This list is by no means exhaustive, and represents a selection of some of the best titles exploring physical and cognitive differences and challenges. For more ideas and suggestions ask a librarian. Professional materials are not included.
FRIENDS AT SCHOOL
By Rochelle Bunnett
Text and photographs follow a group of children with different nationalities, abilities, and disabilities through a happy, cooperative day at school.
THE SUMMER OF THE SWANS
By Betsy Byars
A teen-age girl gains new insight into herself and her family when her developmentally disabled brother gets lost.
6TH GRADE CAN REALLY KILL YOU
By Barthe DeClements
Helen fears that lack of improvement in her reading may leave her stuck in the sixth grade forever, until a good teacher recognizes her reading problem.
BE GOOD TO EDDIE LEE
By Virginia Flemming
Before Eddie Lee, a boy with Down’s Syndrome, follows her into the woods, Christy considered him a pest, but after he shares several special discoveries with her, she begins to see him in a new light.
JOEY PIGZA SWALLOWED THE KEY
By Jack Gantos
To the constant disappointment of his mother and his teachers, Joey has trouble paying attention or controlling his mood swings when his prescription medications wear off.
DO BANANAS CHEW GUM?
By Jamie Gilson
Able to read and write at only a second grade level, sixth-grader Sam Mott considers himself dumb. But when he begins to cooperate with those who think something can be done about his problem he finds a new sense of self worth.
SPIDER SPARROW
By Dick King-Smith
Spider, a baby abandoned on an English farm, grows up to be a slower learner than other children but displays a remarkable talent for communicating with animals as he comes of age during World War II.
JUST KIDS: VISITING A CLASS FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
By Ellen B. Senisi
Second-grader Cindy is assigned to spend part of each day in a class for students with special needs, where she finds out that even though some kids may learn differently or have different abilities, they are all “just kids.”
THANK YOU MR. FALKER
By Patricia Polacco
At first, Trisha loves school, but her difficulty learning to read makes her feel dumb, until, in fifth grade, a new teacher helps her understand and overcome her problem.
PHYSICAL CHALLENGES
KNOCKIN’ ON WOOD: STARRING PEG LEG BATES
By Lynne Barasch
Presents a picture book biography of Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates, an African American who lost his leg in a factory accident at the age of twelve and went on to become a world-famous tap dancer.
SPECIAL PARENTS, SPECIAL CHILDREN
By Joanne E. Bernstein
Young and old members of four families discuss what it is like when a parent has a physical disability.
GOING PLACES: CHILDREN LIVING CEREBAL PALSY
By Thomas Bergman
Describes the home life, schooling, and physiotherapy of children with cerebral palsy from birth.
SUMMER TUNES: A MARTHA’S VINEYARD VACATION
By Patricia McMahon
Ten-year-old Conor, who has cerebral palsy, spends a summer vacation with his family on Martha’s Vineyard in this photographic essay.
WE CAN DO IT!
By Laura Dwight
Five special children explain what they can do even though they have special problems to overcome.
ASSISTANCE DOGS: IN SPECIAL SERVICE
By Elizabeth Ring
Describes the work of dogs that are specially trained to assist blind, deaf, or disabled people.
CHUCK CLOSE, UP CLOSE
By Jan Greenberg
A biography of the artist who achieved prominence the late 1960s for enormous, photographically realistic, black and white portraits of himself and his friends, and who, later in life, continued painting despite enormous physical challenges.
ARNIE AND THE NEW KID
By Nancy L. Carlson
When an accident requires Arnie to use crutches, he begins to understand the limits and possibilities of his new classmate, who has a wheelchair.
HARRY AND WILLY AND CARROTHEAD
By Judith Caseley
Three boys, one with a prosthetic arm, overcome prejudicial ideas about appearances and become friends.
WITH THE WIND
By Liz Damrell
When a boy who spends most of his time in a wheelchair rides a horse, he finds freedom, power, joy, and strength.
HOWIE HELPS HIMSELF
By Joan Fassler
Though he enjoys life with his family and attends school, Howie, a child with cerebral palsy, wants more than anything else to be able to move his wheelchair by himself.
ZOOM!
By Robert
When Lauretta tried out a 92-speed, silver and gold, dirt-bike wheelchair, she gets a speeding ticket, but also helps out her brother. E OSOFSKY
MY BUDDY
By Audrey Osofsky
A young boy with muscular dystrophy tells how he is teamed up with a dog trained to do things for him that he can’t do for himself.
THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY
By E. L. Konigsburg
Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who chooses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition.
THE MONUMENT
By Gary Paulsen
Thirteen-year-old Rocky, self-conscious about the braces on her leg, has her life changed by the remarkable artist who comes to her small Kansas town to design a war memorial.
BLINDNESS
SING TO THE STARS
By Mary Brigid Barrett
When Ephram becomes friends with a blind man in his neighborhood and finds out that Mr. Washington was a famous pianist who hasn’t touched a piano for a long time, he resolves to get the man back on stage.
BRAVE NORMAL: A TRUE STORY
By Andrew Clements
Norman, a blind Labrador retriever, saves a girl from drowning in the ocean.
MANDY SUE DAY
By Roberta Karim
Using her senses of taste, hearing, touch, and smell, a blind girl enjoys a special day on the farm.
NAOMI KNOWS IT’S SPRINGTIME
By Virginia L. Kroll
Spring has arrived and, through she is blind, Naomi knows the season by its familiar sounds, tastes, and smells.
KNOTS ON A COUNTING ROPE
By Bill Martin
A grandfather and his blind grandson, Boy-Strength-of-Blue-Horses, reminisce about the young boy’s birth, his first horse, and an exciting horse race.
LISTEN FOR THE BUS: DAVID’S STORY
By Patricia McMahon
Photographs and text follow David, a boy who is blind, through his first day at kindergarten.
SEES BEHIND THE TREES
By Dorris, Michael.
A Native American boy, with a special gift to “see” beyond his poor eyesight, journeys with an old warrior to a land of mystery and beauty.
LITTLE STEVIE WONDER
By Quincy Troupe
Contains a long poem that serves as tribute to the singer Stevie Wonder, and describes, in verse, his musical talent, and cultural impact.
DEAFNESS
I HAVE A SISTER–MY SISTER IS DEAF
By Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson
A young girl describes how her deaf sister experiences everyday things.
A BUTTON IN HER EAR
By Ada Bassett Litchfield
A little girl relates how her hearing deficiency is detected and corrected with the use of a hearing aid.
MOSES GOES TO A CONCERT
Moses and his schoolmates, all deaf, attend a concert where the orchestra’s percussionist is also deaf. Includes illustrations in sign language and a page showing the manual alphabet.
MOSES GOES TO SCHOOL
By Isaac Millman
Moses and his friends enjoy the first day of class at their special school for the deaf and hard of hearing, where they use sign language to talk to each other.
THE DEAF MUSICIANS
By Pete Seeger and Paul DuBois Jacobs
Lee, a jazz pianist, has to leave his band when he begins losing his hearing, but he meets a deaf saxophone player in a sign language class and together they form a snazzy new band.
THE SOUND OF ALL THINGS
By Myron Uhlberg
A hearing boy and his deaf parents from Brooklyn enjoy the rides, food, and sights of 1930’s Coney Island where the father longs to know about how everything sounds and his son tries to interpret the noisy surroundings through sign language and a wealth of new words learned from a trip to the library.