SJPL Picks: YA Lit with Disability RepresentationLike this list

51 items

• Dust

  Stine, Alison

  Add Dust to your for later shelf

  Hard of Hearing/Deaf. In this haunting, speculative coming-of-age novel about finding your place in an unforgiving environment, a partially deaf teen questions everything she knows about family, love, and her future.

• Ariel Crashes a Train

  Cole, Olivia A.,

  Add Ariel Crashes a Train to your for later shelf

  OCD. Ariel grapples with her fear of her own mind and violent fantasies, driven by her desire to meet her parents' expectations and societal norms, until a summer job at a carnival leads her to new friends who help her discover her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Calculation of You and Me

  Kaylor, Serena,

  Add The Calculation of You and Me to your for later shelf

  Autism. An autistic calculus nerd enlists her surly classmate's help to win back her ex-boyfriend, but when sparks start to fly, she realizes there is no algorithm for falling in love

• Chronically Dolores

  Van Wagenen, Maya,

  Add Chronically Dolores to your for later shelf

  Chronic bladder condition. Dolores Mendoza is not thriving. She was recently diagnosed with a chronic bladder condition called interstitial cystitis. The painful disease isn't life threatening, but it is threatening to ruin her life. Just…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Conditions of a Heart

  Mangle, Bethany,

  Add Conditions of a Heart to your for later shelf

  Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. After an incident leads to her suspension, eighteen-year-old Brynn's high school persona that hides her secret disability (Ehlers-Danlos syndrome) is shattered, and she begins embracing her true self on her journey…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ellie Haycock Is Totally Normal

  Schreiber, Gretchen,

  Add Ellie Haycock Is Totally Normal to your for later shelf

  Genetic Condition. Ellie, a high schooler with a rare genetic condition, navigates the divide between her "hospital-life" and "home-life," as a hospital stay brings her closer to Ryan, who challenges her perspective and makes her consider…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Joined at the Joints

  Eller, Marissa,

  Add Joined at the Joints to your for later shelf

  Chronic Illness. When baking-obsessed Ivy meets a super-hot boy who shares her rare diagnosis, sparks fly outside of the kitchen for the first time in her life! Chronically ill seventeen-year-old Ivy has stayed in watching the Food Network…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Loudest Silence

  Langford, Sydney,

  Add The Loudest Silence to your for later shelf

  Deafness; Hearing impairment. Anxiety. CASEY KOWALSKI once dreamed of becoming a professional singer. Then the universe threw her a life-altering curveball— sudden, permanent, and profound hearing loss. Now, she's learning to navigate the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Rules for Camouflage

  Cronn-Mills, Kirstin, 1968-

  Add Rules for Camouflage to your for later shelf

  Autism. During her senior year of high school, neurodivergent Evvie navigates school, friendships, and her first love.

• Time and Time Again

  Greenfield, Chatham,

  Add Time and Time Again to your for later shelf

  Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Phoebe Mendel has been living the same day for a month. On August 6th she fell asleep with a stomachache and woke up to find the space-time continuum broken. Ever since, she's been stuck living the same…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Tilly in Technicolor

  Eddings, Mazey,

  Add Tilly in Technicolor to your for later shelf

  ADHD. After struggling through high school because of the executive functioning issues that accompany her ADHD, Tilly is spending the summer in Europe interning at her older sister's company. Looming over the trip is her mom's declaration…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Sixteen Souls

  Talbot, Rosie,

  Add Sixteen Souls to your for later shelf

  Physical/mobility disability. Ever since closeted 16-year-old Charlie Frith—who lost his legs to meningitis and uses prosthetics—was resuscitated after dying from a horrific ghost attack, he has been able to see and converse with the dead…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Unseelie

  Housman, Ivelisse,

  Add Unseelie to your for later shelf

  Neurodivergent/autism. Seelie looks just like her twin, but as an autistic changeling, she has always known she is different. Seelie's unpredictable magic makes it hard for her to fit in and draws the sisters into a hunt for a fabled…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Stars in Their Eyes

  Walton, Jessica,

  Add Stars in Their Eyes to your for later shelf

  Amputation. Maisie is on her way to Fancon! She's looking forward to meeting her idol, Kara Bufano, the action hero from her favorite TV show, who has a lower-leg amputation, just like Maisie. But when Maisie and her mom arrive at the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• At the Speed of Lies

  Otis, Cindy L.,

  Add At the Speed of Lies to your for later shelf

  Rheumatoid arthritis. Canandaigua, N.Y., high school junior Quinn Calvet—who has rheumatoid arthritis and uses a wheelchair—runs a well-known Instagram account called The Whine, where she reports on events within her community, such as…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Will on the Inside

  Eliopulos, Andrew,

  Add Will on the Inside to your for later shelf

  Crohn's disease. Will loves playing center midfield on his middle school soccer team. This year, though, Will hasn't felt like himself; his stomach has been bothering him, and he has no energy at all. When his new doctor diagnoses him with…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Byways

  a Novel

  Pascual, Mary,

  Add The Byways to your for later shelf

  ADHD/sensory processing. CeeCee Harper is no stranger to unsympathetic teachers, bullies who’s think she’s weird, and other hardships that come with being a high school student with sensory processing disorder and ADHD. She also has…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Where You See Yourself

  Forrest, Claire (Young adult author),

  Add Where You See Yourself to your for later shelf

  Cerebral Palsy. A teen with cerebral palsy combats ableist school administrators while searching for the perfect college in Forrest’s refreshing and empowering debut. Because of her high school’s poor accessibility compliance, wheelchair…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Give Me a Sign

  Sortino, Anna,

  Add Give Me a Sign to your for later shelf

  Deaf/blindness. Seventeen-year-old Lilah, who wears hearing aids, returns to a summer camp for the Deaf and Blind as a counselor, eager to improve her ASL and find her place in the community, but she did not expect to also find romance…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Pedro & Daniel

  Erebia, Federico,

  Add Pedro & Daniel to your for later shelf

  Neurodivergent. Pedro and Daniel are Mexican American brothers growing up in 1970s Ohio. Their mother resents that Pedro is a spitting image of their darker-skinned father; that Daniel likes dolls; that neither boy plays sports. Both are…Read moreRead more of this annotation