101 pages • 3 hours read
Sharon M. DraperOut of My Mind
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 28-30Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 28 Summary
Practice and studying consume Melody’s life over the next two weeks. She is one of the six highest scorers in her class, qualifying for one of the on-air contestant spots. Surprisingly, Molly scores higher than Claire and also makes the team; Claire becomes an alternate and loudly protests how unfair it is, as she helped Molly study for the practice test.
At home, Melody begins to pack for the trip. She includes some of the new outfits her mother purchased for her at the mall the day before. Melody also bought two cards while there, one for Mrs. V and one for Catherine. Mrs. Brooks is proud that Melody has exhibited such thoughtfulness on her own. Mrs. V comes over to help double check that everything needed has been put in the suitcases. Penny and Butterscotch will be staying with her while the Brookses travel to Washington.
Melody gives Mrs. V the thank you card, and Mrs. V tears up. Mrs. Brooks reviews the flight times, and Mrs. V wonders why the school booked tickets to Washington on a noon flight. They will get in around two o’clock for a competition that begins at seven o’clock ; Mrs. V thinks, “That’s cutting it a little close” (253). The day arrives, and in great excitement, the whole family heads to the airport.
When they get to the check-in area, the attendant tells them that, due to a snowstorm in the Northeast, the noon flight to Washington has been canceled. The desk agent offers to place them on a flight that leaves after seven o’clock, but all Mrs. Brooks can say is “But the competition starts at seven” (256). Quickly, Mrs. Brooks asks the agent about the rest of the group, as they must all be in similar circumstances. The agent informs her that they were at the airport earlier and were boarded on a different flight after they’d all had breakfast together.
Mr. Brooks argues that they should have been notified ahead of time, and the agent responds that passengers are always advised to call ahead to check on their flights. In desperation, he tells the agent, “You can’t understand how important this is to my daughter!” (258). Angrily, he walks away from the counter and punches the wall, hurting his hand. Mrs. V wonders why someone from the team didn’t call the Brookses to inform them of the change. Mrs. Brooks hopes that the team just forgot to call, “Surely they…surely they wouldn’t have left her behind on purpose” (259). Driving to Washington will take 10 hours, and so there is no way to get Melody to the competition in time.
Mrs. Brooks begins to cry and tries to reassure Melody that everything will be fine. Melody doesn’t think “I’ll ever breathe again” (260). Mrs. V takes her hand as Melody just sits in her wheelchair, brokenhearted.
Chapter 29 Summary
Melody goes home and asks to be put to bed. She doesn’t want to eat, only to lie down and deal with the questions going through her head. She again laments that she cannot be like other kids, not even in how she can be mad: “I feel like stomping on something […] That makes me even crazier because I can’t even do that!” (262).
Penny pokes her head in, and when she sees Melody is awake, she crawls into bed with her sister. Melody’s father, his hand in a bandage, checks in on her and tells her she is the best. He offers to make her food, but she again refuses.
The phone rings, and Melody hears her mother say hello to Mr. Dimming. Mrs. Brooks comes into Melody’s room with the phone. She angrily demands to know why Mr. Dimming didn’t call about the change in flight time, then yells at him: “Do you know how much this has devastated my daughter?” (264). Mr. Dimming’s response falls far short of what Melody’s mother wants to hear. When Mr. Dimming offers to make things up to Melody, her mother hangs up on him. She pulls Melody into her lap and hugs her, wishing she could make her daughter’s pain disappear.
Chapter 30 Summary
Melody takes the blame for what had happened that day. An intense, violent rainstorm hits the area, and Mr. Brooks shares the news with Melody that the Spaulding Street team finished in ninth place in Washington and came home with a tiny trophy as a prize. “I wish I could fix this for you, Melody,” (267) he says to her. Initially, Melody thinks she should stay home from school, but then she gets angry and decides to go “and let everybody know they didn’t beat me” (267).
The downpour of rain continues as Melody’s family goes through their morning routine. Unexpectedly, Mrs. Brooks is called into work because a multi-car accident had occurred on the highway and multiple injuries needed attention. Melody’s father is taking the day off from work and encourages Melody to stay home with him, but she refuses. The school bus shows up early, but as Melody is not ready to leave yet, the bus leaves. Her mother eventually gets Melody loaded into the car, her mood darkening with the storm.
Suddenly, Melody realizes that she left the card for Catherine in the house. She tries to tell her mother, who is not feeling well and is very frustrated. Mrs. Brooks stomps into the house to get the card, but as she comes out, she doesn’t realize that the door hasn’t closed all the way. Melody notices Penny sneak out the door. She desperately tries to tell her mother what has happened, acting “like I’d been possessed by demons” (274), but her mother is so tired and angry, she yells at Melody. As Mrs. Brooks starts the car, Melody tries to lean over to take the keys away.
Melody’s mother hits her on the leg, but even this action doesn’t stop Melody from kicking and screaming. In her mind, she thinks, “I had to tell her. I had to tell her that Penny was out there!” (275). Melody tries to reach out to her mom, “but all she did was shake my arm away” (275). Mrs. Brooks puts the car in reverse, and as the car rolls backward, and as Melody screeches and screams, she says, “I felt the soft thud. I became deadly silent” (275).
Melody’s father runs out the front door looking for Penny. Her mother gets out of the car, looks down, and begins screaming. As the sirens from the ambulance and fire trucks dominate the air, Melody is left strapped into the car, forgotten.
Chapters 28-30 Analysis
Melody’s appreciation for the people who do understand her shines through in the first part of this section. She gets thank-you cards for Catherine and Mrs. V, proving herself to be very mature for a 10-year-old child. While her own peers are dismissive of her, Melody recognizes that these two adults are her true friends.
Melody’s parents’ reactions following the news that they won’t make their flight to Washington DC is indicative of their character. Melody’s father, usually a patient and optimistic person, reacts violently and smashes his hand into a wall. Melody’s mother reacts as she did with the psychologist, Dr. Hugely, and the incompetent teacher, Mrs. Billups—she reaches out to the person in charge (Mr. Dimming) and takes him to task. Though it isn’t clear how Mr. Dimming intends to “make up” for Melody’s missing the tournament, there’s really nothing he can do that would be satisfactory for the family. Everyone suspects, but doesn’t outright state, that the team intentionally left Melody behind.
Melody, already unable to enact many of the things she longs for, like being a normal child and being able to communicate with her own words or walk with her own legs, once again has her choice taken from her when she misses the Washington DC flight. She has no autonomy physically, and while she finds a way to express herself and become an independent operator, again her efforts are thwarted by either the cruelty or the carelessness of her teammates. Melody decides to attend school to spite her teammates, showing her pride and courage; she won’t let them think that they beat her.
The event that Draper has been foreshadowing—Penny’s accident—finally comes to fruition. Melody’s inability to communicate factors heavily in this scene, and her mother’s dismissal of her also comes into play. Because Melody can’t exactly articulate what’s wrong, her mother assumes that she’s acting out and ignores her. She fails to grasp the urgency of the situation and hits Penny. At this point in the story, Melody’s whole family is physically and emotionally drained. They have experienced a great disappointment and aren’t functioning at their best. What might’ve been the novel’s major climax, the quiz tournament, has fallen short, and Draper contrives a twist climax through Penny’s accident.
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