Melody can remember everything she has ever experienced, but she cannot walk or talk. Her intelligence makes her a curiosity for her classmates, who are taught that she is not only different but also inferior. Melody does not challenge the status quo; instead, she allows herself to be defined by others so that she can learn about the world. This book tells Melody’s story through poems and illustrations.
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. So when Melody is suddenly taken out of class at age six, no one can imagine where she will go next. Years later, she finds herself locked in a padded cell, still trapped by her inability to speak and think. And yet throughout it all, Melody holds on to one hope: escaping from this place will be possible with the help of her science teacher, Jarreau Oberlin.
In this uplifting and insightful memoir, 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. She is convinced that autism isn’t necessarily something someone has—it’s a state of mind. In “Out of My Mind,” she tells us what it feels like to live with the label of autism while simultaneously living by her own rules: never treat anyone with disrespect, keep it hidden from those who don’t understand you, or pretend to be something you aren’t just to fit in. Melody’s message is one that we have all needed to hear for years.
About Out of My Mind Book
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 more intelligent 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 deeply moving story, Sharon Draper reveals how Melody was diagnosed with a severe form of childhood epilepsy. But it is not until Melody is placed in an ordinary-seeming public school for the disabled that her seizures become violent — and she meets other children who have similar conditions. A brilliant young author and teacher, Draper offers readers access to a world of “characters on the brink of death” and a novel of compassion, hope, and courage.
