My Favorite Book of 2011 So Far

Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper

This book is remarkable.  Truly.

I would reccommend it to a fifth grader.
I would reccommend it to a teen.
I would reccommend it to an adult.

What other chapter book has something profound to offer so many ages?  That's just the start of why it is remarkable.

This book made me cry. 
I don't remember if that has ever happened before.  Or when.  I read on in dumbfounded amazement that I was crying over a book.  We're talking fiction, here.

Melody is almost 11.  And she has never spoken a word in her life.  She has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair: "By the way, there is nothing cute about a pink wheelchair. Pink doesn't change a thing."

But Melody is brilliant and amazing and full of so many thoughts and feelings she longs to be able to share.  She is trapped in her body, and worse, in her mind.

Initially this first-person narrative wasn't entirely grabbing me.  How long did I want to feel sorry for poor Melody and her seemingly hopeless plight?

But then the author starts adding PLOT.  Lots of it, and with a few layers.  And before I knew it, I was just-one-more-chapter-ing my way to the dramatic end.

Many hours past my bedtime.
On a night that I thought I was exhausted when I picked up this little gem.
It has been such a long time since I've read a book this compelling.

I can't even give you plot points without giving too much away.

Just read it.
Look through the eyes of a person whose life may look nothing like yours.

Melody may have felt "out of her mind" at times in this story. 
She blew mine.