Melody is a young girl with celebral palsy, who can not speak, walk, or use her hands to write. Her mother has taken her to specialists, and they all say that she is not cabable of advancing past the current stage she is in. Lucky for Melody her mom is not giving up, and knows that deep down in side she is brilliant. In school Melody is placed in the self contained units, and every year learns the same boring things. Once in awhile she comes across people or teachers who understand her, but it is never long lasting. Melody knows a lot of stuff because she has a photographic memory, which allows her to remember everything. As the new school year approaches, Melody wonders what kind of teacher she will get this time. As the school year begins, her teacher does not understand her, but she is excited about being part of inclusion classes. The new year also comes with a new aid, Catherine, who totally understands Melody. Catherine is partly the reason that Melody eventually gets a medi-talker, which enables her to have a conversation with the people around her for the first time. Not only can she communicate, she can answer questions. This revolutionized Melody's world, especially when she shows everyone that she is smart enough to be on the Whiz Kids Team. Everyone gives her starnge looks, and questions her ability because of the way that she looks. Melody has to fight with all she has to act normal and prove to everyone that she deserves to be on the Team. When the team makes it to state, Melody is exstatic, and can't wait to visit Washington D.C.. Her dream come to a complete stop when her team boards and earlier flight, and forgets to tell her. Melody decided that this will not bring her down and decides to attend school. The team does not win, but brings back a troph to give to Melody. By this point in the book Melody has ground into herself, and is confident of her abilities. She recognizes that what her teamates did were wrong in leaving her, but in the end tells them she does not want the trophy, and that they deserve it. She rolls out of the room, and begins a new chapter in her life. She decides to test the limits of the medi talker, and write her story. This is a book that teens and up need to read. It sheds the light on people with disbilities, and breaks through the stereotypes that we might all have. This story can be used in an english class to make a character analysis, the students can document the various changes that Melody or the people around her goes through. This book is a dream for Junior high English teachers everywhere. Students can work on a plethera of concepts like, plot, literary conflict, vocabulary, compare and contrate, and so much more.
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