It's like I have a camera in my head, and if I see or hear something, I click it, and it stays.' 'Here's the thing: I'm ridiculously smart, and I'm pretty sure I have a photographic memory. Everything Melody encounters she remembers, whether it's a book she's been read, or telephone numbers she's seen on commercials. He spoke to her like he knew she could understand him, and she did. While her mother sometimes babied her, Melody's father did not - he read books to her and talked to her about things they saw when they were outside. And I bet most people don't realize the real power of words. 'Everybody uses words to express themselves. She can only grunt and make certain sounds. Unfortunately, Melody is unable to tell those around her what she likes and how she feels.

Melody remembers absorbing everything around her when she was very young and especially loving music which she associates with colours Beethoven is bright blue and smells like fresh paint while jazz is brown and smells like wet dirt. Her body tends to move on its own agenda.' Her legs are very thin, probably because they've never been used. She's really tiny for a girl who is age ten and three quarters. But one of them is slightly out of whack.Her head wobbles a little. Melody describes herself as 'a girl with dark brown eyes that are full of curiosity.

In her novel, Out Of My Mind, Sharon Draper explores the world of disabilities and how people with significant physical and emotional challenges must navigate a world that often makes assumptions about who they are.Įleven year old Melody Brooks can't walk or talk but she has a brilliant mind trapped in a body that doesn't work. My mother whispered her strength into my ear.By the time I was two, all my memories had words, and all my words had meanings. They chattered and babbled.My father sang to me. My parents have always blanketed me with conversation.

They made my jumbled thoughts and feelings have substance. 'From the time I was really little - maybe just a few months old - words were like sweet, liquid gifts, and I drank them like lemonade.

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper