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Books for Middle School Students that show people with disabilities in a positive light

By Mara Kaplan

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 20Dec2009 Word count: 770 Viewed: 223 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Here is a list of books for middle school students that have at least one character with a disability. All of the characters with disabilities are portrayed in a positive light. There are characters who have autism, down syndrome, intellectual disabilities, visual impairments, hearing impairments, speech delays, dyslexia, spina bifida, synesthesia and who use a wheelchair.

The list was created using the winners of the Dolly Gray Award and the Schneider Family Book Award and lists compiled by Sandy Lahmann, Cherl Pesto at Disaboom and Mary Anne Prater & Tina Taylor Dyches from Teaching Exceptional Children.

* Hank Zipzer Series, Henry Winkler, Lin Oliver/Jesse Joshua Watson--Inspired by his own experiences with undiagnosed dyslexia, actor/director Henry Winkler presents this series about the high-spirited and funny adventures of a fourth-grader with learning differences.

* The View from Saturday, E. L. Konigsburg--Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who chooses them to represent their class in the Academic Bowl competition

* And Don't Bring Jeremy, Marilyn Levinson--Moving to a new neighborhood is difficult, but Adam Krasner has the additional burden of dealing with Jeremy, his neurologically impaired brother, who can't seem to do anything right.

* Rules, Cynthia Lord--Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. The summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising, new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

* Becoming Naomi Leon, Pam Munoz Ryan--When Naomi's absent mother resurfaces to claim her, Naomi runs away to Mexico with her great-grandmother and younger brother in search of her father.

* Things Not Seen, Andrew Clements--When Bobby wakes up and finds himself invisible, he and his parents and his new blind friend Alicia try to find out what caused his condition and how to reverse it.

* Me and Rupert Goody, Barbara O'Connor--Jennalee is jealous when a slow-thinking black man arrives in her Smoky Mountains community and claims to be the son of Uncle Beau, the owner of the general store and Jennalee's only friend.

* Flying Solo, Ralph Fletcher--Rachel, having chosen to be mute following the sudden death of a classmate, shares responsibility with the other sixth-graders who decide not to report that the substitute teacher failed to show up.

* Freak the Mighty, Rodman Philbrick and W.R. Philbrick--At the beginning of eighth grade, learning disabled Max and his new friend Freak, whose birth defect has affected his body but not his brilliant mind, find that when they combine forces they make a powerful team.

* Al Capone Does My Shirts, Gennifer Choldenko--Moose Flanagan and his family, including his 15-year-old sister, Natalie, who has autistic-like characteristics, move to Alcatraz in 1935 so that his father can work as a prison guard and Natalie can attend a special school. However, the school does not allow Natalie to attend until Moose and the prison warden's daughter seek help from an unlikely source-the most notorious criminal on the island, Al Capone.

* Tru Confessions, Janet Tashjian--Computer-literate, twelve-year-old Tru keeps an electronic diary where she documents her desire to cure her handicapped twin brother and her plan to create a television show.

* Reaching for Sun, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer--even if Josie wants to forget that she was born with a disability, her mom can't seem to let it go. Yet when a strange new boy—Jordan—moves into one of the houses nearby, he seems oblivious to all the things that make Josie different.

* Mango-shaped Space, Wendy Mass--Mia Winchell has synesthesia, the mingling of perceptions whereby a person can see sounds, smell colors, or taste shapes. Forced to reveal her condition, she must look to herself to develop an understanding and appreciation of her gift in this coming-of-age novel.

* Waiting for Normal, Leslie Connor--Addie has spent most of her twelve years “waiting for normal,” a stable family and a real home. Connor’s resilient heroine uses humor, creativity and her “love of learning” to compensate for her dyslexia. Through music and good friends, Addie discovers that she can accomplish anything.

* So B. It, Sarah Weeks--From the bestselling author of "Regular Guy" comes a novel about a young girl living in Reno with her mentally disabled mother who, haunted by a mysterious word in her mother's 23-word vocabulary, embarks on a cross-country journey

* Westing Game, Ellen Raskin--The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.

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