Disabilities -Chapter Books

A year after being diagnosed with hearing loss, twelve-year-old Rayne is doing her best to live a "normal" life and act like nothing has changed. But her hearing keeps failing her. Even with hearing aids, she has trouble following conversations and hanging out with her friends the way she used to. Her grades are slipping, surfing is now a wipeout, and she can't understand the lyrics of her favorite singer's new songs. Rayne's parents are pushing for her to get cochlear implants, which could restore her hearing--though she would hear sounds differently than she did before her hearing loss. Rayne isn't convinced the surgery for CIs is worth the risks and challenges. In fact, she's terrified of it. She begs her parents to consider other options, but they're not budging. With the surgery looming, Rayne sets off on a search for alternatives. Along the way, she discovers that "normal" can have many meanings--and that even though her ears may be broken, she is not.

Pablo is homesick.

He's only twelve years old, but he's lived in more countries than he can count. After his parents divorced, he and his mother have moved from place to place for years, never settling anywhere long enough to call it home. And along the way, Pablo has collected more and more fears: of dirt, of germs, and most of all, of the ocean.

Now they're living in the Philippines, and his mother, a zoologist who works at a local wildlife refuge, is too busy saving animals to notice that Pablo might need saving, too. Then his mother takes in Chiqui, an orphaned girl with a cleft lip--and Pablo finds that through being strong for Chiqui, his own fears don't seem so scary.

He might even find the courage to face his biggest fear of all...and learn how to make friends with the sea.

Marisol Rainey's mother was born in the Philippines. Marisol's father works and lives part-time on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. And Marisol, who has a big imagination and likes to name inanimate objects, has a tree in her backyard she calls Peppina . . . but she's way too scared to climb it. This all makes Marisol the only girl in her small Louisiana town with a mother who was born elsewhere and a father who lives elsewhere (most of the time)--the only girl who's fearful of adventure and fun.

Will Marisol be able to salvage her summer and have fun with Jada, her best friend? Maybe. Will Marisol figure out how to get annoying Evie Smythe to leave her alone? Maybe. Will Marisol ever get to spend enough real time with her father? Maybe. Will Marisol find the courage to climb Peppina? Maybe.

Mary Lambert has always felt safe and protected on her beloved island of Martha's Vineyard. Her great-great-grandfather was an early English settler and the first deaf islander. Now, over a hundred years later, many people there -- including Mary -- are deaf, and nearly everyone can communicate in sign language. Mary has never felt isolated. She is proud of her lineage.

But recent events have delivered winds of change. Mary's brother died, leaving her family shattered. Tensions over land disputes are mounting between English settlers and the Wampanoag people. And a cunning young scientist has arrived, hoping to discover the origin of the island's prevalent deafness. His maniacal drive to find answers soon renders Mary a "live specimen" in a cruel experiment. Her struggle to save herself is at the core of this penetrating and poignant novel that probes our perceptions of ability and disability.

Ever since Ms. Murphy told us about the witch trials that happened centuries ago right here in Juniper, I can't stop thinking about them. Those people weren't magic. They were like me. Different like me.

I'm autistic. I see things that others do not. I hear sounds that they can ignore. And sometimes I feel things all at once. I think about the witches, with no one to speak for them. Not everyone in our small town understands. But if I keep trying, maybe someone will. I won't let the witches be forgotten. Because there is more to their story. Just like there is more to mine.

Axel loves everything about birds, especially eagles. No one worries that an eagle will fly too far and not come home-a fact Axel wishes his mother understood. Deep down, Axel knows that his mother is like an osprey-the best of all bird mothers-but it's hard to remember that when she worries and keeps secrets about important things. His dad is more like a wild turkey, coming and going as he pleases. His dad's latest disappearance is the biggest mystery of all.

Despite all this, Axel loves his life-especially the time he spends with his friends observing the eagles' nest in the woods near his home. But when a tornado damages not only Axel's home but the eagles' nest, Axel's life is thrown into chaos. Suddenly his dad is back to help repair the damage, and Axel has to manage his dad's presence and his beloved birds' absence. Plus, his mom seems to be keeping even more secrets.

But Axel knows another important fact- an eagle's instincts let it soar. Axel must trust his own instincts to help heal his family and the nest he loves.

Thirteen-year-old Nat Beacon loves a lot of things: her dog Warbucks, her best friend Chloe, and competing on her wheelchair racing team, the Zoomers, to name a few. But there's one thing she's absolutely OBSESSED with: MUSICALS! From Hamilton to Les Mis , there's not a cast album she hasn't memorized and belted along to. She's never actually been in a musical though, or even seen an actor who uses a wheelchair for mobility on stage. Would someone like Nat ever get cast?

But when Nat's family moves from California to New Jersey, Nat stumbles upon auditions for a kids' production of Wicked , one of her favorite musicals ever! And she gets into the ensemble! The other cast members are super cool and inclusive (well, most of them)- especially Malik, the male lead and cutest boy Nat's ever seen. But when things go awry a week before opening night, will Nat be able to cast her fears and insecurities aside and "Defy Gravity" in every sense of the song title?

What if your best friend was a robot? A funny and heartwarming adventure from acclaimed children's author Frank Cottrell-Boyce, with illustrations by Steven Lenton. When Alfie goes to Airport Lost Property, he finds more than he bargained for. A lot more. Because there's a giant robot called Eric hidden away on the shelves. Eric has lost one leg and half his memory. He's super strong, but super clumsy. He's convinced that he's the latest technology, when he's actually nearly one hundred year's old and ready for the scrap heap.Can Alfie find a way to save Eric from destruction - before Eric destroys everything around him? Runaway Robot is a funny and heartwarming adventure about two best friends helping put themselves back together, from the award-winning author of Millions and Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth, Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

Selah knows her rules for being normal.

She always, always sticks to them. This means keeping her feelings locked tightly inside, despite the way they build up inside her as each school day goes on, so that she has to run to the bathroom and hide in the stall until she can calm down. So that she has to tear off her normal-person mask the second she gets home from school, and listen to her favorite pop song on repeat, trying to recharge. Selah feels like a dragon stuck in a world of humans, but she knows how to hide it.

Until the day she explodes and hits a fellow student.

Selah's friends pull away from her, her school threatens expulsion, and her comfortable, familiar world starts to crumble.

But as Selah starts to figure out more about who she is, she comes to understand that different doesn't mean damaged. Can she get her school to understand that, too, before it's too late?