Review of Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

Guest review written by Leo  age 11 1/2

Out of My Mind is about an 11-year-old girl named Melody who has Cerebral palsy.

“I can’t walk. I can’t talk. I can’t feed myself or take myself to the bathroom. Big bummer,” she tells us on page 1. Because Melody can’t speak, many people assume she isn’t smart. In fact, Melody’s brain works like anyone else’s. She is exceptionally smart, clever and a trivia expert.

At school, Melody is in a special education class, where she doesn’t learn much most years. Then, the school starts an inclusion program where all the kids in Melody’s class get to participate in a “normal” class once in awhile. Melody is really excited about this, but when the class starts, a couple of kids aren’t very nice to her, and some of the others ignore her. But one girl named Rose sits next to Melody, and they become friends. Melody likes having a friend, yet sometimes she still feels left out. The inclusion program is a little frustrating for Melody because when she knows the answer to a question (which is a lot of the time) she can’t say it. Through all the challenges Melody is still glad to be part of it because she gets to learn so much more than she did before.

The rest of the book shows how Melody sees the world. It shows the relationship between Melody and her parents and family. Also, the book shows how Melody’s next-door-neighbor, Mrs. V. pushes Melody to do the “unspeakable.”Out of My Mind talks about the many stereotypes and assumptions people make about someone who has Cerebral palsy.

I definitely recommend this book if you want to read something completely different. It really shows the way someone who has a disability or many challenges feels, and how they conquer those challengesOut of My Mind is like no other book I’ve read; it makes me realize that there are so many things in life that are far more complicated than we think,

Out of My Mind is the winner of the 2015 Wildwood Medal

Timmy Failure : Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis (Guest review by Leo – 9 years old)

My mom found this book in the library and thought I’d like it (which I did). This book is really cool because it is funny and enjoyable. It is about a kid named Timmy Failure, who has a terrible teacher and an idiot as a friend. He has a polar bear business partner named Total. Together they have a detective company (or at least they try to) called Total Failure inc. But, as Timmy would say, “This company is totally not a total failure.” It is a different book because sometimes you can’t even tell if this book is about a dumb kid who tries unsuccessfully to start a detective company or a very smart kid who has succeeded.

If you like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney, you might also enjoy this book.