Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper - Thorndike Press Large Print Edition - Inspirational Fiction Novel for Teens & Young Adults - Perfect for Book Clubs & Classroom Reading

I am in awe. I found this book on Amazon for my ten year old son, who has Aspergers. He is having a particularly hard time in school these days, and I picked this book because it sounded like a book that I thought he might be able to relate to. He needed a book for a book report. This is so much more than a simple read.I'm disabled. I don't often go out that much. Most of my free time is spent reading. I have read hundreds, if not thousands of books. This book is by far probably one of the best books I have ever read. Because I am not as gifted as this brilliant author, I am having a hard time finding just the right words to describe the journey I took. It profoundly affected me, as a mother with a special needs child. More importantly, it "reached" my son, who eagerly found himself sitting with me way past his bedtime to read. We couldn't get enough. The story wasn't just well written, it didn't just have a plot, or characters. This book became alive. Both my son and I could picture each character, each scene as it played it, and the emotions were so real, we often had to stop. Stop to give each other a high five when things went well. Stop to curse and shake our heads wildly in anger, and mostly stopped to share so MANY MANY tears. Tears for Melody. Tears of frustration. Tears of sympathy. Tears of hope. And tears of gripping pain.I don't know who her target audience was. She had me at the reviews. But this book should be mandatory reading for every parent, whether they have typical kids or not. I am grateful for this author for bringing my son and I together. Not just by reading a book, but by bringing us together in a way that I usually not privy to. My son will typically tune out everyday conversation with talk of video games, iPad apps, scripted conversations taken from clips of a tv show he likes that he repeats over and over. For just once, a very special once, we were actually sharing this together. This book is a gift. It was to me. It was to my son. It stays with you long after the book is read. It is by far, one of the best books ever written. Thank you, Mrs. Draper. Not only for this book, but for what it gave me and my son.