Celebrating Disability Pride Month With Books for All Ages
Thank you to NYPL staff who contributed to this list including Alexandria Abenshon, Joy Hariprasad, Alex Kohn, Erica Parker, Jill Rothstein, Eva Shapiro, Laura Stein, Emily Wejchert, and Sue Yee.
Welcome to the second Pride Month of the summer—Disability Pride Month! Celebrated in July to commemorate the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law in July, 1990, it's a time to celebrate people with disabilities which is roughly 15% of the world’s population and 1 in 4 Americans. Not every disability is visible or obvious and anyone of any age can be disabled.
Growing up, many of us didn't have books that reflected our lives as disabled people, and the ones we did have were not written by someone who was actually part of the disabled community. Thankfully, this is slowly changing.
Maybe you yourself are disabled and want to finally see yourself in the books you read; maybe someone you love is disabled and you want to learn more to meet them where they are; maybe you’ve realized that you’ve never read a book by a disabled author and want to change that; or maybe you just want a book that reflects the diversity of the world around you. This booklist spans all age groups, genres, and formats, from children’s picture books and teen novels to adult poetry, nonfiction, memoirs, and more.
Happy Disability Pride Month and happy reading!
Kids
Can I Play Too? by Samantha Cotterill
Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson; illustrations by Sean Qualls
I Talk Like a River words by Jordan Scott; illustrations by Sydney Smith
print | e-audiobook | talking book
I Will Dance by Nancy Bo Flood; illustrations by Julianna Swaney
Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You by Sonia Sotomayor; illustrations by Rafael López
print | e-book | talking book
King for a Day by Rukhsana Khan; illustrations by Christiane Krömer
My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay by Cari Best; illustrations by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Temple Grandin by Lyn Miller-Lachmann; interior illustrations by Gillian Flint
We Move Together by Kelly Fritsch and Anne McGuire; illustrations by Eduardo Trejos
When Charley Met Emma by Amy Webb; illustrations by Merrilee Liddiard
Middle Grade
El Deafo by Cece Bell; color by David Lasky
Ellen Outside the Lines by A. J. Sass
print | e-book | e-audiobook | talking book | Bookshare
Fifty Four Things Wrong With Gwendolyn Rogers by Caela Carter
print | e-book | e-audiobook
Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen by Sarah Kapit
print |e-book | talking book | Bookshare
Lila and Hadley by Kody Keplinger
print | e-book | talking book | Bookshare
Normal: One Kid's Extraordinary Story (Young Reader's Edition) by Magdalena and Nathaniel Newman with Hilary Liftin; illustrations by Neil Swaab
print | e-book | braille | talking book | Bookshare
OCDaniel by Wesley King
print | e-book | talking book | Bookshare
Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
print | large print | e-book | e-audiobook | talking book | Bookshare
Roll With It by Jamie Sumner
print | e-audiobook | large print | talking book | Bookshare
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez
print | e-book | e-audiobook | braille | talking book
Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte
print | e-book | e-audiobook | braille | talking book
Stuntboy, in the Meantime by Jason Reynolds
print | e-book | audiobook | e-audiobook | braille | talking book | Bookshare
Teens
Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester
Disability Visibility (Adapted for Young Adults): 17 First-Person Stories for Today edited by Alice Wong
print | e-book | e-audiobook | braille (adult version) | talking book (adult version) | Bookshare
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
print | e-book | e-audiobook | talking book
The Memory of Light by Francisco X Stork
print | e-audiobook | talking book
The Many Half Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor
On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis
print | e-book | talking book | Bookshare
One for All by Lillie Lainoff
print | e-book | e-audiobook | Bookshare
The Reckless Kind by Carly Heath
print | e-book | e-audiobook | Bookshare
Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz
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The Words in My Hands by Asphyxia
print | e-book | braille | talking book | Bookshare
Adult
About Us: Essays From the Disability Series of the New York Times edited by Peter Catapano & Rosemarie Garland-Thomson
print | e-audiobook | braille | talking book | Bookshare
Demystifying Disability by Emily Ladau
print | e-book | braille | talking book | Bookshare
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
print | e-book | e-audiobook | braille | talking book | Bookshare
The Perseverance by Raymond Antrobus
Places I've Taken My Body: Essays by Molly McCully Brown
print | braille | talking book | Bookshare
The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love With Me by Keah Brown
print | e-book | e-audiobook
Resistance and Hope by Alice Wong
There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness by M. Leona Godin
print | e-book | e-audiobook | braille | talking book | Bookshare