team is taken to a waiting room to watch the rest of the preliminary rounds play out. Melody’s family, Mrs. V, and Catherine are all there. The competition continues and after the fourth round, Perry Valley school wins, ending with one point more than Spaulding Street. Mr. Kingsley announces Spaulding Street and Perry Valley as the two top-scoring schools that will compete against each other in the final round. He states that in addition to competing in Washington, D.C., the winners and their chaperones will have all their expenses paid for the trip, plus be given a tour of the city. The overall winning team will receive a giant gold trophy and their school will receive two thousand dollars.The championship round begins between Spaulding Street and Perry Valley. Perry Valley stays one or two points ahead throughout the round until the final two questions. In the end, Spaulding Street Elementary beats Perry Valley by one point. Melody squeals and her arms and legs flail as Claire demands someone shut her up. Mr. Kingsley reminds people to watch the upcoming finals and ends the telecast. Mr. Dimming, the alternates, and the family members of the contestants rush onto the stage and everyone is buzzing with excitement. Cameras start flashing in Melody’s face. One reporter asks the Spaulding Street team for an interview. The reporter announces the group as the competition winners and asks each team member to introduce themselves. Claire, Rose, and Connor speak up. Connor is about to introduce Melody but before he can, the Medi-Talker loudly announces Melody’s name and age. The reporter starts asking more questions of Melody when Claire suddenly interrupts her to mention what good friends she and Melody are. Rose raises her hand but is told they are out of time. In closing, the reporter congratulates the team and makes special mention of the relationship between Melody and Claire, saying they became best friends in spite of their differences. Melody is astonished.

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Mr. Dimming suggests the team go out to a restaurant for a celebratory meal. As the group agrees, Melody looks at her mother, unsure for a moment, but then agrees. At the restaurant, everyone orders, and they have a fun conversation while waiting for their meals. When the waitress brings out the food, everyone starts eating except Melody. No one on the team has ever seen her eat before and her disability requires someone to feed her. She and her mother exchange looks and Melody gives her a nod that she wants to eat. As Melody’s mother begins feeding her one spoonful at a time, Molly pokes Claire and they glance at each other. Everyone stops talking at the table. Melody pushes her food away, deciding to take the rest home, even though she is still hungry. She notices that Claire has barely eaten and has hardly said anything all night. Some of the group orders dessert and conversation picks back up with everyone talking about the upcoming Washington trip. Claire mentions that she doesn’t feel good and stands up, stumbles a bit, covers her mouth, and then throws up on Mr. Dimming’s shoes. Claire goes to the bathroom with her mother and Mr. Dimming rushes off to clean his shoes. Melody wonders if Claire was as uncomfortable and embarrassed as Melody felt while being fed. Melody finds it curious that no one looks bothered by Claire getting sick in the middle of the restaurant. Claire returns looking pale and everyone pays their tab and leaves. The next day, the front page of the morning paper features an article about the winning team along with a picture of Melody. Melody is concerned that her teammates are going to be upset that they are not pictured and that much of the article is about Melody, the girl with cerebral palsy, leading her team to victory. She finds out she is right when she gets to school. Rose acts cold toward Melody and expresses that the whole team should have been included in the picture. Melody agrees, then sighs and goes to Mr. Dimming’s class. He’s bursting with excitement and congratulates everyone on doing a great job, giving a special thanks to Melody for helping to secure a win for the team. He passes out a packet filled with all the information the team members will need for their trip to Washington, D.C. In preparation, they will need to practice every day after school. He says the six students with the highest scores in the preliminary rounds will be the final team for D.C. Before heading to practice after school, Catherine asks Melody what is bothering her. Melody types that the other kids do not want her on the team because she will make them stick out and make them look odd.Two weeks of practice passes quickly. Mr. Dimming announces the final team as Connor, Rose, Molly, Elena, Rodney, and Melody. Claire and Amanda are alternates and Claire is not happy. Mrs. V comes over in the evening to help Melody and her mother pack for their trip. Melody gets teary-eyed thinking about the trip. She can’t believe that it is actually going to happen. She thinks about Rose and the things they may do in D.C. She just wants to be like all the other girls. The Brooks family and Mrs. V head to the airport in the morning to get Melody and her mother on their flight. At check-in, an airline employee informs them that their flight has been canceled due to bad weather. There are no other flights to get them to the destination in time for the competition. When Melody’s mother asks about the rest of the quiz team, they find out that the group had gone out to breakfast and arrived at the airport very early. They caught the last flight out before cancellations began. Melody, her family, and Mrs. V are confused and upset that no one called them and that they left Melody behind. Knowing there is nothing else they can do, they go home. At home, Melody cries while her mind is buzzing with questions about why the team left her behind. She feels like they left her on purpose, which angers her and makes her want to stomp, but she can’t. Penny comes into her room and snuggles with her, which makes her feel a little bit better. Her parents try to get Melody to eat but she is not hungry. The phone rings and Melody realizes her mother is talking to Mr. Dimming. In a very stern tone, her mother tells him she doesn’t understand why they weren’t called.  She listens and then replies that they could have been at the airport earlier. She adds that this has been devastating to Melody. He then seems to imply that he will make it up to Melody, which further agitates her mother causing her to hang up the phone. Melody’s mother pulls Melody onto her lap, consoling Melody and rocking her until she eventually falls asleep.
The next morning, Melody’s father shares that the team came in ninth place in the finals and received a little trophy. Melody tries to pretend that she doesn’t care but tears roll down her face. Her sadness turns to anger and although she has already been excused from school for the day, she decides she wants to go in holding her head up high to show the other students that this has not defeated her. She also wants to see Catherine. It’s a very stormy, lightning-filled day, so Melody has to go back to using her manual wheelchair and her old Plexiglas communication board. The morning is very hectic for the whole family, but Melody’s mother agrees to take Melody to school in her SUV. After getting soaked by the rain, she gets Melody in the car. Just as she’s about to back out of the driveway, Melody sees Penny running out the front door. Melody’s mother does not notice her. Since Melody doesn’t have her Medi-Talker, she starts kicking, screaming, crying, and flailing about to try to warn her mother, but her mother thinks Melody is just acting out. The car starts backing down the driveway and they feel a soft thump. Melody’s father comes running out the door calling for Penny. Melody’s parents are horrified when they realize Penny has been injured by the car. Melody sits in the car frozen with fear.

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Melody’s parents ride in the ambulance with Penny to the hospital. Mrs. V takes care of Melody and tries to calm her fears. Melody feels responsible for the accident because she insisted on going to school. Mrs. V tells her it’s not her fault and that Melody tried her best to warn her mother. Melody wishes it had been her in the accident because she thinks no one would miss her. Mrs. V replies saying she would miss her terribly if something happened to her. Melody brings up how the quiz team left her, and how she just wants to be like every other kid. Mrs. V doesn’t want her to be like every other kid and says she loves Melody for who she is. Mrs. V receives a phone call saying that Penny has some internal injuries and a badly broken leg but has successfully undergone surgery and will be fine. She and Melody are extremely relieved.

Chapter 32

Before school, Melody tells Mrs. V that facing the quiz team will be easy compared to what happened to Penny. In classroom H-5, Melody sees her friends differently now and realizes that none of them have ever been mean to her they see a tiny trophy on his desk. The room is extra quiet as Mr. Dimming greets Melody in a fake, cheerful voice. Melody doesn’t respond and then looks at Rose, who tries to avoid her eyes. Melody breaks the silence by having her Medi-Talker ask why the team left her. One after another, her teammates come up with excuses. Even Mr. Dimming joins in, trying to clear his conscience. Then, there’s more silence until Rose bursts into tears. Connor walks up to Melody and places the cheap little plastic trophy on her tray, declaring that the team wants her to have it to make up for what they did. Melody giggles, then laughs harder. At the same time, her hand suddenly jerks and knocks the trophy to the ground, causing it to break into pieces. The class stares, expecting her to unleash her anger upon them but she doesn’t. They start to laugh a little. Melody’s Medi-Talker loudly states that she doesn’t want the trophy and they deserve it. She continues laughing, turns her wheelchair around, and heads out the classroom door.

Melody has a realization that while she is certainly different in some ways from her “regular” fifth grade classmates, she may have more in common with them than she originally thought. They all have worries about fitting in, being liked, and trying to find out where they belong. She compares her life to a puzzle, saying that she’s trying to figure out where all the pieces go and whether she even has all the pieces. Penny is home from the hospital, getting spoiled, and that’s completely okay with Melody.