Blog Post
Children's Book Garnering Rave Reviews
by battlem
Melody is a brilliant, funny, and stubborn 11-year-old who is restricted to a wheelchair by severe cerebral palsy. She can’t walk, move, or speak on her own. Doctors, teachers, and even her parents can’t determine how much Melody really knows or can learn. But Melody knows. She has been absorbing words, language, ideas, and knowledge her entire life, with the help of neighbor, Mrs. V, and her family.
Fifth grade provides an opportunity to leave the special education classroom for part of each day for some inclusion classes, where Melody hopes to make new friends and the Quiz Bowl team. She has high hopes that her new Medi-Talker computer device will give her thoughts a voice, and allow her to finally communicate with those around her. But fear, prejudice, and misunderstanding creep in as teachers and fellow students question her intellect and continue to isolate her. Yet, Melody perseveres.
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, is fiction recommended for grades 4-6. Draper's novel has received the trifecta of starred reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus. Check the AADL catalog for the book’s availability, and feel the heartbreak, as well as the limitless capacity, of the human spirit.
Blog Post
Emma Donoghue's novel, Room, dominates the literary landscape
by sernabad
Five-year-old Jack, the narrator of Room by Irish-Canadian author, Emma Donoghue, has lived in Room his whole life. Ma, his extraordinary young mother, has created a rich life for him under the most shocking conditions, for Room is an 11- by 11-foot impenetrable garden shed that has imprisoned Ma for seven years. Grabbed off her college campus at 19, Ma fills Jack’s days with ingenious activities designed to nurture his body, mind, and soul. For Jack, Room is mostly safe, except for his having to sleep in Wardrobe during the nocturnal visits of Ma’s kidnapper rapist. When that changes and increasing incidents of violence seem imminent, Ma devises a brilliant, desperate escape executed by Jack. Their journey from deprivation to acclimation into the Real World is fraught with unexpected dangers and no guarantee for success.
Jack’s ‘voice’, believable, charming, often funny, and at the same time so terribly skewed by his imprisonment, resets one’s every assumption about normal daily life. Donoghue, shortlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize, makes one wish for a wholly unique set of superlatives to lavish on this remarkable achievement.