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Out of My Mind written by Sharon M. Draper is a story about a young girl named Melody who has spastic bilateral quadriplegia, also known as cerebral palsy.

Published in 2010 by Atheneum Books For Young Readers, Simon & Schuster, Out of My Mind is a fascinating read that I would give 5 out of 5 stars.

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Home: Melody and her family spend a lot of their time at home. She has her own room upstairs. The family spends time together in the kitchen/dining room and the living room.

Spaulding Street Elementary School: School is another prime setting location, specifically in Mr. Dimming's classroom and the H-5 Special Education Classroom.

Mrs. V's: Melody visits her neighbor Mrs. V and they spend quite a bit of time on her front porch and in the living room.

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Beginning:

In the beginning of the story, the reader is introduced to the main characters and the setting. We learn Melody's personality, her struggles, and what she likes and dislikes. Later on, Penny is born, and a whole new set of challenges arises for the family having to care for a new baby and Melody. At this point in the story, Melody is primarily in the special education room (H-5).

Middle:

A few years later, Melody is moved into inclusion classes and meets her aide, Catherine. She meets many students who do not know how to react to having new students in their class. Claire and Molly (the main antagonists) make fun of the children's disabilities. When Melody joins the Quiz Bowl team, Claire and Molly are convinced that Catherine gives Melody all of her answers. This problem is solved when Catherine leave the room to let Melody take the tests by herself. The team goes on to win the town quiz bowl tournament and wins a trip to D.C. to represent their school in the country's Quiz Bowl Tournament. Everyone couldn't be more proud of the students.

End:

The end is full of turmoil and conflict. When Melody's family arrives at the airport to board their plane for D.C., they learn that the flight was canceled due to a storm. However, none of Melody's classmates were there because they had met early for breakfast and were able to catch an early flight, leaving Melody behind. Her dad punches a wall and breaks his hand out of anger. Back at home, Melody is clearly upset and hurt, but determined to go back to school to prove to everyone that she is strong and to show them what the others had done to her by leaving her behind. It was storming that morning, and with her dad's hand bandaged, he couldn't help her mom life Melody into the car or get her wheelchair loaded. He didn't get the front door to the house closed all the way, and Melody's little sister Penny runs out. As her mom was pulling out of the driveway, Melody kicks and screams to get her mom's attention but it is no use. As the car rolls down the driveway, Penny gets hit. After a trip and stay at the hospital, Penny recovers and comes home with a cast on her leg. Melody attends school the next Monday and confront her classmates and teacher. Finally, everyone reconciles and Melody begins to write her autobiography.

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Melody

Mom

Dad

Mrs. V

Penny/Doodle

Catherine

Rose

Mr. D

Claire/Molly

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Melody is the main character who has spastic bilateral quadriplegia. She is very intelligent and aces many of her quiz bowl quizzes. She is 11 years old, has short, dark, curly hair, brown eyes, dimples, and tiny gold earrings.

Melody loves music and visualizes it in colors. Her aboslute favorite genre is country and her favorite song is Elvira by the Oak Ridge Boys.

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I really enjoyed this book. Often times, I felt so frustrated for Melody because she had so much to say but little means of communication. It made me so sad that it took her parents and teachers so long to realize that she needed a different kind of communication device. I would have thought a computer would be a MUST for her right away since she could use her communication board to vaguely relay her thoughts and feelings and was extremely intelligent.

Looking back, there were many times where I felt helpless. There was nothing I could do to help this little girl. There was no way to smack some of the teachers, or help her mom through what seemed like tantrums where Melody was only trying to help or get her parents to realize something. I just couldn't believe how incentive some of the people were in this book.

My favorite characters right away were Mrs. V and Catherine because they truly saw Melody for who she was and did their absolute best to help her achieve her full potential. The very first instance of this is on page 40, "Mom said Mrs. V was the first visitor when I came home from the hospital, the first person to just pick me up like any other baby." When the reader meets Catherine later on in the book, she is the one who realized Melody wanted her own computer and helped her research different options (page 124-129).

Major Take-Aways:

Every child deserves the chance to learn. Every child is capable of learning.

Inclusion is a MUST. Children should not be kept 'separate.'

Teachers should encourage positive behavior in their classrooms.

Exclusion is not okay in any shape or form.

Bullying should not be tolerated nor simply ignored.

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There is not much visual description of Melody's mom. We learn her name is Diane through a conversation between her and Melody's dad. She cares deeply for Melody and will do anything for her two daughters. Her favorite music genre is classical and she hates when her husband plays jazz music.

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Like Melody's mom, her dad does not have much visual description. However, like Melody's mom, he cares about his daughters and will stop at nothing to get the best for them. He follows the girls around with his camcorder and is excited to document everything they are doing. In the same conversation with Melody's mom, we learn his name is Chuck.

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Blue in Green (feat. John Coltrane & Bill Evans)

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Blue in Green (feat. John Coltrane & Bill Evans)

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Full name: Violet Valencia

"She's a big woman-about six feet tall, with the biggest hands I've ever seen." Mrs. V wears bright, colorful, clothing, and used to work as a nurse with Melody's mom. She is a very bold, determined, and sassy lady.

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Penny is Melody's baby sister, and Doodle is her stuffed toy. By two, she is using words, moving all over the house, and developing a silly personality. Sometimes, Melody feels a sense of jealousy towards her baby sister because she cannot do the things that her baby sister can do.

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Catherine is Melody's aide at school. She also wears bright colors and loves purple and green. She sticks up for Melody when the girls in her class start picking on her. Catherine does an amazing job of advocating for Melody throughout the story.

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Full name: Mr. Dimmings

Mr. D is Melody's Quiz Bowl coach and history teacher. He wears (almost) the same brown suite to class every day. Mr. D underestimates Melody frequently, and is surprised by her potential.

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Claire and Molly are the antagonists in the story. They make fun of Melody for being "different" and make fun of her in classes.

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Rose is the first friend Melody makes outside of H-5. They are on the Quiz Bowl team together. Later in the book, Rose betrays Melody when she didn't call her to board the plane early for their trip to D.C.