Books about Disabilities

People with disabilities have been marginalized in American society for many years causing children to think of people who have disabilities as different and/or scary. It is our job, as American citizens, to create a culture which accepts all types of people whether they are members of a minority or majority group. Over the past month I have spent many hours searching for books about people with disabilities. I have found a good selection of books, with a majority of them being written in the past 10 years. Some of these books show greater acceptance of people with disabilities, but I have chosen to make a bibliography of all the books I found and I looked at extensively. This is due to the fact that it can be difficult to find books which portray people of minority groups, such as people with disabilities. I find it important to integrate all types of books into a home, school, classroom, or public library and therefore wanted these book titles to be more accessible people who are buying picture books for children. This list is definitely not complete, but is the beginning of a wide range of books about the topic of disabilities. Below is the list of these books with greater detail of four of the books being found in later posts.

The four books which are found in later posts in this blog are: Susan Laughs by Jeanne Willis, Keeping Up With Roo by Sharlee Glenn, Ben, King of the River by David Gifaldi, and Thank you Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco. Out of the list of books below I feel as if these books are the ones that do the best job at portraying people with disabilities as able beings. These four exceptional books are all written by insiders. The writers are insiders on the topic of disabilities due to the different experiences they have had throughout their lives. Some have family members with a disability, others have done extensive research on disabilities, while others have been diagnosed with a disability. These four books all focus on the abilities of a person with a disability and their accomplishments, with some of the books also focusing on the emotions of children who have a family member who is disabled. They focus on the theme of acceptance, even though the books vary in the way this theme is portrayed. As you will see throughout the later posts, these four books, though they are written by people with extremely different experiences, are all wonderful books for any type of library.

Carter, Alden R. Dustin’s Big School Day. Morton Grove, Illinois: Albert Whitman and Company, 1999.

Gifaldi, David. Ben, King of the River. Morton Grove, Illinois: Albert Whitman and Company, 2001.

Glenn, Sharlee. Keeping Up With Roo. New York: G.P.Putnam’s Sons, 2004.

Hoopmann, Kathy. Blue Bottle Mystery: An Asperger Adventure. London, England: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2001.

Hoopmann, Kathy. Haze. London, England: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2003.

Lakin, Patricia. Dad and Me in the Morning. Morton Grove, Illinois: Albert Whitman and Company, 1994.

Lears, Laurie. Ian’s Walk: A Story about Autism. Morton Grove, Illinois: Albert Whitman and Company, 1998.

McNamee, Graham. Sparks. New York, New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2002.

Polacco, Patricia. Thank you, Mr. Falker. New York: Philomel Books, 1998.

Rickery, Janet Elizabeth. Russ and the Almost Perfect Day. Bethesda, Maryland: Woodbine House, 2000.

Robb, Diane Burton. The Alphabet War: A Story about Dyslexia. Morton Grove, Illinois: Albert Whitman and Company, 2004.

Stuve-Bodeen, Stephanie. We’ll Paint the Octopus Red. Bethesda, Maryland : Woodbine House, 1998.

Stuve-Bodeen, Stephanie. The Best Worst Brother. Bethesda, Maryland: Woodbine House, 2005.

Tashjian, Janet. Tru Confessions. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1997.

Willis, Jeanne. Susan Laughs. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1999. Illustrated by Tony Ross