Out of My Mind

"Out of My Mind" by Sharon Draper is a story of a brilliant girl who has no way to communicate with the rest of the world.
      Melody, aged ten but nearly eleven, has millions of things she'd like to say, millions of ideas she wants to share, millions of conversations she wants to has, and millions of miles she wants to run, but only one thing stopping her.  She has cerebral palsy.  Confined to her pink wheelchair, Melody has to observe the world pass her by, learning her ABC's day after day, talking to the same kids year after year, doing the same things over and over again. She can't even tell people what she wants, because her vocabulary is limited to the few words she can point to on her "communication board."  Wonderful opportunities are in store for Melody, though, if only the rest of the world can be kind enough to let her take them.

This is a wonderful story.  Sharon Draper is a wonderful author, adept at bringing out the unseen and generally ignored sides of life, and she does nothing less with this novel.  She paints a picture that's believable, understandable, and relateable, even if the reader has no disability whatsoever.
       The main character, Melody, is a very sensible and sweet girl.  You almost forget from what vantage point she is speaking from sometimes.  Her thoughts are completely relateable, even if we function in two completely different realms of being.  I worry about what the kids at school think of me: she does too, save in a greater capacity. She worries about being her best for her team and proving everyone wrong about her; I do to, in some cases.
       Melody is surrounded by a cast of characters, as every protagonist is.  These characters aren't as widely varied as the casts in my normal books--there is only one outrageously flamboyant personality in the whole thing-- but they are believable, and I think that might be the point of the whole endeavor.  Their personalities are well developed, though, and rounded, so you know what's coming at you almost before it does, and if you don't understand an action then you can easily figure out based on what you know of real life and in-book situations.
        I also like Melody's sense of humor.  There's a mean girl, Claire (Why is it always a Claire?), who bullies Melody, but Melody comes back with some pretty snappy retorts.  Melody makes me smile often during the book, be it with her comebacks or her common-sense approach to her situation.
       The storyline is a good one, too.  The best ending to a story is "surprising but inevitable," right?  There are two very major plot twists near the end of the book.  The first is something that effects Melody more than anyone else, and it's something that you'll shake your head at and say "I should've seen that one coming."  The second is something that you figured out was going to happen earlier on in the book, if you payed close enough attention to all of the details in the text, but there's an added level to it.  That one effects the whole family, and it was hinted at for ages prior to it.
       I do have one complaint about the book, though.  There are a whole ton of exclamation points.  I really don't like exclamation points.  I couldn't tell you why, but it's just a personal irk of mine.  There are, like, four exclamation points per chapter, and they make me jump every time I read them.  Other than that, there's nothing pressingly awful that comes to mind.
      It's a wonderful book that can make you feel someone else's emotions, no matter what their circumstances, and this is a book that can do that. It did it for me.