Goodreads Review:

4.5 Stars!

10 year old son's rating: 4.5 Stars
8 year old daughter's rating: 5 Stars

You guys…this BOOK! It is absolutely incredible, and I would consider this a MUST read for young readers! Truly incredible! I will use this in my lesson planning for the next upcoming school year!

This book follows the character Melody, a 5th grade student who has cerebral palsy. As the reader, we are in her mind, and we get to hear her inner dialogue and experience her difficulties that will pull at your heart. Melody is bound to a wheelchair, is unable to use her hands, and is unable to communicate her thoughts. However, she is extremely gifted, and is ready to find a solution to allow her to be able to communicate her thoughts with her friends and family. Melody’s tutor, Catherine, finds a Medi-talk device that allows Melody to type out her thoughts. Now that she able to communicate her thoughts, she wants to participate in events with her classmates, and she decides to try out of the school's Whiz Team. We see through the eyes of an 11-year old girl trying to fit in, but we also learn that some of the difficulties she will face have nothing to do with her disability.

This is such an important book. I love that it’s written at the Middle Grade level, and I personally think everyone should read this book. It teaches empathy, understanding, patience, and is an eye-opener to understanding other people’s stories. Hearing about how Melody had to wear sweatpants all the time, how she couldn’t participate in regular classes, how she had to be fed and helped to the bathroom, and just having so many things to say and being unable to say them made me stop and think for long moments. The character development in this book was truly perfection! I will never forget Melody!

The best part of this book is being able to see the world through Melody’s eyes. I felt her frustrations, I felt her emotions, I felt her hardships, and I felt her energy. This was probably one of the saddest books I’ve read, but it was so well done.

So why does this book not get a 5-star rating? Honestly, I couldn’t get over the ending and the way educators were portrayed in this book. I know this wasn’t point of the book, but as an educator, I was really bothered by how Melody’s teacher was portrayed. I couldn’t get behind the idea that he intentionally allowed the students to leave Melody behind, and that he also participated in this cruel and mean behavior himself. I’ve taken kids on trips before, and it was so incredibly unrealistic that the teacher didn’t have time to call the parents to inform them about the flight change. I was extremely bothered by this, and it distracted me from the ending. (It made me not like the ending as much as rest of the book) It’s a good thing that Melody’s character was written so perfectly and that I will think of Melody and not this terrible teacher when I think of this book.

However, I still think this book should win all the awards out there! I loved it! I immediately turned around and gave it to both of my own kids to read. I highly recommend this to everyone!

*Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing for allowing me to read an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. This book was incredible!