Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I hesitate to even classify this book as young adult, because I think every person on the planet should read it. My daughter’s second grade teacher read it to their class, and I applaud her for it. Every day my oldest girl would come home talking about the main character (Melody) and how cool she was and what was happening in her world. My daughter loves to read, but this book really resonated with her. I finally got my hands on it and read all 295 pages during a plane ride home from Vegas. The book is about a girl genius who has cerebral palsy and cannot speak or walk. She has struggles, that as a parent (and a human being) made me so sad. However, my daughter saw how the struggles made Melody strong and an amazing character. So much about empathy and acceptance is taught in this book. It is engaging to read and see how Melody navigates classroom life and proves to others (with some technological assistance) that she is not a shell, but a person with a lot to say. If I had read this before my daughter, I probably would have wrongly assumed she could not handle it. Well, she and her classmates probably handled it better than me. They saw a bigger message and were so accepting of the character. My daughter wanted to be Melody’s friend because she found her fascinating.