Bibliography of Children’s Books on Disability Issues


(A work-in-progress compiled by Cynthia Fordham, Children’s Librarian, Woburn Public Library)

ADHD/HYPERACTIVITY

Eagle Eyes: A Child’s Guide to Paying Attention/Jeanne Gehret  Verbal Images Press, Fairport NY, 1996  1884281-11-7

Eukey, the Jumpy Jumpy Elephant/Clifford L. Corman and Esther Trevino   Plantation, FL: Specialty Press, Inc., 1995   0-9621629-8-1

Joey Pigza Loses Control/Jack Gantos  Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2000. 0-374-39989-1

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key/Jack Gantos  Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1998   0-374-33664-4

Jumpin’ Johnny Get Back to Work!: A Child’s Guide to ADHD/Hyperactivity/Michael Gordon, Ph.D.   GSI Publications, P.O. Box 746, DeWitt NY  13214    0-9627701-1-6

Shelley, The Hyperactive Turtle/Deborah M. Moss   Woodbine House, 1989    0-933149-31-X

Sparky’s Excellent Misadventures: My A.D.D. Journal by Me (Sparky)/ Phyllis Carpenter and Marti Ford   Magination Press, Washington DC   1-55798-606-1

Zipper, the Kid with ADHD/Caroline Janover    Woodbine House, 1997    0-933149-95-6

 

AIDS/HIV

Alex, the Kid with AIDS/Linda Girard    Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-0247-2

AIDS: First Facts for Kids, Grades 4-6/Linda Schwartz  The Learning Works, 1997
            0-88160-249-3

AIDS: Answers to Questions Kids Ask, Grades 6-8/Barbara Christie-Dever
            The Learning Works, 1997            0-88160-286-8

Be a Friend: Children Who Live with HIV Speak/Lori S. Weiner, et al. Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-0591-9

Carmine’s Story: A Book about a Boy Living with AIDS/Arlene Schulman   Lerner, 1997   0-8225-2582-8

Losing Uncle Tim/MaryKate Jordan       Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-4758-1 (pb)

Autobiography. Ryan White: My Own Story/Ryan White and Ann M. Cunningham.  Demco, 1991.
0-606-02881-1;   NAL/Signet Paperback, 0-451-17322-8

ALCOHOLISM

 

Boy Who Drank Too Much/Shep Greene. Econoclad, 1999. 0-88103-596-3

I Wish Daddy Didn’t Drink So Much/Judith Vigna     Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-3526-5 (pb)

 

ALLERGIES  

Andrew and Maya Learn About Food Allergies/Scott H. Sicherer, M.D.  Food Allergy Network, 2000  (10400 Eaton Place, Suite 107, Fairfax VA 22030)  1-882541-16-2

Caring for Your Child with Severe Food Allergies: Emotional Support and Practical Advice from a Parent Who’s Been There/Lisa Cipriano Collins   John Wiley & Sons, 2000   0-471-34785-X

My Friend has Allergies/Nicola Edwards   Chrysalis Education, 2005   1-59389-169-5

Taking Food Allergies to School/Ellen Weiner   Jayjo Books, LLC, 1999  (P.O. Box 9120, Plainview NY 11803)
1-891383-05-1

ALOPECIA AREATA

Because of Anya/Margaret Peterson Haddix  Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2002. 0-689-83298-2

 

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

An Early Winter/Marion Dane Bauer    Clarion Books, 1999   0-395-90372-6

The Memory Box/Mary Bahr       Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-5053-1 (pb)
ANOREXIA

Nell’s Quilt/Susan Terris   Farrar Strauss Giroux, 1987 (no ISBN)

 

ARTHRITIS

Nicole’s Story: A Book about a Girl with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis/Virginia Totorica Aldape   Lerner, 1996    0-8225-2578-X

 

ASTHMA

All About Asthma/William Ostrow      Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-3475-7

Brianna Breathes Easy: A Story About Asthma/Virginia Kroll   Albert Whitman & Co., 2005   0-8075-0880-2

I’m Tougher Than Asthma!/Alden R. Carter     Albert Whitman & Co.     0-8075-3474-9 (hc);
   0-8075-3475-7  (pb)

Biography. Jackie Joyner-Kersee: Champion Athlete/ Geri Harrington. (Great Achievers: Lives of the Physically Challenged series). Chelsea House, 1994.  0-7910-2085-1

The Lion Who Had Asthma/Jonathan London     Albert Whitman & Co., 1992  0-8075-4559-7

 

AUTISM (AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS, ASBERGER’S SYNDROME, et al.)

Andy and His Yellow Frisbee/Mary Thompson   Woodbine House, 1996   0-933149-83-2

A Corner of the Universe/Ann M. Martin (Newbery Award, 2002)  Scholastic, 2002  0-439-38880-5

“El Pequeno Rainman” (el autismo-a traves de los ojos de un nino)/Karen L. Simmons (Text in Spanish) Future Horizons, Inc. (Arlington TX), [n.d.]

Ian’s Walk: A Story about Autism/Laurie Lears  Albert Whitman & Co., 1998   0-8075-3480-3 (hc);
0-8075-3481-1 (pbk)

Looking after Louis/Lesley Ely   Albert Whitman & Co., 2004   0-8075-4746-8

Mori’s Story: A Book about a Boy with Autism/Jerry Gay   Lerner, 1998   0-8225-2585-2

Rules/Cynthia Lord  Scholastic, 2006  0-439-44382-2

Who Took My Shoe?: Discovering Who, What, Where, When Why and How/Karen Emigh (teaching children with Autism Spectrum Disorders about abstract language) Future Horizons (Arlington TX), 2003   1-885477-95-3

 

BLINDNESS see VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

BRAIN DAMAGE (see also HEAD INJURY)

So B. It/Sarah Weeks    Laura Geringer Books/HarperCollins, 2004   0-06-623623-1

 

CANCER

 

Andrew’s Story: A Book about a Boy Who Beat Cancer/Chris Bridge    Lerner, 2002  
0-8225-2587-9

Good Luck, Mrs. K!/Louise Borden   Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1999   0-689-82147-6 (teacher with cancer)

Kathy’s Hats: A Story of Hope/Trudy Krisher     Albert Whitman & Co., 1992   0-8075-4116-8

Let’s Talk About When Kids Have Cancer/Melanie Apel Gordon   Powerkids Press, 1999  0-823-5195-2

Oliver’s Story: For ‘Sibs’ of Kids with Cancer/Michael Dodd   Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation, 2004
(P.O. Box 498, Kensington MD 20895)   0-9724043-4-1

The Paper Chain/Claire Blake   Health Press, 1998 (P.O. Drawer 37470, Alburquerque NM 87176) 
0-929173-28-7 (parent with cancer)

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes/Eleanor Coerr   G.P.  Putnam’s Sons, 1977  0-399-20520-9

When Eric’s Mom Fought Cancer/Judith Vigna     Albert Whitman & Co.     0-8075-8883-0  (parent with cancer)

 

CEREBRAL PALSY

Finest Kind/Lea Wait  Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2006.  1-4169-0952-4

Petey/Ben Mikaelsen   Hyperion Books for Children, 1998. 0-7868-2376-3

Stretching Ourselves: Kids with Cerebral Palsy/Alden R. Carter    Albert Whitman & Co., 2000
   0-8075-7637-9     

 

CHILD ABUSE/NEGLECT

Camp of the Angel/Aileen Arrington.  Philomel Books, 2003. 0-399-23882-4

Slake’s Limbo/Felice Holman.  Scribner, 1974.   0-684-13926-X

 

DEAF-BLIND

Can You Feel the Thunder?/Lynn E. McElfresh   Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1999  
0-689-82324-X

Helen Keller: Rebellious Spirit/Laurie Lawlor.  Holiday House, 2001. 0-8234-1588-0

 

 

DEAFNESS/HEARING IMPAIRMENT

Amy, the Story of a Deaf Child/Lou Ann Walker    E.P. Duttom, 1977   0-525-67145-5

Being Me/Julie Broski   Children’s Press, 2006   0-516-24975-4

Handtalk: An ABC of Finger Spelling and Sign Language/Remy Charlip     MacMillan, c1974, 1980    0-02-718130-8

Handtalk Birthday/Remy Charlip [Out of print.] 

Handtalk Zoo/George Ancona.  Four Winds Publishing, 0-0270-0801-0; Aladdin Paperbacks,
0-689-80392-3

I Have a Sister, My Sister Is Deaf/Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson   Harper & Row, 1977
0-06-024701-0   0-06-024702-9 lib. bdg

Moses Goes to a Concert/Isaac Millman. Frances Foster Books/Farrar Strauss & Giroux, 1998
 0-374-35067-1

My Friend is Deaf/Anna Levene   Chrysalis Education, 2003  1-93233-327-4

Biography.  Picture Book of Helen Keller/David A. Adler   Holiday House, 1992. 0-8234-0950-3
[N.B.: There are too many Keller biographies to list here!]

Sign Language Talk/Laura Greene and Eva Barash Dicker   Franklin Watts, 1989      
0-531-10597-0

 

DEATH AND DYING

 

Beautiful/Susi Gregg Fowler   Greenwillow Books, 1998   0-688-15111-6  (death of an uncle)

The Blue Roses/Linda Boyden   Lee & Low Books, 2002   1-58430-037-X   (death of a grandparent)

Fireflies, Peach Pies & Lullabies/Virginia Kroll   Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1995  0-689-80291-9  (death of a grandparent)

How Do We Tell the Children? A Step-by-Step Guide for Helping Children Two to Teen Cope When Someone Dies, third edition/Dan Schaefer & Christine Lyons      Newmarket Press, 2001
1-55704-430-9 hc; 1-55704-425-2 pbk

Learning to Say Good-By: When a Parent Dies/Eda LeShan   MacMillan, 1976   0-020756360-X

Losing Uncle Tim/MaryKate Jordan       Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-4758-1 (pb) (AIDS)

Loss: Understanding the Emptiness/Eileen Kuehn  Life Matters/Capstone Press, 2001  
0-7368-0746-2

Marianne’s Grandmother/Bettina Egger   E.P. Dutton, 1979   0-525-44335-5  (death of a grandparent)

Molly’s Rosebush/Janice Cohn     Albert Whitman & Co., 1994   0-8075-5213-5  (miscarriage)

The Saddest Time/Norma Simon  Albert Whitman & Co., 1986   0-8075-7203-9 (lib bdg)   0-8075-7204-7 (pbk)  (family grief; loss of grandmother)

Talking About Death/Karen Bryant-Mole   Raintree Steck Vaughn, 1999  0-8172-5536-2

Thank You, Grandpa/Lynn Plourde   Dutton Children’s Books, 2003  0-525-46992-3 (loss of grandfather)

The Two of Them/Aliki   Greenwillow Books, 1979   0-688-80225-7;   0-688-84225-9 lib bdg   (death of a grandparent)

Upside-Down Cake/Carol Carrick  Clarion Books, 1999   0-395-84151-8  (death of a father)

What’s Heaven?/Maria Shriver   St. Martin’s Press, 1999   0-307-44043-5

When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death/Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown   Little, Brown & Co., 1996   0-316-10917-7

 

DIABETES

Even Little Kids Get Diabetes/Connie Pirner      Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-2159-0 (pb)

Sugar Was My Best Food/Carol Antoinette Peacock et al. Albert Whitman & Co., 2000
0-8075-7648-4

 

DOWN’S SYNDROME/MENTAL RETARDATION

ABC for You and Me/Meg Girnis     Albert Whitman & Co., 2000   0-8075-0101-8

Bebes con Sindrome de Down: Guia para padres, Segunda edicion/Compilado por Karen Stray Gundersen (Text in Spanish)  Woodbine House, 1998   0-933149-91-3
     
Big Brother Dustin/Alden R. Carter     Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-0715-6
 
Dustin’s BIG School Day/Alden R. Carter      Albert Whitman & Co.    0-8075-1741-0

Leslie’s Story: A Book about a Girl with Mental Retardation/Martha McNey   Lerner, 1996
0-8225-2576-3

My Friend Isabelle/Eliza Woloson  Woodbine House, 2003   1-890627-50-X

Russ and the Almost Perfect Day/Janet Elizabeth Rickert   Woodbine House, 2000   1-890627-

Russ and the Apple Tree Surprise/Janet Elizabeth Rickert   Woodbine House, 1999  1-890627-X

Russ and the Firehouse/Janet Elizabeth Rickert   Woodbine House, 2000   1-890627-17-8

Somebody Called Me a Retard Today and My Heart Felt Sad/Ellen O’Shaunessy
Walker & Co, 1992     0-8027-8187-7

Spider Sparrow/Dick King-Smith   Crown Publishers, 2000.   0-517-80043-8 (trade);
0-517-80044-6 (lib. bdg,)

Thumbs Up, Rico/Maria Testa     Albert Whitman & Co.    0-8075-8474-6

Veronica’s First Year/Jean Sasso Rheingrover     Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-8474-6

We’ll Paint the Octopus Red/Stephanie Stuve-Boveen Woodbine House, 1998 1-890627-06-2

Where’s Chimpy?/Berniece Rabe          Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-8928-4 (hc);
0-8075-8927-6 (pbk)

Biography.   Chris Burke: Actor/Helen Monsoon Geraghty.  (Great Achievers: Lives of the Physically Challenged series). Chelsea House, 1995.   0-7910-2081-9; 0-7910-2094-0

 

DRUG ABUSE

My Big Sister Takes Drugs/Judith Vigna        Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-5316-6 (pb)

 

DYSLEXIA

My Friend has Dyslexia/Nicola Edwards   Chrysalis Education, 2005   1-59389-168-7

 

DYSPRAXIA (Clumsy Child Syndrome)

My Friend has Dyspraxia/Nicola Edwards   Chrysalis Education, 2005   1-59389-169-5

 

EPILEPSY

Black Water/Michael Anderson  Henry Holt & Co., 1994   0-8050-3847-7

 

HANDICAPS (GENERAL)

About Handicaps: An Open Family Book for Parents and Children/Sara Bonnett Stein  Walker & Co, 1974  
0-8027-6174-7

Special-Needs Reading List: An Annotated Guide to the Best Publications for Parents and Professionals/Wilma K. Sweeney.  Woodbine House, 1998.  0-933149-74-3

We Walk in a Circle/Peggy Perry Anderson   Houghton Miflin, 2004   0-618-44756-3

Views from Our Shoes: Growing Up with a Brother or Sister with Special Needs/Donald Meyer
Woodbine House, 1997.0-933149-98-0

 

HEAD INJURY   (see also BRAIN DAMAGE)

Kidnapping Kevin Kowalski/Mary Jane Auch   Holiday House, 1990   0-8234-0815-9

HEMIPLEGIA see MOBILITY IMPAIRMENT

LOU GEHRIG’S DISEASE (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—ALS)

Biography. Stephen Hawking: Revolutionary Physicist/Melissa McDaniels. (Great Achievers: Lives of the Physically Challenged series). Chelsea House, 1994.  0-7910-2078-9;
0-7910-2091-6

 

MENTAL ILLNESS

The Dream Bearer/Walter Dean Myers. HarperCollins, 2003. 006029521X.

Helicopter Man/Elizabeth Fensham   NY:  Bloomsbury, 2005  1-58234-981-9

I Will Call It Georgie’s Blues/Suzanne Newton. Viking, 1983.   0-670-39131-X

Summer Secrets/Patricia Hermes   Marshall Cavendish, 2004   0-7614-5074-2

 

MENTAL RETARDATION see DOWN’S SYNDROME/MENTAL RETARDATION

 

MOBILITY IMPAIRMENT/HEMIPLEGIA/PARAPLEGIA

 

Dear Santa, Please Come to the 19th Floor/Yin.   Philomel Books, 2002.     0-399-23636-8

Nice Wheels/Gwendolyn Hooks  Scholastic/Children’s Press, 2005. My First Reader series.  0-516-25179-1

Rules/Cynthia Lord  Scholastic, 2006  0-439-44382-2

Wheel Wizards/Robert Hirschfeld      Little, Brown  0-316-13611-5 (hc); 0-316-13733-2 (pb)

Biography. Actor and Activist Christopher Reeve/Margaret L. Finn    Chelsea House, 1997.  
0-7910-4446-7; 0-7910-4447-5

OBESITY

 

Nothing’s Fair in Fifth Grade/Barth DeClements.  Puffin Books, 1990.   0-14-03443-8

When Zachary Beaver Came to Town/Kimberly Willis-Holt  Henry Holt & Co., 1999. 
0-8050-6116-9

PARAPLEGIA see MOBILITY IMPAIRMENT

PARKINSON’S DISEASE

 

BiographyMichael J. Fox: Overcoming Adversity/Richard Kozar.  Chelsea House, 2000.
0-7910-5425-X (hc);  0-7910-5426-8 (pb)

RETARDATION see DOWN’S SYNDROME/MENTAL RETARDATION

SEIZURES see EPILEPSY

SEXUAL ABUSE

 

Laurie Tells/Linda Lowery   Carolrhoda Books, 1994   0-87614-790-2

My Body Is Private/Linda Walvoord Girard        Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-5320-4

No More Secrets for Me/Oralee Walker    little, Brown, 1983    0-316-91490-8

 

STROKE

Now One Foot, Now the Other/Tomie dePaola  G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981.  0-399-20774-0 hc;
0-399-22400-9 pbk  [grandparent stroke]

Bringing Nettie Back/Nancy Hope Wilson    MacMillan, 1992.  0-02-793075-0  [child stroke]

 

STUTTERING

Flimflam Man/Darleen Bailey Beard. Farrar Strauss Giroux, 1998.  0-374-32346-1

If Your Child Stutters: A Guide for Parents/ Stanley Humphreys Ainsworth.  Stuttering Foundation of America [Memphis, TN], c2000.  0-933-38844-6

Mary Maroney and the Snake/Suzy Kline.  G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1991.  0-399-22044-5

 

VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES

A Family That Fights/Sharon Chesler Bernstein   Albert Whitman & Co.   0-8075-2248-1

 

VISUAL IMPAIRMENT/BLINDNESS

 

Blueberry Eyes/Monica Driscoll Beatty    Health Press, Santa Fe, NM   1996  0-929173-24-4

Brian’s Bird/Patricia A, Davis   Albert Whitman, 2000   0-8075-0881-0

A Cane in Her Hand/Ada B. Litchfield  Albert Whitman, 2000 (?)   0-8075-1056-4

Biography. Louis Braille: Teacher of the Blind/Jennifer Fisher Bryant. (Great Achievers: Lives of the Physically Challenged series). Chelsea House, 1994.  0-7910-2077-0; 0-7910-2090-8

Seeing Things My Way/Alden R. Carter   Albert Whitman    0-8075-7296-9

Through Grandpa’s Eyes/Patricia MacLachlan  Harper & Row, 1979   0-06-024044-X

TJ’s Story: A Book about a Boy Who Is Blind/Arlene Schulman   Lerner

 

 

 

 

 

For more booklists by genre, check out Raving Reads.