Editor's note: This article has been amended for clarity. Timmy is not "wheelchair-bound," as previously described.
In the mind of children’s book author Sharon Draper, reading was a skill that came easily, nurtured by her mother, who sat her on her lap and read aloud to Draper from the beginning of her developmental stages.
As she grew older, Draper took it upon herself to foster her love and appreciation for literature by making routine trips to her local library every Saturday.
“I read every single book on the children's side of my library by the time I was 10,” Draper said. “The librarians would sneak me books from the grown-up side.”
Although it may seem like she fits in with the troupe of authors who were not stimulated enough by the books they saw on shelves, opting to write their own, writing hadn’t always been in the cards for her.
“I knew I was going to be a reader. I didn't know I was going to be a writer,” Draper said.
Her first book, “Tears of a Tiger” (1994), received 24 rejection letters from publishing companies. When a 25th envelope came across her desk, Draper said she almost threw it away unopened.
Tucked inside that 25th envelope was her first contract from Simon & Schuster.
The book deal launched her second act in life as a writer in her mid-40s, allowing her to travel to 49 U.S. states, speaking to teachers, students and like-minded readers far and wide.
“It was the best of times,” Draper said.
Today, she is best known for her narrative, “Out of My Mind.”
The middle-grade novel sheds light on the disabled existence through its fictional main character, Melody Brooks, an 11-year-old girl born with cerebral palsy, the most common lifelong motor disability in childhood, affecting 1 in 345 children in the U.S., according to the Cerebral Palsy Foundation.
Since its publication in March 2010, it has consistently appeared on the New York Times Bestsellers list of middle grade paperback books and still holds profound relevance for young readers and educators across the nation. Tammy Greenwell, an eighth-grade special education resource teacher at South Side Middle School, introduces her students to the book every November.
This past November was no different, but the book was also recently adapted into a Disney+ movie starring Phoebe-Rae Taylor as Melody and directed by Amber Sealey.
“As soon as we finished the book, we were able to watch the movie,” Greenwell said. “The students seemed to like the book more. They enjoyed the movie as well, but a lot of them said it was different from the book.”
Draper has no qualms with the movie, only praise for those involved in translating fiction to film.
“I wrote the story, but once you sign the paper that says, ‘You can make [it into] a movie,’ I have no control over what [producers and screenwriters] do. They did a really good job,” she said.
Although Draper said her skill set does not lie within the movie and TV industries, she does have an accomplished background as an English teacher at Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, earning the National Teacher of the Year award title in 1997, three years before her retirement.
She taught students how to write for over 30 years, and eventually, Draper said it dawned on her that she was competent enough to do what she expected of students.
Still residing in Cincinnati, retirement has allowed her to focus full-time on her writing, but she said her teaching instincts are far too ingrained in her to be forgotten, especially while visiting other classrooms.
“Because I was a teacher, it was easy for me to talk at schools because I knew how to handle kids,” Draper said.
Greenwell said she first began integrating “Out of My Mind” into her curriculum three years ago when one of her students at the time had cerebral palsy and, like Melody, used a device to communicate around the time that such text-to-speech aides were gaining traction in the Muncie Community School system.
“I wanted to read that book to bring [cerebral palsy] to the attention of all of the students in the class so they could be accepting of [their classmate],” she said.
By next fall, the student will be a senior at Muncie Central High School, while Greenwell’s current class of students will be freshmen.
“I told them what she looks like, and they're excited to meet her,” she said.
Today at Southside Middle School, Greenwell works closely with the life skills department and their student, Timmy. Although Timmy does not have cerebral palsy, he, like Melody, remained non-verbal until receiving a communication device.
“My class had no clue we had students in this building [who] could not speak [and] had to use a device to speak for them,” she said.
When it comes time for Greenwell to teach “Out of My Mind,” Timmy regularly appears in her classroom. He interacts with her students, allowing them to gain familiarity, understanding and perspective — the core reasons Greenwell teaches the novel.
“This is the real world. There are people [who] are very different from you, and you need to understand, from their viewpoint, what life is like,” she said, reiterating the importance of the unit.
The success of “Out of My Mind” prompted Draper to turn Melody’s story into a series, with “Out of My Heart,” published Sept. 2021, and “Out of My Dreams,” published Sept. 2024, succeeding the critically acclaimed pilot book.
Despite the success, Draper cannot pinpoint the spark that ignited the flame.
“I don’t know. People ask me that all the time, [but] stories are like gifts; they come delivered,” she said.
When visiting students and teachers, Draper strays from spoon-feeding knowledge.
“I don't think an author's purpose should be to try to teach younger generations. I want them to think,” she said.
Instead, the author is keen to remind audiences and curious young minds: “Everybody has a gift. You just have to figure out what your gift is,” she said.
After three books, she said she is “through with Melody,” and that, upon request from her dutiful readers, her next “challenge” is to write a story featuring a boy protagonist.
“The boys tell me I need to write a story about a boy because ‘all my stories are about girls,’ so I haven't decided what the new book is going to be yet, [but] I'll be working on it,” she said.
While fans eagerly await Draper’s upcoming project, the second and third installments of “Out of My Mind” are available for purchase at local bookstores or through Draper’s official website. For anticipatory readers looking to re-engulf themselves in Melody’s story, March is a good time to jump back in to celebrate Disability Awareness Month as it comes to a close.
Contact Katherine Hill via email at katherine.hill@bsu.edu.
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