Search advanced search
 
Books
Search:
x dismiss this message

Did you know you can edit this page?

Out of My Mind
  • Rated 0 stars
Read Out of My Mind

Out of My Mind (2010) (edit title/settings)

by Sharon M. Draper (Author) (edit contributors)

Share this book on:
see page history

Description edit see section history

From multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner Sharon M. Draper comes a story full of heartache and hope. Get ready to meet a girl whose voice you'll never, ever forget.

Summary edit see section history

Synopsis/Annotation:

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school, but no one knows it. Most people — her teachers and doctors included —... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Synopsis/Annotation:

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school, but no one knows it. Most people — her teachers and doctors included — don't think she's capable of learning, and until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows...but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.

Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind — that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice, but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

From: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/out-my-mind

Characters edit see section history

  • Melody Brooks: She is an 11-year-old girl with cerebral palsy. She is extremely smart and has a photographic memory. Melody is frustrated because she is treated differently and unfairly since she cannot speak and move her body. Almost more than anything, she wants to talk, but she also dreams of walking, flying, and being accepted.
  • Catherine: She is Melody's special aide at school. She is in college and usually wears funny outfits. Melody and Catherine become great friends. Catherine helps her get Elvira, her talking machine.
  • Rose Spencer: She is a seemingly sweet girl who sits with Melody in music and history who begins to talk to her. She also is on the Whiz Kids Team.
  • Molly poke Claire: She is a snobby girl in Melody's inclusion classes, and she is also on the Quiz Kids. She is always whispering with Molly about Melody.
  • Mr. Dimming: He is Melody's history teacher in one of her inclusion classes. He is in charge of the school's Whiz Kids team. He doesn't think Melody is smart and expects her to be dumb just because she has a disability.
  • Mrs. Valencia, aka Mrs. V.: She is the neighbor who babysits and encourages Melody. She also used to work in the hospital.
  • Penny: This is Melody's younger sister who calls Melody "Dee-Dee". She has a doll she drags around named Doodle.
  • Mrs. Brooks: She is Melody's mom. Even though psychologists and doctors tell her that Melody is severely mentally impaired, she correctly believes that Melody's mental functioning remains intact.
  • Mr. Brooks: He is Melody's dad.
  • Mrs. Shannon: This is Melody's fifth grade teacher. She's very nice and one of room H-5's better teachers.
  • Freddy: Freddy is Melody's friend who also has problems. The kids make fun of Freddy, because he shouts random things out at innapropriate times. Melody doesn't like what the other kids are doing, so she stands up for him. He loves NASCAR and rockets and other fast things.
  • Gloria: Add a description of this character.
  • Jessica
  • Willy Williams
  • Molly North
  • Charles Kingsley
  • Amanda Firestone
  • Mrs. Billups
  • Mrs. Lovelace
  • Ollie
  • Ashley
  • Jill
  • Mrs. Tracy
  • Gus
  • Maria
  • Connor Bates
  • Mrs. Hyatt
  • Chuck
  • Elizabeth Ochoa
  • Mom
  • Mr. Gross
  • Diane
  • Rodney Mosul
  • Miss Gordon
  • Claire Wilson
  • Carl
  • Elena Rodriguez
Show all 37 characters
Popular Covers

Loading covers…

Choose your book’s cover

Quotes edit see section history

  • “I was going out of my mind. How can silence be so loud?”
    Melody
  • “I am surrounded by words.”
    Melody
  • “Dad also has the loudest, stinkiest farts in creation. I don’t know how he manages to control them at work, or even if he does, but when he’d get home, he’d let them loose. They’d start as he walked up the stairs.”
    Melody
  • “"I can 't talk, walk, feed myself, or even go to the bathroom on my own. Big bummer."”
    Melody
  • “"This girl is smart! I KNOW it!!!! "”
    Mrs. Brooks
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • “You are a bird, Melody. And you will fly on Monday when you take the test.”
    Highlighted by 38 Kindle customers
  • Nobody gets it. Nobody. Drives me crazy.
    Highlighted by 38 Kindle customers
  • Dad also has the loudest, stinkiest farts in creation. I don’t know how he manages to control them at work, or even if he does, but when he’d get home, he’d let them loose. They’d start as he walked up the stairs.
    Highlighted by 35 Kindle customers
  • I believe in me. And my family does. And Mrs. V. It’s the rest of the world I’m not so sure of.
    Highlighted by 34 Kindle customers
  • It’s like I live in a cage with no door and no key. And I have no way to tell someone how to get me out.
    Highlighted by 34 Kindle customers
  • Mrs. Violet Valencia lives next door to us. Violets are purple, and Valencia oranges are, well, orange! Purple oranges are just plain unusual, and so is she.
    Highlighted by 32 Kindle customers
  • “But a person is so much more than the name of a diagnosis on a chart!”
    Highlighted by 31 Kindle customers
  • I’m always amazed at how adults assume I can’t hear. They talk about me as if I’m invisible, figuring I’m too retarded to understand their conversation.
    Highlighted by 31 Kindle customers
  • Doctors. Where do I start? Doctors really don’t get me. Mom’s a nurse, so I guess she speaks their language, but they sure don’t know how to talk to me.
    Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers
  • When I sleep, I dream. And in my dreams I can do anything. I get picked first on the playground for games. I can run so fast! I take gymnastics, and I never fall off the balance beam. I know how to square-dance, and I’m good at it. I call my friends on the phone, and we talk for hours. I whisper secrets. I sing.
    Highlighted by 25 Kindle customers
Show all 15 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

Words. I am surrounded by thousands of words.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Chapters 1-33

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Sharon M. Draper (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Karen Brantley (Contributor)
  2. Caitlyn Dlouhy (Editor)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Atheneum
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 9781416971702
Page Count: 304

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PZ.D78325Ou 2010
  • Dewey: <Fic> dc22

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

Reading/Grade Level: 4 Interest Level: Grades 3-5 (Although Scholastic provided these levels, many older students will identify with the discrimination felt by the main character. Many of the situations are appropriate for students in grades 6-8.)

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

  • Sharon Draper.com: This is the author's website, and it provides discussion questions to use with the book.

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Accidents of Nature
  • Mockingbird
  • Anything But Typical
  • A Mango-Shaped Space

We’re hiding the errata, movie connections, books that influenced this book, books influenced by this book, books that cite this book and books cited by this book sections. If you would like to add content to them, you must first make them visible.

Megan Behrman

You were just viewing this book on Megan Behrman’s shelf.

 

© 2006-2013 Shelfari | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy

Close