This is the book you hand a kid when you want them to understand what empathy actually means.

Melody's voice—sharp, funny, frustrated, hopeful—pulls you in from page one. Draper doesn't soften the hard parts: the teachers who park Melody in a room with kids who can't learn, the classmates who mock her, the gut-punch moment when her team leaves for the competition without her. But she also doesn't make Melody a saint or a tragedy. She's just a kid who wants to be seen for who she is.

The book has stayed on bestseller lists for over a decade because it works. Kids get it. They feel it. And it changes how they see people with disabilities—not as inspiration porn, but as fully realized humans who deserve to be heard.

Emotionally demanding in spots, but absolutely worth it. One of those rare books that's both a great read and genuinely important.