Draper, S. (2010). Out of My Mind. NY: Atheneum.
Out of My Mind is told in first person by a young girl named Melody, who has nonverbal cerebral palsy. She cannot speak, move or communicate in anyway. While most people, including her teachers and doctors, believe she has limited intelligence, Melody is in fact extremely bright and has a photographic memory. She is frustrated at school in her special needs classroom and lashes out one day. This ultimately lead to the discovery of her superior intelligence and helps her get a communication board and an aide. She also gets mainstreamed into the classes with the general population. This becomes a tough transition due to some bullying and those who underestimate her abilities. She does begin to feel more included when she helps her school win the quiz tournament and gets her team a trip to Washington DC. However, her team leaves her behind, perhaps by accident but it's unclear. This ultimately leads to a sequence of events where, due to Melody's inability to clearly communicate, her sister is accidentally run over. Her sister turns out to be fine and her team profusely apologizes but the struggle for Melody is not over.
Reading this book in first person gave an incredible depth to Melody and her constant struggles. While I found this book extremely fascinating and thought provoking, I thought the ending to quite bleak. I wish it ended on a more hopeful note. I do feel, however, that this should be required reading to anyone who teaches or knows someone with special needs. This book gave me a completely new perspective of the lives of individuals with special needs and a newfound empathy for their struggles. I recommend this for readers ages 10 and up.
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