This feature was originally shared on The Book Wars – check out the full post here!
Brynn is just like any other 17 year-old girl. She wants to be popular, gets herself embroiled in friendship dramas, and heads off for summer camp. There just one thing that makes Brynn a bit different – she has cerebral palsy, and uses a motorized wheelchair to move and a computer to communicate. Dancing Daisies is a valuable addition to any YA fiction collection not only because it features a smart, independent female wheelchair user, it’s also written by a strong, successful young woman with CP who is a tireless advocate for others with the condition.
Co-author Chelsie Hill was in high school when she was paralyzed in a drunk driving-related car accident. Push Girl is a positive, semi-autobiographical account of Hill’s experiences adapting to life in a wheelchair. High school student Kara is paralyzed in a car accident, but refuses to let her new reality, and the perceptions and reactions of others around her, stop her from living life to the fullest.
Jessica is an accomplished high school runner who is devastated when she loses a leg in a car accident. Jessica is stunned by the reactions of those around her to her new reality – it’s as though people don’t know how to talk to her or act around her any more – it’s as if she’s become invisible. Jessica realizes that before her accident she treated a fellow classmate, a girl with CP, in exactly the same way.
The teen characters in Good Kings Bad Kings are just like teenagers everywhere, except for one thing – they live in a group home for youth with disabilities. Sharp, witty, humorous, honest, respectful and real, this novel challenges society’s perceptions about individuals with disabilities.
It’s the 1970s, and Jean, a smart, talented, successful young woman with CP, is attending Camp Courage, a summer camp for young people with disabilities. At camp, Jean will meet young people with very different backgrounds, attitudes and experiences, who will challenge, expand and explode her understandings of what it means to be disabled.
This is a wonderful list! Thank you so much for sharing. I have been wanting to read Good Kings Bad Kings when I first saw a library display some years ago, but all of these sounds awesome!
Thanks so much! Diversity in fiction is so important, all young people should see themselves represented in books! As a white, English-speaking, Christian-raised, cisgendered, able-bodied female, I never realized just how important this diversity was and how skewed the publishing world is until I started working as a librarian and realized just how hard it can be to find books that celebrate the different realities of the kids I work with. Here’s to spreading love and awareness! 🙂
Thank you for this wonderful list! Good to see more books about children/teenagers with disabilities out there. #diversekidlit
What a fantastic list – it’s great that all the books you’ve included steer clear of tropes and stereotypes. I’ll defintiely seek them out and I’ve pinned your list three times 🙂
Thank you! I think that’s so important – finding and sharing diverse books that recognize that all people are unique and complex, and are more than just a category or a label.
This is such a wonderful list. Books on differently abled children are not too common mores for young adults. This one needs to be bookmarked and saved up.
What an amazing list of books. I’m always on the lookout for books about kids with chronic illnesses, especially rare ones, any ideas?