Biblio File

Celebrating the ADA

2015 marks the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This landmark legislation prohibits discrimination against people with physical or mental impairments, and it changed the lives of millions of people around the world.

NYPL will be celebrating with a special event, People with Disabilities as Creators and Agents of Change, on Saturday, July 25, at the Mid-Manhattan Library.

And in honor of its anniversary, we asked our expert NYPL staff, “What’s your favorite book that features a protagonist with a disability, and why do you like it?”

(Note: In this list, we’re marking each title with its catalog number to show availability in digital talkingbook [DB] and braille [BR] formats for patrons with print disabilities. Titles are available by mail, online, or through an app for eligible individuals. For more information, see the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library.)

Children

Out of My Mind

I love love love Sharon Draper’s Out of My Mind. Melody proves to the school that she is the smartest kid in class, even though she cannot speak, walk, or write.  Not only does she find a voice and emerge triumphant, but Draper avoids the obvious saccharine ending. DB 71173 —Rebecca Donsky, 67th Street

 

 

 

 

Wonder

Wonder by R.J. Palacio is in my top ten favorite books of all time. Palacio switches narrators every few chapters, authentically capturing the voices of grade school boys and girls and teenagers and parents.  This formula culminates in a circle of love around the main character, and while he will never be “ordinary” in the way he longs to be at the beginning of the book, by the end we feel confident he has a strong bench of love and humor that will help him to forge his way in the world. BR 20338, DB 74228 —Lynn Lobash, Readers Services

 

 

 

Hurt Go Happy

Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby. Reading lips is hard, and Joey has struggled with it since she was six.  Men with mustaches and people who mumble are the worst! Joey’s world suddenly opens up when an elderly neighbor begins teaching her sign language. BR 17668, DB 64465 —Louise Lareau, Children’s Center

 

 

 

 

El Deafo

El Deafo by Cece Bell is the sweet true story of a young girl with a hearing impairment who imagines that her hearing device gives her superpowers.  Told in a graphic novel form, this book is aimed at children, but it’s great for readers of all ages. —Lauren Bradley, George Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

One-Handed Catch

One-Handed Catch by Mary Jane Auch. It’s 1946, and Norman has lost his hand in a meat grinder in his father’s butcher’s shop. He keeps his sense of humor as he learns how to do things, such as play baseball, with one hand. DB 64853 —Louise Lareau, Children’s Center

 

 

 

 

 

A Corner of the Universe

A Corner of the Universe is the story of a young girl named Hattie who spends the summer with her estranged uncle Adam, who is described only as ‘mentally disabled.’ It’s about connecting with family and pushing the boundaries of your own understanding, and it really brings some adult-like emotional processing to a child-accessible book. BR 16894, DB 55807—Alessandra Affinito, Chatham Square

 

 

 

 

So B. It

So B. It by Sarah Weeks. When people ask or stare, Heidi simply says her mom has a “dumb” brain, and she has only 23 words in her vocabulary. Heidi has always wondered about her extended family, but she had no way of finding out the answers until she finds a small camera hidden in a drawer. DB 58658 —Louise Lareau, Children’s Center

 

 

 

Young Adult

Reason I Jump

The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida, translated by David Mitchell and KA Yoshida. In a disability rights movement that rightly proclaims “nothing about us without us,” I wish there were more voices from the autism spectrum, and more young people with disabilities speaking from their present experiences. It’s refreshing to read about this young author’s life with autism at a time when he is probably still deciding what it all means. It’s also a remarkable collaboration between a Japanese-speaking teen and an English translator who is also a parent of someone on the spectrum. Partnerships between generations, and between people with disabilities and their advocate-allies, are vital to building a future that empowers us all. DB 77650 —Chancey Fleet, Andrew Heiskell

 

Running Dream

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen. Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She’s not comforted by the news that she’ll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run?  I like this book because it brings together three things in life that are near and dear to me: running, disability, and the power of resilience. BR 19489, DB 73998 —Nefertiti Matos, Andrew Heiskell

 

 

 

 

Girls Like Us

There’s a simple beauty in Girls Like Us, by Gail Giles, which finds two recent graduates of a special education program placed together in their first independent apartment and learning to navigate the world on their own. Told in alternating narratives, we get their unique voices: the trusting Biddy and the angry, defiant Quincy. We see them struggle, fight, bond and learn to operate in the scary new world they inhabit. It sheds light on the rich inner lives of people who often live just outside of mainstream society. It won a 2014 Schneider Family Book Award and was on NYPL’s Best Books for Teens 2014 list. BR 20605, DB 80270 —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street

 

 

Mango-Shaped Space

Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award, Wendy Maas’s A Mango-Shaped Space was my first introduction to the fascinating neurological phenomenon of synesthesia. This unique condition allows our 13-year-old protagonist, Mia, to “see” sounds, letters, numbers, and shapes. Mia shows us just how frustrating, challenging, and beautiful the world is through her senses. Sure to leave you ending up on Google searching for more stories on synesthesia! BRC00737, DB 56666 —Anna Taylor, Children’s Programming

 

 

 

Stoner Spaz

Ron Koertge’s Stoner and Spaz is a telling portrayal of high school life and which describes with frankness, humor, and honesty a powerful and touching relationship between the wild, music-crazy, “bad girl” of the school (Stoner) and a male student with cerebral palsy and a love of (obsession with) cinema (Spaz).  Each character opens the other to new ways of thinking and new areas of interest and their lives are changed forever as a result of this unpredictable relationship.  One of Koertge’s best and an incredibly fast read that is always engaging. DB 55396 —Jeffrey Katz, Chatham Square

 

 

Butterfly Clues

The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison. Penelope, aka “Lo,” suffers from OCD. She’s drawn to multiples of the number three, repeats the word “banana” for security, and steals things that she hoards and carefully organizes in her attic bedroom. These compulsions intensified after her older brother died, as did her habit of roaming into the seedier neighborhoods of Cleveland. One day, while roaming, she learns that a girl she knows was murdered nearby and discovers some of the dead girl’s jewelry at a flea market. Lo becomes determined to find the killer, which pulls her into underworld of strip clubs, drugs, and crime and also introduces her to a young street artist who offers to help. Along with the twisty mystery and fast-placed story, Ellison includes wonderfully written passages that take you inside Lo’s mind so you see just how it works and how it helps her put the clues together. BRC01482 —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street

OCD Love Story

I’m recommending two young adult novels that incorporate obsessive-compulsive disorder and romance. In OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu, the main characters meet during a blackout, and Bea is able to help Beck with his panic attack because she’s experienced them before. And in The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten, Adam falls in love with Robyn the moment she walks into his OCD support group. Both of these books helped me begin to understand just how challenging it would be to live with obsessive-compulsive disorder. DB 77154 —Andrea Lipinski, Kingsbridge

 

 

Izzy Willy-Nilly

As a person with a disability, this is a loaded question for me, so my response is longer than usual.  I actually don’t tend to read very many books with disabled protagonists, because I frankly, have never found myself in one.  I remember applauding Cynthia Voigt for Izzy Willy-Nilly, about a girl who loses her leg after a horrific car crash, because she did not take the easy way out and have Izzy become homecoming queen at the end. But, if I am being really honest, the disabled character I relate to most is on TV: House, because he never talks about being “lucky” or “fine” with being disabled.  Mostly, he shows that it is really painful and affects almost every aspect of one’s life, and he is OK with people knowing it sucks. For all these reasons, and because he is both scary smart and brutally sarcastic, he is my hero. DB 24508.  —Ronni Krasnow, Morningside Heights

 

Adult Memoir and Nonfiction

Blind Rage

Blind Rage: Letters to Helen Keller by Georgina Kleege. I grew up resenting Helen Keller for being so ubiquitous that, in some people’s minds, she became a symbol of all blind people. I sat through my high school’s production of The Miracle Worker in a sustained, 90-minute full-body cringe. Georgina Kleege’s letters put words to some of my earliest reactions to popular narratives about Keller, and have helped me to realize that the legacy any of us leaves is not necessarily one that we choose. She interrogates Helen Keller’s legacy, responds to the depiction of Keller as a saint and an object of rehabilitation, and imagines the untold stories and unexamined details of Keller’s private affairs and inner life. BR 16939, DB 63900 —Chancey Fleet, Andrew Heiskell

 

Laughing at My Nightmare

Laughing at My Nightmare is a memoir written by Shane Burcaw that is truly incredible. Shane is 21 and has been confined to his wheelchair since he was a child because of spinal muscular atrophy. He relies on his family and friends to do simple things like take him to bed and help him in the bathroom. The book is filled with cursing, first encounters with alcohol, romantic desires, and other teenage affairs; it is also an eye-opener to a life-threatening disease, facing adversity, and the hardships of one young man, laughing in the face of his adversity. BR 20816, DB 81567 —Kimberly Bullock, Bronx Library Center

 

 

 

Long Run

“Everything moved easily. A transit strike was crippling New York, but at that hour you wouldn’t have known it in this slice of the city. I stayed along the curb and pedaled, one more workout ahead of me, one more day of work, one more party tonight. Things were going according to plan. In no time at all, I’d be at the Rock. A second later, I disappeared.” In The Long Run, a veteran firefighter and long-distance athlete stirringly chronicles his transformative journey before and after a life-changing bike accident.  —Miriam Tuliao, BookOps

 

 

 

Unquiet Mind

An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison is a fantastic, unflinching memoir of the professor, researcher, and psychiatrist author's own black holes and manias of manic depression. I recommend the book for clearly showing what it was like inside her head in a compelling and compassionate way, and how she succeeded. I think many readers also appreciate how a successful scientist suffering from psychiatric mood issues illustrates that it's just not about logic. BR 18295, DB 43477 —Jill Rothstein, Andrew Heiskell

 

 

 

Know the Night

Know the Night: A Memoir of Survival in the Small Hours by Maria Mutch is a hypnotic story that explores the isolation that comes with parenting a child with a disability. She focuses on the two-year period in which her son, Gabriel, who is autistic and has Down’s Syndrome, barely slept. You feel tired and sleep-deprived and as if you are floating along with her in this strange world where day and night have been turned upside down. Jazz is the remedy that sometimes soothes Gabriel, while Maria stays sane by reading the journals of Arctic explorer Admiral Richard Byrd and his solitary experiences with the long Antarctic winter of endless night. She weaves her story with Admiral Byrd’s and Gabriel’s into an eloquent and beautiful retelling of two tortuous years. —Maura Muller, Volunteer Office

 

Buddha Borderline

I was very impressed with the honest, engaging, and sympathetic narrative in the memoir The Buddha and the Borderline by Kiera Van Gelder. In portraying her experience with a difficult and often maligned disorder, she author shows herself in all her flaws and missteps, and then we get to watch the twisty but hopeful way out. It's nice to read about people whose lives are as messy as the real humans you know, and who work it out, but only mostly, and not in a saccharine perfect way. Kudos to her. —Jill Rothstein, Andrew Heiskell

 

 

 

Born on a Blue Day

I loved Daniel Tammet’s memoir Born on a Blue Day. Tammet is an autistic savant who also experiences synesthesia. He chronicles growing up and learning about himself with dry humor and clarity, detailing the many high and low points of his childhood and early adulthood. I originally read this book for a poetry class assignment, but it quickly became one of my favorite memoirs. DB 63862 —Alexandria Abenshon, Countee Cullen

 

 

 

 

epileptic

Epileptic, a graphic novel by David B., is an autobiographical tale of one boy’s experiences growing up with an epileptic sibling. With an art style that captures the personal struggle of dealing with the invisible, this is an intimate rendering of family, love, and losing battles. —Daniel Norton, Mid-Manhattan

 

 

 

Adult Fiction

Curious Incident

My all-time favorite is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. While giving profound insight into the operations of one person’s autistic mind, it highlights how brilliant that mind can be. BR 15215, DB 56893 —Jean Harripersaud, Bronx Library Center

 

 

 

 

Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. In this 1960s classic, Ken Kesey’s hero is Randle Patrick McMurphy, a boisterous, brawling, fun-loving rebel who swaggers into the world of a mental hospital and takes over. A lusty, life-affirming paranoid schizophrenic, McMurphy rallies the other patients around him by challenging the dictatorship of Nurse Ratched. He promotes gambling in the ward, smuggles in wine and women, and openly defies the rules at every turn. But this defiance, which starts as a sport, soon develops into a grim struggle, an all-out war between two relentless opponents. BR 12698, DB56351—Nefertiti Matos, Andrew Heiskell

 

 

 

Motherless Brooklyn

Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn. It’s a thrilling literary mystery told from the perspective Lionel Essrog, a self-described “freakshow with Tourette’s.” This twisty-turny novel is packed with gangsters, yogis, tough New Yorkers, and plenty of love and murder. Lionel’s disability gets him into trouble just as much as it keeps him out of it, and it makes for a really fun read—especially if you like books that play around with language in creative and challenging ways. DB 49231 —Nancy Aravecz, Mid-Manhattan

 

 

 

Xenocide

The “godspoken” in Orson Scott Card’s Xenocide (the sequel to Ender’s Game) are humans with genetically engineered super-intelligence. They suffer from debilitating obsessive-compulsive disorder as they seek the truth behind a missing star fleet sent to wipe out the world of Lusitania. BRC00247, DB 34265—Joshua Soule, Spuyten Duyvil

 

 

 

 

 

Lock In

Lock In by John Scalzi. I’ve always reveled in the power of speculative fiction to carry current trends forward into strange territory. Lock In explores the idea that any tool can be used for liberation or for mayhem; essentially, it’s a story about assistive technology turned deadly. It also explores the definition of disability, and the idea that some accommodations of disability can become so desirable that nondisabled people covet them. I loved this book for being so believably set in a near-future whose politics, language around disability, and struggles with the use of technology are eerily close to our own. Minor spoiler alert: When you get to the end of this book, ask yourself whether Chris is a man or a woman. Then Google it! DB 79538 —Chancey Fleet, Andrew Heiskell

 

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your picks! Leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend.

Comments

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The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

One of my favorite novels featuring a disabled protagonist is Carson McCullers’ “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter”. What an extraordinary literary debut. As would be the hallmark of so much of her writing, here McCullers describes the struggles of disenfranchised, oppressed, and misunderstood peoples using gorgeously heart-wrenching language. Her writing is magnificent. The homo-erotic undertones are provocative – not just for the year of its publication (1940) but yet today.