Miscellaneous

Disability Pride Month

Posted onAuthorCrystal

For Disability Pride Month we gathered a few titles that we have enjoyed and/or hope to read in the near future. If you know of others that shouldn’t be missed, please let us know in the comments.

Three young people are sitting near water. There is a large sun above them. They are wearing short and have long dark hair. One has light colored skin and the other two have brown skin. The background is pink. The Secret Summer Promise by Keah Brown
Levine Querido

THE BSE (Best Summer Ever) LIST!

1. Blueberries
2. Art show in ShoeHorn
3. Lizzo concert
4. Thrift shop pop-up
5. Skinny Dipping at the lake house
6. Amusement Park Day!
7. Drew Barrymarathon
8. Paintball day

Oh, and ….

9. Fall out of love with Hailee

Andrea Williams has got this. The Best Summer Ever. Two summers ago, she spent all her time in bed, recovering from the latest surgery for her cerebral palsy. She’s waited too long for adventure and thrills to enter her life. Together with her crew of ride-or-die friends, and the best parents anyone could ask for (just don’t tell them that), she’s going to live it up.

There’s just one thing that could ruin it: Her best friend, Hailee, finding out Andrea’s true feelings. So Andrea WILL fall out of love with Hailee – even if it means dating the cute boy George who keeps showing up everywhere with a smile.

Do we want Andrea to succeed? No! Does she? We’re not telling!

Cover for Breathe and Count Back From Ten. Young woman is swimming through water wearing a swimsuit. Scars are visible on her back. Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester
Clarion Books

In this gorgeously written and authentic novel, Verónica, a Peruvian-American teen with hip dysplasia, auditions to become a mermaid at a Central Florida theme park in the summer before her senior year, all while figuring out her first real boyfriend and how to feel safe in her own body.

Verónica has had many surgeries to manage her disability. The best form of rehabilitation is swimming, so she spends hours in the pool, but not just to strengthen her body.

Her Florida town is home to Mermaid Cove, a kitschy underwater attraction where professional mermaids perform in giant tanks . . . and Verónica wants to audition. But her conservative Peruvian parents would never go for it. And they definitely would never let her be with Alex, her cute new neighbor.

She decides it’s time to seize control of her life, but her plans come crashing down when she learns her parents have been hiding the truth from her—the truth about her own body.

Four brightly dressed young people are leaning toward each other and staring out at the viewer. The one in the back has a hot pink beanie on and long dark hair and brown skin. The one on the right has short curly hair, brown skin, and is wearing a hot pink shirt, glasses, and gold hoop earrings. The one in the cent at the front is wearing a read tank with pink squiggly lines running vertically. She has a dark bob and lighter skin. The final person on the left has green hair, fair skin, and is wearing hot pink pants and a purple t-shirt with a small hot pink skull and crossbones image.The Luis Ortega Survival Club by Sonora Reyes
Balzer + Bray

Ariana Ruiz wants to be noticed. But as an autistic girl who never talks, she goes largely ignored by her peers, despite her bold fashion choices. So when cute, popular Luis starts to pay attention to her, Ari finally feels seen.

Luis’s attention soon turns to something more, and they have sex at a party—while Ari didn’t say no, she definitely didn’t say yes. Before she has a chance to process what happened and decide if she even has the right to be mad at Luis, the rumor mill begins churning—thanks, she’s sure, to Luis’s ex-girlfriend, Shawni. Boys at school now see Ari as an easy target, someone who won’t say no.

Then Ari finds a mysterious note in her locker that eventually leads her to a group of students determined to expose Luis for the predator he is. To her surprise, she finds genuine friendship among the group, including her growing feelings for the very last girl she expected to fall for. But in order to take Luis down, she’ll have to come to terms with the truth of what he did to her that night—and risk everything to see justice done.

The book cover features the title in all capital letters with a background of several large geometric shapes in bright colors.Disability Visibility Adapted for Young People edited by Alice Wong
Delacorte Press [Our review]

The seventeen eye-opening essays in Disability Visibility , all written by disabled people, offer keen insight into the complex and rich disability experience, examining life’s ableism and inequality, its challenges and losses, and celebrating its wisdom, passion, and joy.

The accounts in this collection ask readers to think about disabled people not as individuals who need to be “fixed,” but as members of a community with its own history, culture, and movements. They offer diverse perspectives that speak to past, present, and future generations. It is essential reading for all.

Book cover features three young people. One is wearing an untucked dress shirt and pants and is wearing a tie and is standing in front of the school sign. The words Trinity High are visible. On top of the sign there are two more students sitting. One I wearing a skirt and a sweater. The other is wearing a polo and is looking toward the other two people.Something More by Jackie Khalileh
Tundra

Fifteen-year-old Jessie, a quirky loner obsessed with the nineties, is diagnosed as autistic just weeks before starting high school. Determined to make a fresh start and keep her diagnosis a secret, Jessie creates a list of goals that range from acquiring two distinct eyebrows to getting a magical first kiss and landing a spot in the school play. Within the halls of Holy Trinity High, she finds a world where things are no longer black and white and quickly learns that living in color is much more fun. But Jessie gets more than she bargained for when two very different boys steal her heart, forcing her to go off-script.

Black and white cover. Two people are hugging and we see them from the side. One has long dark hair and the other has short hair that is shaved close on the side and has longer hair on top. They both have their eyes closed. The one with short hair is holding a cane in one hand.Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens edited by Marieke Nijkamp
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

This anthology explores disability in fictional tales told from the viewpoint of disabled characters, written by disabled creators. With stories in various genres about first loves, friendship, war, travel, and more, Unbroken will offer today’s teen readers a glimpse into the lives of disabled people in the past, present, and future.

The contributing authors are awardwinners, bestsellers, and newcomers including Kody Keplinger, Kristine Wyllys, Francisco X. Stork, William Alexander, Corinne Duyvis, Marieke Nijkamp, Dhonielle Clayton, Heidi Heilig, Katherine Locke, Karuna Riazi, Kayla Whaley, Keah Brown, and Fox Benwell. Each author identifies as disabled along a physical, mental, or neurodiverse axis―and their characters reflect this diversity.