Books About People With Disabilities
The Running Dream
Author: Wendelin Van Draanen Published: January 10, 2012 Awards: Schneider Family Book Award Summary: Jessica has run her personal best at a track meet-then there's a tragic bus accident and the high school junior loses her leg as well as her future dreams. From waking up in the hospital and coping with the trauma, to her return home, then school, she tries to grab her life back. On one level the story offers inspiration to those dealing with physical changes in their own lives and the stages of recovery, fight, survival, and victory as Jessica reaches deep to push past her wall of self-pity and loathing, and moves beyond the "finish line." |
Wonder
Author: R. J. Palacio Published: February 14, 2012 Awards: New York Times Best Seller List 2013, Texas Bluebonnet awards Master LIst 2014, Maine Children's Book Award Summary: August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. |
Out of My Mind
Author: Sharon M. Draper Published: March 9, 2010 Awards: Winner of the 2011 Bank Street College of Education Josette Frank Award,Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of 2010,A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of The Year,The Virginia Readers' Choice Reading List for 2011-2012,A Parents' Choice Silver Honor Book,Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List 2011-2012,Essence Magazine Book of the Year,A 2011 Notable Children's Book in the English Language Arts,Top 10 Book of the Year for Shelf Awareness,Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) Choice of 2011,2011 IRA Teachers' Choice Book,2011 IRA Young Adult's Choice,Buckeye Children's Book Award from Ohio,Sunshine State Young Reader's Award in both the middle school and elementary categories,Black-eyed Susan Book Award,Beehive Book Award,Featured in the July 9 issue of Time Magazine,Featured in the July issue of Ladies' Home Journal,On the Indie National Bestseller List,Receiver of the SAKURA Award,A NCTE Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts Summary: Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people--her teachers and doctors included--don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write. Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind--that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it. |
Wonderstruck
Author: Brian Selznick Publication: September 13, 2011 Awards: Schneider Family Book Award - Middle School Winner Summary: Ben and Rose secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing. |
Firegirl
Author: Tony Abbott Published: June 1, 2007 Awards: 2007 Golden Kite Award for Fiction,Junior Library Guild selection Summary: Describing his encounters with Jessica Feeney, seventh-grader Tom Bender reflects, "On the outside it doesn't look like very much happened. A burned girl was in my class for a while. Once I brought her some homework. Then she was gone." The remainder of Firegirl considers the way outside appearances fail to portray the real story. Tom is overweight and unnoticed. Jessica Feeney, however, is impossible to ignore; a tragic fire has left horrible burns all over her body. The students at St. Catherine's avoid her, and they spread wild gossip about her. Tom's friend Jeff refuses to hold her hand during prayers. Yet Tom finds that from certain angles, Jessica almost looks like a regular girl, and by supporting her, however tentatively, he sacrifices everything he thought he wanted. In this poignant story, readers will recognize the insecurities of junior high and discover that even by doing small acts of kindness people stand to gain more than they lose. |