Out of My Mind

By: Sharon M. Draper

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 up 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.

Sharon M. Draper

Reading level: Grade Level 4 and up Lexile: 700L

Suggested Delivery: Whole class read aloud, Independent, Group

Vocabulary: 

Electronic Resources:

http://sharondraper.com/bookdetail.asp?id=35 - Author website. Here their is an interview with Sharon Draper, she answers questions about this book and her writing process. 

http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/brain/cerebral_palsy.html-This website is great for doing research about Cerebral palsy and is kid friendly. 

http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/cp-famous.shtml- The book mentions Steven Hawkins, if you want to have your class to do research on famous people what have influenced the world and have disabilities, this website gives a list of people that made contributions to the world and have Cerebral Palsy. 

http://books.simonandschuster.net/Out-of-My-Mind/Sharon-M-Draper/9781416971702/reading_group_guide - Great for discussion topics

http://list.atpe.org/resources/Educators/bookclubfiles/11NovMSQuestions.pdf -Discussion questions

Activities to Increase Comprehension:

Before Reading this book i thought it would be really interesting to have the students come up with a topic, something that they are really interested in and create a presentation on that topic without saying anything. Melody, in "Out of My Mind" can not speak, having the kids realize the difficulty and creativity that comes into play when you have ideas that you can't verbally share will create interesting conversation and a great lead into the book. You can use Prezi (http://prezi.com/) which is a great website for kids to learn how to make dynamic and interactive presentations. and of course I love Voki (http://www.voki.com/)- especially for something like this where the presenter can't talk. Using a voki the students can see how it is to have an electronic device speak for you. 

"Everyone Uses words to express themselves. Except me. And i bet most people don't realize the real power of words. But I do." - Melody

Before and During Reading: This book contains a lot of imagery, similes and metaphors and would be a wonderful book to use to explore how figurative writing can improve the quality and interest in a story. 

"Country is lemons- not sour, but sugar sweet and tangy."

"I plow through the crowds in my electric in my electric chair like a power mower in thick grass."

During Reading Because the book is told from Melody's perspective and you are inside her mind the whole time, this would be a great book to use to teach monologue or journal writing. Have the students participate in a writing workshop. In a writing workshop they will have the chance to choose multiple personal stories to write about. One after another they will be identifying various memories in their life and writing to get the ideas out of their minds

During reading you can also do Open mind where students Draw an empty head and inside of it draw any symbols or words or images that are bouncing around in the mind of the character of a story. Follow it up with writing or discussion explain and explore responses.

I LOVED this book!! I think that every student and teacher should read this book have empathy for people that may be different in some way. "We all have disabilities. What's yours?" - Melody. I fell in love with Melody and the way she would describe things and her feelings. Everyone faces challenges and unknowns in their life no matter what you look like, think like, behave like. Like Melody says "It's like somebody gave me a puzzle, but I don't have the box with the picture on it. So I don't know what the final thing is supposed to look like. I'm not even sure if I have all the pieces." We all feel this way at some point (I know I feel this way all the time). Read this book with your class or on your own and fall in love with Melody like I did. 

"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change."

Stephen Hawking