Sharon M. Draper

Sharon M. Draper is the author of Out of My Mind and Out of My Heart. She is an American children's writer, professional educator, and the 1997 National Teacher of the Year. She is a five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for books about the young and adolescent African-American experience.

She says that the idea of Out of My Mind came from the fact that she was raising a physically challenged child, her daughter. However, she did mention that Melody was NOT her daughter, but a piece of her imagination.