This is one of the most frustrating books I have ever read, and it’s made me feel so many emotions at once as well. Out Of My Mind by Sharon M Draper is about a girl named Melody who has cerebral palsy which restricts melody from being able to speak or walk and use most of her limbs. The other thing about her is that she has an incredible memory she describes as photographic, she can remember everything from birth but it’s frustration because she can’t say anything. As the reader we get to see her life and how she interacts with her parents, teachers, mean kids at school, classmates and with her sister. She is completely underestimated when it comes to how smart she is and her life changed when she gets a Medi-Talker.

I think this book would be a great book to use in a classroom because it would teach kids about people with disabilities so that we wouldn’t have another Claire and Molly who thinks that it’s funny to imitate there disabled classmates. I don’t think that at anytime in school I was really taught about people with disabilities and definitely never read anything from their point of view. I think the book really wants people to get educated about disabilities and give them a better understanding about what it is like. Never have a read a book that is anything like this before, Melody is such a unique character. During the whole book you really feel for her especially when she’s unable to really speak her mind and when she’s left out from the Washington DC competition. Melody is really an extraordinary girl and she also feels really normal emotions even though much in her life isn’t that ordinary. She feels jealousy at her sister because she sees her sister go from not being able to talk as a baby to saying her first words and ongoing. The whole book seemed realistic for somebody who had cerebral palsy, like the mean girls making fun or her, but it also touches on fantasy because not everyone is going to be extremely smart and have a photogenic memory. That’s what I love about this book, it’s mostly realistic and then it adds that aspect of Melody that makes her extraordinary.

 

The eye is a significant symbol in the whole Series of Unfortunate Events story. We first see it on Count Olaf, on his ankle as a tattoo. During the beginning of the series it’s just a way for the Baudelaires to be able to spot Count Olaf when he had his disguises on. In the book I picked, The Austere Academy, the Baudelaires recognized that Coach Genghis was Count Olaf but his tattoo was covered by his socks and *spoiler alert*  Sunny manages to untie his shoes and expose the tattoo at the end of the book. Later we find out that it was the symbol of the organization that is the base of the entire story and the entire lives of the Baudelaires. I decided to have my make be the eye because I know since I’ve read all the books that it represents the most important idea in the book.  At first the Baudelaires fear it because it belongs to the villain but then when they find out the true meaning of it they are able to learn more about there family and finally make there lives less unfortunate. I’m sticking with my original make idea, origami, because it’s a hobby of mine and it’s a fun activity you could even do in a classroom with students!

 

Here’s a boomerang of the eye moving just for fun, the one I made lets you open and close the eye.

eye boomerang

When it comes to a title like A Series of Unfortunate Events, you know right away that the book isn’t going to contain many happy events. However that doesn’t stop me from loving this series. The Baudelaires, Violet, Klaus and Sunny, are a couple of the most extraordinary orphan children. In the book The Austere Academy, there are many characters that I think a child could relate to in some way. We have Klaus, the middle child who’s a huge book nerd with a passion for getting as much knowledge as possible. We have Violet who is extremely smart and inventive and can basically use anything to fix any situation. Then we have Sunny, who is wise beyond her age of 1 or 2 years old, with a love of biting things! She would be the hardest to relate to since as far as babies go her character is very unrealistic. For example in one of the later books in the series, Sunny climbs an elevator shelf. Something I probably would not be able to do. In the book I picked specifically we also have the Quagmire’s, two also intelligent kids who are also orphans just like the Baudelaires. There’s Carmelita Spats, your typical spoiled brat who bullies kids because she thinks she’s better than everyone else. As far as adults go in the story, there are two types of adults, smart villains/spys, or really stupid, naive grown ups.

The two biggest themes in the book are sadness and the good vs evil quality of it. The author warns you in every book that the story isn’t going to be happy at all and that it will make you feel miserable and sad. My two favorite things about the series is the narration style and the type of genre or style that the author writes it as. I think the most unique thing about the series is the narration style, the author puts himself in as the narrator and from the narrator’s point of view is doing research about the Baudelaires. He often describes what the Baudelaires are feeling at this time. The series is also a dark but also comedic kind of series. I think the reason that the series can be dark and depressing but also be for kids is that a lot of it isn’t that realistic. I really don’t think I would use this series in a classroom setting because it’s not really something I feel like would be a good book to use. Maybe just for the vocabulary.

I really liked when Miller talked about how readers can also be jocks, artists etc. Which means that really anyone can be a reader, but not everyone has the skill to be good at art. I can definitely resonate with her binge reading section just because whenever I find I good book I can never put it down. When the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out, I didn’t put the book down and finished it in five days. It’s really hard to stop once you get into a book because you just have to know what happens. Binge reading is exactly like binge watching a show, you can’t stop and you never know what to find next. In my classroom I would like students to have time to read every single day because sometimes you can’t get that atmosphere you need at home. I think that hardest thing to teach kids is how to stop fake reading because it’s something that they kind of need to take initiative with.

I decided to do origami for my make, it’s a hobby of mine. My mom and I started making cranes when I was 10 years old. My make represents how princesses is fairytales are known for their outward appearance. In Cinderella she gets a makeover by her fairy godmother and the prince immediately notices her when she shows up to the ball and they immediately fall in love but then when midnight hits she’s back to being unnoticeable. Only a shoe was how he was able to tell that it was her. This is an example of how fairytales are usually unrealistic.

My mom works with kids and she loves teaching first graders how to do origami. It can be tricky because it requires precision and really good listening. If I had a classroom of older elementary aged kids I think origami would be a fun, creative way to teach a lesson.