Books to use with children who have disabilities, or to use with any children when trying to educate and create a better understanding about the challenges of a particular disability, or disabilities in general.

Many of the books on this list are from a book list from the National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities.

... always remember to talk with children about the challenges the disability creates for the character in the book, as well as the character's many abilities... and how he or she uses those abilities to overcome obstacles and reach his or her goals and true potential.

If you would like to recommend a disability/ability related book that is not on this list, then send us the title, author, and other information, and we'll be sure to add it!

Please check back... I hope to add to this list frequently.

Gehret, Jeanne,
Eagle eyes: A child's guide to paying attention (2nd ed.),
Verbal images Press, 1991,
Grades 1-5, 40 pages

Nadeau, K.G., & Dixon, E.B.,
Learning to slow down and pay attention,
Chesapeake Psychological Publications, 1991,
Grades 3-6

Quinn, Patricia,
Putting on the brakes: A child's guide to understanding and gaining control over attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),
Magination Press, 1991,
Ages 4-7

Quinn, Patricia, & Stern, Judith,
Putting on the brakes: Young people's guide to understanding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),
Magination Press, 1991,
Ages 8-13

Shapiro, L.E., & Parrotte, T. (111.),
Sometimes I drive my mom crazy, but I know she's crazy about me: A self-esteem book for overactive and impulsive children,
King of Prussia, PA: Center for Applied Psychology, 1993,
Grades K-6, 80 pages

Smith, Mark, & Piazza, Gail (Illustrator),
Pay Attention, Slosh,
Albert Whitney & Company, 1997,
When Josh's friends call him "Slosh," it's particularly painful. Although he's smart when it comes to computers and math, Josh also has ADHD -- Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder. After talking to his teacher, Josh's parents decide to take him to a doctor, and things start looking up. Best of all, over time, Josh's classmates come to appreciate him as just one of the guys.

Emmert, M,
I'm the big sister now,
Albert Whitman & Company, 1989,
(JF)

Fassler, Joan,
Howie Helps Himself,
Albert Whitman & Company, 1987,
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

Gould, M.,
Golden daffodils,
Allied Crafts, 1991,
Grades 4 and up

Gould, M.,
The twelfth of June,
Allied Crafts, 1993,
Grades 7 and up

Taylor, R.,
All by myself: A father's story about a differently-abled child,
Light On Books & Videotapes, 1991

Aseltine, Lorraine, Evelyn Mueller, and Nancy Tate; Illustrated by Helen Cogancherry,
I'm Deaf and It's Okay,
Albert Whitman and Co., 1986.
A young hearing impaired boy tells how he feels about being deaf and he learns from an older deaf boy that "it's okay."

Baker, Pamela J.; Illustrated by Patrica Bellan Gillen,
My First Book of Sign,
Kendall Green Publicaions, 1986.
Excellent pimer on signing for preschoolers and parents of hearing impaired children. Not recommended for multiply handicapped children.

Bornstein, Harry, Saulnier, Karen L., Peters, Pat (illustrator), & Tom, Linda C.,
Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose: Told in Signed English (Signed English Series),
Kendall Green, 1992.
Presents well-known Mother Goose rhymes accompanied by diagrams shows how to form the Signed English signs for each word in the poems

Chaplin, Susan Gibbons; Illustrated by Laura McCaul
I Can Sign My ABC's,
Kindle Green Publications, 1986.
This book is recommended as an introduction to signing, especially for children with multiple disablities or easily distracted children.

Guccione, Leslie D.,
Tell me how the wind sounds,
New York: Scholastic, 1989,
(YA)

Starowitz, Anne Marie,
The Day We Met Cindy,
Kendall, Green, 1988.
A first grade class is introduced to hearing loss and sign language by the hearing-impaired aunt of one of the students.

Abeel, Samantha, Murphy, Charles R., & Williams, Roberts (Editor),
Reach for the Moon,
Pfeifer-Hamilton Publishers, 1994.
A combination of the poetry and prose of a gifted, 13-year-old with a learning disability, and the watercolors that inspired her words.

Betancourt, J.,
My name is brain - Brian,
New York: Scholastic, 1993,
Ages 9-14

Gehret, Jeanne,
The Don't-Give-Up-Kid and Learning Difference,
Verbal Images Press, 1996,
Ages 6-10.
Alex, a child with dyslexia, learns about his and other learning problems and what is done to solve them

Levinson, H.N., & Sanders, A.,
The upside down kids: Helping dyslexic children understand themselves and their disorder,
M. Evans, 1991,
Grades 2-6

Philbrick, W.R.,
Freak the mighty,
Scholastic, 1993,
Grades 5-12.
(About two eighth graders, one who has learning disabilities and one who has a birth defect)

Peterseil, Tehila,
Unjust Cause,
Pitsponpany Press, 1997.
David's family cannot come to terms with his learning disability. Like thousands of other children with learning problems, David is made to feel foolish and inadequate. Then he enrolls in a Jewish Day School and his life is changed.

Roby, Cynthia, & Dorfman, Elena (illustrator),
When Learning is Tough: Kids Talk About Their Learning Disabilities,
Concept Books, 1994.
Eight children describe their learning problems, recount their lives before they knew they had a disability, and explain how they have learned to adjust to and work with the challenges they face.

Cohen, Miriam, & Hoban, Lillian (illustrator),
See You Tomorrow, Charles,
Greenewillow Press, 1993.
Charles is the new boy in the first grade class, and he is blind. His classmates want to be helpful. Should they protect Charles or treat him like everyone else? No one knows for sure. Then one day Danny, Charles, and Anna Maria get into trouble. Can Charles take charge and help his friends?

Martin, Bill, Archambault, John, & Rand, Ted (illustrator),
Knots on a Counting Rope,
Owlet Publications, 1997.
A grandfather uses a counting rope to help his blind grandson understand the passage of time. As the boy and his grandfather talk, the grandfather recounts the boy's birth and struggle for life, and tries to help the child face the challenge of blindness.

Raskin, Ellen, (illustrated by the author),
Spectacles,
Atheneum, 1969.
Irrepressible Iris, a delightful heroine, needs glasses, but she resists wearing them. Only when she discovers their glamorous potential does she consent.

Yolen, Jane; Illustrated by Remy Charlip and Demetra Maraslis,
The Seeing Stick,
Thomas Corwell, 1977.
The emperor promises a fortune to anyone who can help his beloved princess, Hwei Ming, to see. A strange old man claims his "seeing stick" will cure her. He helps her "to grow eyes at the tips of her fingers: and, more important, to see with her mind and her heart." When the princess learns the old man's surprising secret, she more deeply appreciates the miracles of his lesson.

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Physical Disabilities

Behrman, Carol H.,
Fiddler to the world: The inspiring life of Itzhak Perlman,
Shoe Tree Press, 1992,
Grades 5-12, non-fiction

Bergman, T.,
On our own terms: Children living with physical disabilities,
Gareth Stevens Children's Books, 1989,
Grades 1-2, nonfiction

Carlson, Nancy L.,
Arnie and the new kid,
New York: Viking, 1990,
Grades 2-6.
(About a boy in a wheelchair)

Glover, Nancy,
Speedway Sam: A book about spinal injury for children,
Birmingham, AL: University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1990,
Grades 3-6

Kremetz, Jill,
How it feels to live with a physical disability,
Simon & Schuster, 1992,
Grades 5-12, nonfiction

Kriegsman, K.H., Zaslow, E.L., & D'Zmura-Rechsteiner, J.,
Taking charge: Teenagers talk about life and physical disabilities,
Woodbine House, 1992,
Grades 7-12

Meyer, Carolyn,
Killing the kudu,
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1990,
Grade 5-12. (About paraplegia)

Muldoon, K.M., Illustrations by Lina Shute,
Princess pooh,
Albert Whitman & Company, 1989.
Patty Jean is jealous of her sister in a wheelchair. One day she has the opportunity to try it out for herself and she discovers life in a "throne" (her word for wheelchair) isn't very regal after all. (Preschool-Grade 3)

Osofsky, Audrey,
My buddy,
Henry Holt & Company, 1992,
Preschool-Grade 3.
(About a boy with muscular dystrophy)

Panzarino, C., Lash, M., & Jacobs, J.,
Rebecca finds a way: How kids learn, play, and live with spinal cord injuries and illnesses. National Spinal Cord injury Association, 1994,
Grades 2-6

Strachan, Ian,
The flawed glass,
Little, Brown, 1990,
Grades 5-12

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Other Disabilities

Caseley, Judith,
Harry and Willy and Carrothead,
Greenwillow Books, 1991,
Preschool-Grade 3.
(About prejudice)

Schwier, Karin M.,
"Different is just different!"
Impact Publishers, 1992,
Preschool-Grade 3.
(About a five year old boy who meets a woman in a wheelchair and others who are different from himself)

Scott, Sharon,
Not better...not worse.. just different,
Human Resource Development Press, 1992,
(A book to teach children ages 5 to 10 to be kind to one another)

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E-mail Maribeth with questions, comments, suggestions, or for more information.

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