Age: 6th-10th grade

"Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people—her teachers and doctors included—don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.

Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind—that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it" (Goodreads feature preview).

While Melody has a moody-and sometimes brutish-demeanor, her tenacity and humor pulls this book along. This book casts a light upon the potential and beauty in every child, regardless of their physical and mental disabilities. This book provides a fresh perspective on disabilities in children from the point-of-view of a child with cerebral palsy. However, the people outside of Melody's world are not given a chance to understand her condition before they are humiliated. An interesting issue is presented: how can the people living "outside" of disability issues understand them if their prejudices and assumptions run so deep? Does someone need to brutally expose their misconceptions?