Elements: Out Of My Mind By Sharon M. Draper

Elements

My Responses

Title and Author

Book Title: out of my mind

Books Author: Sharon M. Draper

My Own Title

Create a new title and explain in two sentences why it is appropriate for the story.

One new title I would give the book out of my mind is Retarded. I would give the book this title because as Melody (The main character) suffers from Cerebral Palsy which is a disability to speak and move like normal people because of the lack of muscle coordination, people around her underestimate her abilities and therefore think that Melody is just a retarded/disabled girl, who really isn’t able to do anything without the help of her aides.

Theme Statement

Identify a life lesson that you learned from the story and explain using three

Rose shows this personality because, although the people around Melody tend to underestimate her capabilities, Rose at least treats Melody like a normal person. On page 93, the text states, “But one girl in the back row crossed her arms across her chest and scowled at her classmates who were acting up.” This text clearly shows that Rose really does have a thoughtful personality, especially, when she indirectly stood up for Melody. Going back to the text, although Rose was indirect with what she meant for her classmates/didn’t even know Melody, those simple gestures she did were very thoughtful, and made Melody feel like somebody finally saw her as one of the “normal”

If I could change or remove one event from this book, it would be the part when Penny manages to leave the house and get a few injuries. Although this one event almost impacts readers by showing them the sadness and stress Melody is put by this and not being able to participate during the quiz team competition in Washington D.C., as a reader, putting myself in Melody’s shoes just makes me feel plain awful. When showing empathy to Melody in this part of the book, I realised I highly disliked this part because of the feelings it gave me ( the feeling of unhappiness for the main character: Melody). Therefore stating why I would wish that this specific incident never occurred in the story.

Extension

If there was one more chapter in the book, explain what would happen using at least four sentences. If there was one more chapter, I think Melody would become captain of the quiz team, and really understand that all great stories emerge from deep truths that rest within us. But the real truth of a story often can be found in places that not even strongest and bravest people can go. I think while Melody becomes captain of the quiz team she can learn more about herself. Such as, her abilities in different subjects, and her capabilities in being independent even without a voice. This is what I think would happen if there was one more chapter in this book.

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