Out of My Mind

Ms. Leom started a new Read-Aloud with her class. The book is called, Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper.

Told in the first person point of view * this is the realistic fiction story of eleven year old Melody. She has photographic memory. She is the smartest student in her school, but no one knows. Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She is trapped in her own body, and being stuck inside her head is making her go out of her mind - until she finds her voice...

This is a fabulous story of appreciating the hidden gifts in all of us, in treating everyone with dignity and respect, told in the voice of someone who knows ...


* Point of View is an important skill we are learning. There are three points of view:
First Person - the character is IN the story (key words: I, me, us, our ...)
Second Person - the reader is part of the story (key words: you, your ...)
Third Person - there is a narrator, telling the story from outside (key words: names, it, his, her, them, their ... )

When your child is reading, and you want to be engaged and ask questions, and you are not sure where to start, ask your child to tell you the point of view; followed by evidence. What evidence would you share to support that it is point of view ... This is important because the story can be told from the Third Person Point of View (with a narrator), but the story might have dialogue that uses, "I told you ..." and it can confuse students. It takes many examples to develop the differences for students.