Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm writing this review after consulting with my 11-year-old daughter Laurel, who has severe cerebral palsy and can't walk, talk, or do activities of daily living for herself. In other words, she's a lot like Melody, the protagonist of this book. In Laurel's case, she communicates by using eye gaze to indicate yes/no or one of two choices (Laurel very badly wants a communication system similar to Melody's that would work with eye gaze, and we're looking into it now). We read this book together (like Melody, although Laurel can read, her eyes jump around and it's hard for her to follow lines). Laurel gives Out of My Mind five stars. She indicates that she feels that the book is realistic, both in terms of the character of Melody (except for the perfect memory; although perfect memory does exist, it's very, very rare, and Laurel forgets things like the rest of us) and the way people treat Melody. Although Laurel has never been wholly isolated from her peers, she relates to the experiences of being taught the same thing over and over again (in Laurel's case, it was shapes) and of spending large amounts of time in the special education room. Contrary to some comments, she does not feel that having therapists included in the narrative would have significantly changed the arc of the story. Laurel feels that this is an excellent book for people to read if they want to have a better understanding of people like her.