Children's Books About Disability for 4th - 8th Grade

Twelve-year-old Libby, born with Turner Syndrome, is determined to win a science contest and use the money to help her older sister's growing family, while surviving middle school.

The author recounts in graphic novel format her experiences with hearing loss at a young age, including using a bulky hearing aid, learning how to lip read, and determining her "superpower."

A chronically frustrated eleven-year-old girl named Gwendolyn Rogers comes to realize she has an undiagnosed mental health issue and tries every way possible to get control of her emotions.

Jordan's days as the star player for her school's basketball team ended when an accident left her paralyzed...Now, she's still the team captain, but her competition days seem to be behind her...until an encounter with a mysterious elephant, who she names Marshmallow, helps Jordan discover a brand new sport. Will water polo be the way for Jordan to continue her athletic dreams--or will it just come between Jordan and her best friends on the basketball team?

An introduction to fifteen fascinating disabled athletes and their many achievements, daily challenges, and joys. Includes an Author's Note, glossary, and history of the Paralympics.

After an injury sidelines her dreams of becoming a ballet star, Maisie is not excited for her blended family's midwinter road trip along the coast, near the Makah community where her mother grew up.

Andrew's just trying to make it through Picture Day, which is easier said than done when it seems like the whole world is out to get him-from a bully to a science experiment gone wrong to a someone else's juice snot (don't ask). But as Andrew goes through the school day, and as one thing after another goes wrong, that little kernel of worry in his stomach is getting hotter and hotter, until it threatens to pop and turn into a public panic attack, his worst fear. He tries to keep his anxiety at bay, but the news that his grandmother with Alzheimer's is missing is too much.

In order to heal after his mother's death, thirteen-year-old Sal learns to reach into time and space to retrieve things--and people--from other universes.

Eleven-year-old knuckleball pitcher Vivy Cohen, who has autism, becomes pen pals with her favorite Major League baseball player after writing a letter to him as an assignment for her social skills class.

Eleven-year-old Benny, a boy with Mosaic Down syndrome, navigates a new mainstream classroom, standing up to bullies, making new friends, and uncovering a government conspiracy threatening to close down the retirement home owned by his mother.

Tess Medina is dealing with the loss of her beloved father, a new school, and the troubling fact that the thing she enjoys most in life, baking, seems to be making her increasingly ill--something she is trying to hide from everybody.

Eleven-year-old British Indian Vanya is whisked away to a magical school where she trains to become a monster hunter and learns to embrace her wonderful neurodivergent self.

Ever since her dad died, 11-year-old Jerry Blum and her mom have bounced around dead-end towns, staying in a series of rundown motels where her mother picks up housekeeping work and Jerry can get around in her wheelchair. But the Slumbering Giant motel is different. Lights blink on and off in the surrounding trees, a mysterious radio station plays only at midnight, and people disappear into the woods, never to been seen again. Not to mention that Jerry's mom keeps vanishing to do 'special work' that she refuses to discuss. When her mother doesn't come home one morning, Jerry springs into action. Luckily, she's not alone. Paul, a pocket-size imaginary dragon, and Chapel, a new friend with a penchant for the supernatural, join Jerry's search for her missing mom.

Portico Reeves' secret identity as Stuntboy allows him to use his superpower keep everybody safe, but when his superhero parents start fighting a lot he feels the responsibility to save them.

Eden Jones is a nonbinary kid who has Social Anxiety Disorder, and when their mother announces she is throwing a birthday party and inviting all their friends they are thrown into a panic--because while Eden's three 'friends' are all real kids at school they have almost never actually spoken to any of them.

From Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker James Robinson comes [an] ... illustrated memoir for middle-grade readers (and adults, too), inspired by the viral, Emmy-nominated short film Whale Eyes. Told through an experimental mix of intimate anecdotes and interactive visuals, this book immerses readers in James's point of view, allowing them to see the world through his disabling eye conditions. Readers will get lost as they chase words. They'll stare into this book while taking a vision test. They'll hold it upside down as they practice 'pretend-reading'--and they'll follow an unlikely trail toward discovering the power of words.

After moving across the country, thirteen-year-old Natalie auditions for her new school's play and overcomes her fears and insecurities about performing in a wheelchair.

Discovering that the creatures and deities of Tagalog myth are real when her mom is kidnapped, Lulu Sinagtala is drawn into a centuries-long war that threatens to throw the whole universe into chaos while trying to save her mom with her newfound powers.

Bay Ann is sure her tap dance will shine at the school talent show, but when her crush, Alyee Maq, catches her before she falls (which was his fault anyway) and gets all the "fame" she is determined to beat him at his own attention-seeking game.