Out of My Mind (part 1)

​Out of My Mind
by Sharon Draper
pages 226, 227, 229, 230

Open Ended

Based on the book cover, what do you think this novel is going to be about?

​Out of My Mind is a novel of 33 chapters, but we are going to read and analyze only chapters 1, 3 & 16.

Multiple Choice

Who is the author of "Out of My Mind"?

• Melody

• Gary Paulsen

• Sharon Draper

• Pat Mora

Open Ended

Before reading Out of My Mind, try doing a quick online search to get a general idea of what the novel is about.

Write some of the results that you've found.

"Out of My Mind" tells the story of Melody Brooks, an eleven-year-old girl who has cerebral palsy (CP), a disability resulting from damage to the brain.

Open Ended

Try doing a quick online search to get more information about cerebral palsy (CP)

to better understand the narrator of the story.

​Cerebral palsy is a group of conditions that affect movement and posture. It's caused by damage that occurs to the developing brain, most often before birth. Symptoms appear during infancy or preschool years and vary from very mild to serious.
Children with cerebral palsy may have exaggerated reflexes. The arms and legs may appear floppy. Or they may have stiff muscles. Symptoms also can include irregular posture, movements that can't be controlled, a walk that's not steady or some combination of these.
Cerebral palsy may make it hard to swallow. It also can cause eye muscle imbalance, in which the eyes don't focus on the same object. Some people with cerebral palsy can walk while others need assistance. Some people have intellectual disabilities, but others do not. Blindness or deafness also might affect some people with cerebral palsy.

​Melody has Cerebral Palsy, a condition that prevents her from walking, talking, dressing, standing, feeding herself, using the toilet alone – all the things most of us take for granted. But Melody is smart, with almost a photographic memory, a love of music, and a fierce desire to be 'normal'.

Now you're going to start reading some parts of the novel. You can also find the text in your connection books pages 226 & 227.
As you complete your first read of the text, circle or take note of words you find unfamiliar.

​Chapter 1
Words. I’m surrounded by thousands of words. Maybe millions. Cathedral. Mayonnaise. Pomegranate. Mississippi. Neapolitan. Hippopotamus. Silky. Terrifying. Iridescent. Tickle. Sneeze. Wish. Worry. Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes—each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands.
Deep within me, words pile up in huge drifts. Mountains of phrases and sentences and connected ideas. Clever expressions. Jokes. Love songs. 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. I could almost taste them. They made my jumbled thoughts and feelings have substance.

​My parents have always blanketed me with conversation. They chattered and babbled. They verbalized and vocalized. My father sang to me. My mother whispered her strength into my ear.
Every word my parents spoke to me or about me I absorbed and kept and remembered. All of them.
I have no idea how I untangled the complicated process of words and thought, but it happened quickly and naturally. By the time I was two, all my memories had words, and all my words had meanings. But only in my head.
I have never spoken one single word. I am almost eleven years old.

Open Ended

Like Melody, do you have certain words that you love? What is it that you love about them?

Open Ended

What does the narrator (Melody) mean by "All words had meaning, but only in my head. I have never spoken a single word"?

​ Chapter 3 page 229
Once, when I was about four, Mom and I were in one of those superstores that sells everything from milk to sofas. I was still small enough to fit in the child seat in the front of the cart. Mom always came prepared and stuffed pillows on each side of me so I wouldn’t tilt. Everything was fine. She tossed toilet paper and mouthwash and detergent into the cart, and I looked around, enjoying the ride. Then, in the toy section, I saw them. Brightly colored packages of plastic blocks. Just that morning I had seen a warning on television about that toy—they were being recalled because the blocks had been painted with lead paint. Several children had already been hospitalized with lead poisoning, the report had said. But there they were—still on the shelf.

​ I pointed to them.
Mom said, “No, sweetie. You don’t need those. You have enough toys.”
I pointed again and screeched. I kicked my feet.
“No!” Mom said more forcefully. “You are not going to have a tantrum on me!”
I didn’t want the blocks. I wanted to tell her they were dangerous. I wanted her to tell somebody to get rid of them before a child got sick. But all I could do was scream and point and kick. So I did. I got louder. Mom rushed out of the toy section, pushing the cart real fast.
“Stop it!” she cried out at me.    

​ I couldn’t. It made me so angry that I couldn’t tell her. The tornado took over. My arms became fighting sticks, my legs became weapons. I kicked at her with my feet. I screamed. I kept pointing in the direction of those blocks.
People stared. Some pointed. Others looked away.

   Mom got to the door of the store, yanked me out of the cart, and left it with all her selections sitting there. She was almost in tears when she got to the car. As she buckled me in my seat, she almost screamed at me, “What is wrong with you?” ...

    I don’t think Mom ever figured out what I was trying to say that day.

Multiple Choice

What was Melody trying to say to her mother?

• She wanted to buy a new toy that she saw on tv.

• She wanted to buy more milk and toilet paper.

• She wanted to get the block for homeless children.

• She wanted to tell her that the toys were dangerous because she had seen a warning about them.

Open Ended

Reflect on a time when you felt you couldn’t communicate something important. How did it make you feel?