Out of my mind

Literary fiction

First published: 2010
Print length: 295 pagesAtheneum Books for Young Readers, 2012

Description

Ten-year-old Melody Brooks has cerebral palsy, limited movement and speech, a photographic memory, and an intelligence that most people around her fail to recognize. At school she is given lessons far below her abilities while classmates mistake physical disability for intellectual disability. A communication device and a supportive aide finally give Melody new ways to express what she knows and participate in an inclusion program. When she excels on a trivia team, however, she must still prove that her achievement is genuine and that she belongs in the competition. Told from Melody’s perspective, the novel examines ableism, belonging, and the gulf between possessing a voice and being granted a hearing.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Conversational · Direct

Pace

Moderate

Tone

Earnest · Hopeful · Intimate · Tense

Structure

Linear

Focus

Character · Relationships · Voice

Emotional intensity

4 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 3 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

BelongingFriendshipIdentityInequalityTransformation

About Sharon M. Draper

Sharon M. Draper is an American writer of fiction for children and young adults whose work draws on twenty-five years as a high-school English teacher. Named National Teacher of the Year before becoming a full-time author, she brings an educator’s close attention to how young people think, speak, and respond to pressures that adults often underestimate. Her novels are typically direct and character-centered, using conversational voices, dialogue, and relationships to approach disability, race, grief, abuse, and family conflict. Out of My Mind follows an intellectually gifted girl whose cerebral palsy leads others to misjudge her, while Blended examines race and belonging through a child moving between two households. The Hazelwood novels, including Tears of a Tiger and Forged by Fire, confront guilt, death, poverty, and violence without treating their adolescent characters as case studies. Draper has also extended this humane, accessible method into historical fiction with Copper Sun. Across these settings, identity matters deeply, but character is shaped equally by choices, loyalties, and the struggle to be fully seen.

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Language: English
ISBN: 9781416971719, 9781613831335

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