YA Book Recommendations
December 11, 2011 6:20 PM Subscribe
Recommendations for young adult books about the disability experience
I mentor a 13 year old eighth grader who has been expressing a lot of thoughtful interest in disability issues and identities--physical, mental and cognitive. I'm looking for recommendations for fiction books for her to read. She is not disabled herself, nor does she have an family members with disabilities.
She's 13 and she's very much at a 13 year old's reading level (if not a little younger); she really has trouble with abstraction and symbolism, and difficulty staying engaged when experiences in books are very different from her own (for example, she could enjoy a book about a male teenager with a disability, but a male adult with lovers and children and a job, like Diving Bell and the Butterfly, would be so uninteresting to her, although I know there are some 13 year olds who would get a lot out of that particular book).
She also isn't a huge reader (which is why I'm so desperate to find a book related to a topic she's been expressing a lot of interest in), although she's not really anti-reading either. Non-fiction would be okay, but she engages more with fiction. Graphic novels would be great, too.
Books she's enjoyed in the past are The Outsiders, Number the Stars (but she disliked The Giver), and True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. She got frustrated with Harry Potter (too many characters and plots) and hated the first Twilight novel.
I mentor a 13 year old eighth grader who has been expressing a lot of thoughtful interest in disability issues and identities--physical, mental and cognitive. I'm looking for recommendations for fiction books for her to read. She is not disabled herself, nor does she have an family members with disabilities.
She's 13 and she's very much at a 13 year old's reading level (if not a little younger); she really has trouble with abstraction and symbolism, and difficulty staying engaged when experiences in books are very different from her own (for example, she could enjoy a book about a male teenager with a disability, but a male adult with lovers and children and a job, like Diving Bell and the Butterfly, would be so uninteresting to her, although I know there are some 13 year olds who would get a lot out of that particular book).
She also isn't a huge reader (which is why I'm so desperate to find a book related to a topic she's been expressing a lot of interest in), although she's not really anti-reading either. Non-fiction would be okay, but she engages more with fiction. Graphic novels would be great, too.
Books she's enjoyed in the past are The Outsiders, Number the Stars (but she disliked The Giver), and True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. She got frustrated with Harry Potter (too many characters and plots) and hated the first Twilight novel.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
posted by ooklala at 6:31 PM on December 11, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by ooklala at 6:31 PM on December 11, 2011 [3 favorites]
Deenie by Judy Blume. In addition to the scoliosis storyline, it contains the usual Judy Blume "good parts" which might be tricksy given that you are not the parent. I'd be fine for a mentor to give it to my kid, but YMMV. Details in the link.
posted by apparently at 6:45 PM on December 11, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by apparently at 6:45 PM on December 11, 2011 [4 favorites]
Mine For Keeps, about a girl with cerebral palsy, was a favorite of mine when I was a kid.
posted by janepanic at 6:47 PM on December 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by janepanic at 6:47 PM on December 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
It's not YA but John Hockenberry's Moving Violations. John is a para. NPR reporter who is like the most kick-ass disabled man in the universe.
When I say that it is not YA, I mean that he describes a situation where he went to surprise his gf by hiding under her bed, only to have her bring another guy home and they fuck on the bed he's hiding under. Being paralyzed, it wasn't a situation he could extricate himself from easily.
If she/you are cool with that bit, then I highly recommend it. He followed the Kurdish (?) refugees out of Iraq during Gulf War I. On a donkey. Not drinking, because there were no sanitary conditions to cath.
He is stone cold awesome.
posted by angrycat at 6:53 PM on December 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
When I say that it is not YA, I mean that he describes a situation where he went to surprise his gf by hiding under her bed, only to have her bring another guy home and they fuck on the bed he's hiding under. Being paralyzed, it wasn't a situation he could extricate himself from easily.
If she/you are cool with that bit, then I highly recommend it. He followed the Kurdish (?) refugees out of Iraq during Gulf War I. On a donkey. Not drinking, because there were no sanitary conditions to cath.
He is stone cold awesome.
posted by angrycat at 6:53 PM on December 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
I was always the kid who asked my parents to tell me bedtime stories about the girl who had no mouth or the boy who had no ears. You might have a lot of luck checking library lists for "reluctant readers"--books that have a high interest levels form the get-go--and then trying to narrow down to books that loosely have to do with disabilities. The group that does a lot of reading lists in the young adult library world is called YALSA and they have a lock on this googleable term. So a few examples that might be helpful.
- This Middle School Reluctant Readers includes books like Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie about a kid whose younger brother develops leukemia, Freak the Mighty about two young men with disabilities (one mental, one physical) go on adventures, Phineas Gage about the Vermont man who had a brain injury and a personality change and Tangerine about a kid who can't see, but is very perceptive.
- The Schneider Family Book Award - for books about the disability experience for child and YA audience including books like The Deaf Musicians by Pete Seeger, Reaching for Sun about a teenage girl with cerebral palsy and Waiting for Normal about a girl with an unstable family battling dyslexia.
- Images and Issues Beyond the Dominant: Including Diversity in Your Graphic Novel Collection - this is a booklist from a conference session (pdf) which is very title heavy but is all graphic novels and includes a few other places to look for more titles.
The books I read when I was a kid seem a little dated now but Flowers for Algernon might still be interesting
posted by jessamyn at 6:56 PM on December 11, 2011 [4 favorites]
- This Middle School Reluctant Readers includes books like Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie about a kid whose younger brother develops leukemia, Freak the Mighty about two young men with disabilities (one mental, one physical) go on adventures, Phineas Gage about the Vermont man who had a brain injury and a personality change and Tangerine about a kid who can't see, but is very perceptive.
- The Schneider Family Book Award - for books about the disability experience for child and YA audience including books like The Deaf Musicians by Pete Seeger, Reaching for Sun about a teenage girl with cerebral palsy and Waiting for Normal about a girl with an unstable family battling dyslexia.
- Images and Issues Beyond the Dominant: Including Diversity in Your Graphic Novel Collection - this is a booklist from a conference session (pdf) which is very title heavy but is all graphic novels and includes a few other places to look for more titles.
The books I read when I was a kid seem a little dated now but Flowers for Algernon might still be interesting
posted by jessamyn at 6:56 PM on December 11, 2011 [4 favorites]
When she's older/if she gets way more interested in disability issues, it might be worth finding her a copy of Susan Schweik's The Ugly Laws. A really interesting look at disability in public in the US in the early 1900s (mostly). I wouldn't recommend it for a 13-year-old who isn't a big reader, but if she's still interested in this stuff in a few years, it would be close to the top of my list.
posted by naturalog at 7:10 PM on December 11, 2011
posted by naturalog at 7:10 PM on December 11, 2011
Oh, oh, oh, and Marcelo in the Real World.
posted by naturalog at 7:12 PM on December 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by naturalog at 7:12 PM on December 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper is about an 11-year-old with cerebral palsy who is incredibly gifted but has no way to communicate. The book tells how she finds a voice and what happens when she uses it, and it is fantastic. Be warned though that it contains one of the most terrible, crushing blows I have come across in a piece of fiction, young adult or otherwise.
Karen by Marie Killilea is nonfiction, but reads like a novel. It has been out of print for a long time and is really rather schmaltzy, but I loved it when I was 10.
posted by Flannery Culp at 7:13 PM on December 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
Karen by Marie Killilea is nonfiction, but reads like a novel. It has been out of print for a long time and is really rather schmaltzy, but I loved it when I was 10.
posted by Flannery Culp at 7:13 PM on December 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
Based on your description of her reading level and liks/dislikes, she might enjoy The Secret Garden, though it's not at all realistic.
posted by Mchelly at 7:14 PM on December 11, 2011
posted by Mchelly at 7:14 PM on December 11, 2011
The Crazy-Horse Electric Game by Chris Crutcher is a YA book about a teenager coming to terms with his disabilities after an accident.
I'm also quite fond of Jean Little's books, From Anna and Listen for the Singing, about blindness.
Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsberg is about a boy who basically has been struck dumb. He has to figure out how to get his voice back and begin speaking again.
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: The Diary of Bess Brennan, The Perkins School for the Blind, 1932 (Dear America Series) should give her some ideas as well.
Some of my favorite books are Hilary McKay's Casson Family books, which include a character in a wheelchair. She's pretty matter-a-fact about what she can and can't do, and sometimes her disabilities make her angry (though more often it's that people ignore them or her), but her disabilities aren't the point of any of the books, just part of the background of their lives. The first book in the series is Saffy's Angel.
posted by Margalo Epps at 7:21 PM on December 11, 2011
I'm also quite fond of Jean Little's books, From Anna and Listen for the Singing, about blindness.
Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsberg is about a boy who basically has been struck dumb. He has to figure out how to get his voice back and begin speaking again.
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: The Diary of Bess Brennan, The Perkins School for the Blind, 1932 (Dear America Series) should give her some ideas as well.
Some of my favorite books are Hilary McKay's Casson Family books, which include a character in a wheelchair. She's pretty matter-a-fact about what she can and can't do, and sometimes her disabilities make her angry (though more often it's that people ignore them or her), but her disabilities aren't the point of any of the books, just part of the background of their lives. The first book in the series is Saffy's Angel.
posted by Margalo Epps at 7:21 PM on December 11, 2011
Er, make that Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay. (And these should all be within her reading level.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 7:23 PM on December 11, 2011
posted by Margalo Epps at 7:23 PM on December 11, 2011
Best answer: My younger stepdaughter read Cynthia Lord's Rules at age 10 or so, and really enjoyed it. I know your mentee is older--but I also read Rules, because I often do read the girls' books to keep up with them, and I liked it a lot. The protagonist is a 12-year-old girl who does not have a disability but has a younger brother who is autistic, and develops a close friendship with a boy who is a nonverbal paraplegic.
posted by dlugoczaj at 7:32 PM on December 11, 2011
posted by dlugoczaj at 7:32 PM on December 11, 2011
Johnny Tremaine? Johnny is an apprentice silversmith in Boston before the REvolutionary War. He loses the use of one of his hands after a bad burn, so after a series of adventures trying to find a way to make a living with only one hand, he becomes a reporter for a local newspaper at the beginning of the revolution.
posted by elizeh at 7:42 PM on December 11, 2011
posted by elizeh at 7:42 PM on December 11, 2011
Also:
Children's & Young Adult Books About Disabilities
Great Characters with Disabilities in YA and MG
Disability Books: Reads for Teens: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Poetry
Children's Books About Disabilities: Young Adult
posted by collectallfour at 7:51 PM on December 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
Children's & Young Adult Books About Disabilities
Great Characters with Disabilities in YA and MG
Disability Books: Reads for Teens: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Poetry
Children's Books About Disabilities: Young Adult
posted by collectallfour at 7:51 PM on December 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
Oh man, I read Flowers for Algernon when I was about that age and it was the first book I cried in. It's a great idea.
posted by hepta at 7:56 PM on December 11, 2011
posted by hepta at 7:56 PM on December 11, 2011
Best answer: Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John -- a Deaf teen girl becomes the manager of a rock band at her high school.
I will second Rules by Cynthia Lord and Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork.
posted by Jeanne at 8:24 PM on December 11, 2011
I will second Rules by Cynthia Lord and Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork.
posted by Jeanne at 8:24 PM on December 11, 2011
I thought of another. If she's interested in Dyslexia, the Percy Jackson series does a great job that. Heroes (that is, children of humans and gods) are all dyslexic, because magic doesn't interact well with reading. (Also, the books are all a lot of fun and just swoop through the story at movie speed.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 9:55 PM on December 11, 2011
posted by Margalo Epps at 9:55 PM on December 11, 2011
Since she's the same age as the author was when he wrote it, she might like Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome.
posted by Coobeastie at 12:32 AM on December 12, 2011
posted by Coobeastie at 12:32 AM on December 12, 2011
Line Gamache's graphic novel Hello, Me Pretty is based on the author's memories of growing up with a cognitively disabled younger sister. There's all kinds of interesting social and cultural history woven into the narrative--it's set in Quebec during a period of political upheaval--but it can also be read as a fairly straightforward and sympathetic story about how people react to difference, and how families can support each other through difficult times. It's not written as a YA book specifically, but I think it is appropriate for a 13 year old in terms of reading and interest levels.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:43 AM on December 12, 2011
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:43 AM on December 12, 2011
I second Five Flavours of Dumb. Absolute best book I read last year. A lot of fun and rock and roll and family issues and i just loved it.
posted by geek anachronism at 3:05 AM on December 12, 2011
posted by geek anachronism at 3:05 AM on December 12, 2011
Re: apparently's recommendation of Deenie...please keep in mind that Deenie (while a great book) was written in the early 1970's - the images of women and their possibilites in life are very dated (the discussion of Deenie and her sister and their mother's desires for their respective futures are particularly problematic circa 2011, even though this is a book by Judy Blume).
More importantly in your case, the way Deenie's disability (severe scoliosis) is portrayed is seriously out of date, and could be scary for a teenager who who combines a modern understanding of how common scoliosis actually is with its depiction in Deenie as a disfiguring, future-blighting condition requiring a huge prosthesis - i know it was for me, and the book was much more recent when I read it at age 12.
posted by Wylla at 5:38 AM on December 12, 2011
More importantly in your case, the way Deenie's disability (severe scoliosis) is portrayed is seriously out of date, and could be scary for a teenager who who combines a modern understanding of how common scoliosis actually is with its depiction in Deenie as a disfiguring, future-blighting condition requiring a huge prosthesis - i know it was for me, and the book was much more recent when I read it at age 12.
posted by Wylla at 5:38 AM on December 12, 2011
When I was her age, I very much enjoyed Red Sky in the Morning, about a girl whose younger brother has hydrocephalus.
More recently, I read The White Darkness and loved it, although I'm a good bit older than the target age. It's about a fourteen-year-old girl who is deaf and fascinated by Antarctica and Captain Oates, her imaginary friend. The plot is a deft combination of mystery and death-defying adventure; the backstory is built up piece-by-piece, though, which might make it a little confusing for a weaker reader.
posted by daisyk at 6:43 AM on December 12, 2011
More recently, I read The White Darkness and loved it, although I'm a good bit older than the target age. It's about a fourteen-year-old girl who is deaf and fascinated by Antarctica and Captain Oates, her imaginary friend. The plot is a deft combination of mystery and death-defying adventure; the backstory is built up piece-by-piece, though, which might make it a little confusing for a weaker reader.
posted by daisyk at 6:43 AM on December 12, 2011
So many of my favorites have been mentioned. Definitely seconding Karen.
I also enjoyed books by and about Helen Keller, and Josh Greenfeld's books about autistic son Noah.
I also devoured Torey Hayden's books. She was a teacher of emotionally disturbed kids. Again, there are some intense parts (one child is raped by her uncle with aid of a knife, another is scalded) but I could handle it when I was 12.
posted by Riverine at 7:45 AM on December 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
I also enjoyed books by and about Helen Keller, and Josh Greenfeld's books about autistic son Noah.
I also devoured Torey Hayden's books. She was a teacher of emotionally disturbed kids. Again, there are some intense parts (one child is raped by her uncle with aid of a knife, another is scalded) but I could handle it when I was 12.
posted by Riverine at 7:45 AM on December 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
My son's 6th grade class just read A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass. It's about a girl who has Synesthesia. He really enjoyed it, and was moved by it, too.
posted by Biblio at 6:54 PM on December 12, 2011
posted by Biblio at 6:54 PM on December 12, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Blindsided
posted by plinth at 6:29 PM on December 11, 2011