Diverse Books: Physical Disability & Illness

Ashley "Ash" Bishop has always known who he is: a guy who loves soccer, has a crush on his friend Michelle, and is fascinated by the gruesome history of his hometown—Salem, Massachusetts.… Read More →

What does nothing sound like? Jacki's mama has a rare condition. She is slowly losing her hearing. Together, they are learning Sign Language so that they'll always be able to tell each other… Read More →

Lydia has had a passion for climate issues for as long as she can remember. After a fall at school, her well-meaning friends and family are against her getting out on the streets to protest, Read More →

Swim with the current, or go against the flow? Savannah has been feeling out of place ever since her family moved to Sandy Dune, Florida. She finds it easier to make friends with animals… Read More →

Nearly three million people around the world have multiple sclerosis, or MS. In the United States alone, around one million adults live with the disease, a number that has doubled since 1975. Read More →

A 2019 Batchelder Honor Book Yu'er and her grandpa live in a small neighborhood in Beijing—and it's full of big personalities. There's a story around every corner, and each day has a hint of Read More →

When Jake’s mom upcycles every last thing in the apartment, Jake begins to worry that the only thing left to change is . . . him! Jake’s mom is not like most moms. Say there's a dumpster in… Read More →

In 2009, Tessa Brunton experienced the first symptoms of myalgic encephalomyelitis (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome). She spent much of the next eight years unwell, in a medical… Read More →

There are no second chances in the Pangu Star System. Ver and Aryl, apprentices at the most prestigious biology lab among the system’s moons, know this better than anyone. They’ve left… Read More →

Fourteen-year-old Addie's town is built around a lead and zinc smelter. The company has done an extensive cleanup of its operations, but everything in the town still seems sick; even the… Read More →

When Kathleen Friel was young, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and a doctor told her parents all the things she'd never be able to do. They left his office for good and found a new… Read More →

Eighth-grader Micah is psyched to have made the BC junior goalball team—even though he gets the news while dealing with a flare-up of his degenerative eye condition. What he's not happy about Read More →

Siegfried is sick and tired of being cooped up at home while his parents are always out of town. To make matters worse, his caretaker keeps treating him with kid gloves. Siegfried wants to… Read More →

Scott Schroeder dreams of a day when he and his father can have a home of their own. Following an accident that took his mother's life eight years before, doctors discovered Scott was… Read More →

Harriet Flores struggles with boredom and an unrequited crush while learning to manage her chronic illness through a long, hot, 1990s summer in Chicago. She uses her imagination to cope,… Read More →

Arguably one of the most prominent US Supreme Court Justices at the moment, Sonia Sotomayor has paved her own way to enact profound changes and reforms, despite the obstacles that stood in… Read More →

Stephen Hawking was one of the world's most celebrated and inspiring physicists, known for his theories on relativity, black holes, and quantum mechanics. He wrote the bestseller A Brief… Read More →

Star player Janine leads her hockey team to victory at the provincial championships. But on the way home from the game, a car accident leaves her paralyzed from the waist down. Her best… Read More →

Stokes tells the story of the NBA’s first Black superstar, Maurice Stokes, who is not as well known as he should be in part because of a career-ending injury. Coauthors and basketball… Read More →