Individuals with Disabilities or Medical Conditions

Alicia Alonso Dances On by Rose Viña: As a young girl in Cuba, Alicia Alonso practiced ballet in tennis shoes. Within a few years, she was in New York City, with a promising ballet career. But her eyesight began to fail. When Alicia needed surgeries to save her vision, dancing was impossible, but she wouldn't give up her dream. She found the strength and determination to return to the stage and become a prima ballerina. This is the true story of a woman who overcame her challenges, mastered her art, and inspired others to dance and dream. (2021, video)

All the Way to the Top: How One Girl's Fight for Americans With Disabilities Changed Everything by Annette Bay Pimentel: Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth, Jennifer Keelan grew up battling and overcoming the limitations others set for her. From a lack of cutaway curbs and bus lifts to being denied enrollment at her neighborhood school, Jennifer was continually blocked from living the life she wanted. But after discovering the world of disability rights activism, she knew she had to use her voice to change things. When Jennifer was just eight years old, she participated in the Capitol Crawl. The deeply affecting image of Jennifer crawling up the steps of Capitol Hill went viral and helped pressure Congress into passing the Americans with Disabilities Act. (2020, video)

Best Day Ever! by Marilyn Singer: A small dog, whose boy uses a wheelchair, narrates her own adventures on a day that might look ordinary to us and to her boy but that, for the dog, is filled with the highest highs and lowest lows. (2021, video) 

Dancing with Daddy by Anitra Rowe Schulte: Elsie can't wait to go to her first father-daughter dance. She picked out the perfect dress and has been practicing swirling and swaying in her wheelchair. Elsie's heart pirouettes as she prepares for her special night. With gestures, smiles, and words from a book filled with pictures, she shares her excitement with her family. But when a winter storm comes, she wonders if she'll get the chance to spin and dance her way to a dream come true. (2021, video)

Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson: Born in Ghana, West Africa, with one deformed leg, he was dismissed by most people, but not by his mother, who taught him to reach for his dreams. As a boy, Emmanuel hopped to school more than two miles each way, learned to play soccer, left home at age thirteen to provide for his family, and, eventually, became a cyclist. He rode an astonishing four hundred miles across Ghana in 2001, spreading his powerful message: disability is not inability. Today, Emmanuel continues to work on behalf of the disabled. (2015, video)

I Absolutely, Positively Love My Spots by Lid'ya C. Rivera: A young girl with vitiligo celebrates her skin and what makes her unique. (2023, video)

I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott: When a boy who stutters feels isolated, alone, and incapable of communicating in the way he'd like, it takes a kindly father and a walk by the river to help him find his voice. (2020, audiobook)

In the Blue by Erin Hourigan: As one father embarks on an emotional journey, his daughter will navigate life lived in and around his depression. Most days the sun won’t be able to peek through the clouds. But with each new wave of change, love will always bond them together. (2022, video)

My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay by Cari Best: Zulay does everything with her three best friends, and when she announces she plans to run a race despite her blindness, Zulay prepares with the help of a special aide and her three dear friends. (2015, video)

Rescue & Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship by Jessica Kensky: When he is paired with a girl who has lost her legs, Rescue worries that he isn't up to the task of being her service dog. (2018, video)

A Sky-Blue Bench by Bahram Rahman: Young Aria, who lives in Afghanistan,  returns to school after recovering from an accident and being fitted with a prosthetic leg, but the school has no furniture and sitting on the floor is too painful. She finds a way to build her own bench, surprising and inspiring her classmates. (2021)

Soon, Your Hands by Jonathan Stutzman: A parent's ode to everything their child is, and will be, capable of doing as they grow. Featuring inclusive illustrations that show a child of two dads, a little girl who is deaf, and a child that is being raised by a single mother with the help of a grandmother. (2023, video)

Air by Monica Roe: Twelve-and-a-half year old Emelyn Ethrige lives with her widowed father in South Carolina, dreams of wheelchair motocross, and makes custom chair bags trying to earn enough money to buy a serious set of wheels; she has been in a wheelchair all her life, and is just fine getting around without help, but it seems that since her mother was killed in an accident everyone has started treating her differently: urging caution and trying to "help" and for an independently-minded girl who loves speed and big air tricks it is frustrating--so Emelyn and her best friends come up with a plan to change their minds. (2022, audiobook)

Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd: Hoping to adopt a pet to find a sense of belonging in her busy family, Maggie is disappointed to discover she is severely allergic to anything with fur and tries to find a pet to love anyway. (2021, video)

Aven Green, Sleuthing Machine by Dusti Bowling: Third-grader Aven Green has been solving mysteries for a whole month, cracking such cases as The Mystery of the Cranky Mom. But can this perceptive detective solve two cases at the same time? First her teacher's lunch bag disappears. Then Aven's great-grandma's dog goes missing. Fortunately, since Aven was born without arms, all the "arm" cells went to her super-powered brain instead. (At least, that's her theory.) (2021, video)

A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll: When she discovers that her small Scottish town used to burn witches simply because they were different, a neurodivergent girl who sees and hears things others cannot refuses to let them be forgotten. (2021, video)

The Magical Imperfect by Chris Baron: Etan has stopped speaking since his mother left. His father and grandfather don't know how to help him. His friends have given up on him. When Etan is asked to deliver a grocery order to the outskirts of town, he realizes he's at the home of Malia Agbayani, also known as the creature. Malia stopped going to school when her acute eczema spread to her face, and the bullying became too much. Soon, other kids tease Etan for being friends with the creature. But he believes he might have a cure for Malia's condition, if only he can convince his family and hers to believe it, too. (2021)

Moonflower by Kacen Callender: Moon’s depression is overwhelming. Therapy doesn’t help, and Moon is afraid that their mom hates them because they’re sad. Moon’s only escape is traveling to the spirit realms every night, where they hope they’ll never return to the world of the living again. The spirit realm is where they have their one and only friend, Wolf, and where they’re excited to experience an infinite number of adventures. But when the realm is threatened, it’s up to Moon to save the spirit world. (2022, video)

Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly: Iris, the only Deaf student in her sixth-grade class, struggles to communicate well with kids at school, and feels a strong connection with Blue 55, a lone whale who can't communicate with others because its voice is on a different frequency. Using her knowledge of electronics and sound, she records her school orchestra playing notes in the whale's frequency and sends them to a biologist who plans to tag Blue 55. Receiving an encouraging reply, Iris decides to meet up with the research team and the whale in Alaska. When her initial plan falls through, she confides in her grandmother, a grieving widow, who takes the girl on an Alaskan cruise that proves transformative for both. (2019, audiobook)

This Kid Can Fly: It's About Ability (Not Disability) by Aaron Philip: Aaron Philip's memoir chronicles his extraordinary journey from happy baby in Antigua to confident teen artist in New York City. His honest, often funny stories of triumph, despite physical difficulties, poverty, and other challenges, are  inspiring and eye-opening. (2016) 

A Whole New Ballgame by Phil Bildner: Rip and Red are best friends whose fifth-grade year is nothing like what they expected. They have a new tattooed teacher named Mr. Acevedo, who doesn't believe in tests or homework and who likes off-the-wall projects, the more "off" the better. And he's also their new basketball coach! Easy-going Rip is knocked completely out of his comfort zone. And for Red, who has autism and really needs things to be exactly a certain way, the changes are even more of a struggle. But together these two make a great duo who know how to help each other,  and find ways to make a difference, in the classroom and on the court. (2015, video)

Wink by Rob Harrell: Ross Maloy just wants to be a normal seventh grader. He doesn't want to lose his hair, or wear a weird hat, or deal with the disappearing friends who don't know what to say to "the cancer kid." But with his recent diagnosis of a rare eye cancer, blending in is off the table. (2020, audiobook)

You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P! by Alex Gino: When her new baby sister is born deaf, Jilly makes an online connection with a fellow fantasy fan, who happens to be black and deaf, and begins to learn about the many obstacles that exist in the world for people who are different from her. (2018, audiobook)