Avenues - Recomended Books

Books can be a great tool both for introducing disabilities to your own child or to the children in your group or for furthering their education. A good book can help foster understanding, and help young people to feel more comfortable and accepting when they meet peers and others in the community with disabilities.

However, not all disability related books are created equal. Some contain inaccurate or outdated information. Some contain objectionable or stereotyped depictions of people with disabilities. It is always best to read the books over before sharing them with your group or your child.

Below, you’ll find a number of books recommended by Easter Seals. You’ll also find a lengthy list of books that have not yet been reviewed and guidelines for assessing them.

Easter Seals Recommends

While the following books may not ‘perfectly’ follow the guidelines, we found them to be, on the whole, positive & accurate portrayals of people with disabilities: 

For Kids aged 8 and under

A Button in Her Ear
Ada B. Litchfield
Somewhat outdated (the style of the hearing aid), but the pictures are more timeless, and the story is told in an amusing manner.

A Picture Book of Helen Keller
David A. Adler
A factual look at the life of Helen Keller, this story concentrated on her childhood.

A Very Special Critter
Gina and Mercer Mayer
In this wise and funny picture-book adventure, a new student, who uses a wheelchair, joins Little Critter's class at school. Little Critter is worried. Will his classmate be very different? Will the class know how to act around him? It's an honest, realistic look at ways kids deal successfully with the unknown well mixed with humor.

Adventure Holiday
Sue Brearley
Photos illustrate this book about kids at an adventure camp. Good interaction between kids with disabilities and those without, and the disabilities seem incidental to the narrative. Written in England, some of the language (beefburgers rather than hamburgers) may confuse, but be interesting, to American children.

An Alphabet of Animal Signs
S. Harold Collins
Colorful, simple book of sign language for animals, numbers and the alphabet.

Dad & Me in the Morning
Patricia Lakin
A young boy, who is deaf, and his father share the magic of a sunrise. The boy’s disability is very well handled and the illustrations are lovely.

Danny’s Song
Betsy P. Nadas
A look at family dynamics as Danny, who has a disability, gets annoyed with his siblings for rushing ahead without him.

Extraordinary Friends
Fred Rogers
Part of his "Let's Talk About It" series, Mr. Rogers talks about children with all types of disabilities. Good choice for children just being introduced to disabilities.

Friends in the Park
Rochelle Bunnett
Full color photos of a group of preschoolers playing in the park. Many of the children have physical or cognitive disabilities. The book ends with a ‘cast of characters’, sharing a fee details about each of the children.

Grandma’s Wheelchair
Lorraine Henriod
A young boy enjoys spending the day with his grandma while his brother is in school. They do somewhat stereotypical grandma things cook and clean, etc. The fact that Grandma is in a wheelchair is rather incidental to the story.

Hooray for Out Heroes!
Sarah Albee
While Grover lists the characteristics of traditional superheroes, Big Bird and Elmo discover everyday heroes living in their neighborhood.

Let’s Talk About Being in a Wheelchair
Melanie Ann Apel
Book has some good points, but leans toward presenting wheelchairs as restrictive rather than liberating. Somewhat outdated, particularly for a book published in 2002.

Mama Zooms
Jane Cowen-Fletcher
A delightful, simply told story of a young child's mother who zooms - in her wheelchair!

Moses Goes to School
Moses Goes to a Concert
Moses Goes to the Circus
Moses Sees a Play
Isaac Millman
At a public school for deaf children, Moses and his friends share experiences like those all children experience.

Mandy Sue Day
Roberta Karim
This story follows Mandy Sue through an autumn day on her family farm as she spends time with her horse. It isn’t until the end of the story that her blindness is revealed to readers.

My Friend Leslie
Maxine B. Rosenberg
The young narrator of book talks about her friend, Leslie, who was born with multiple disabilities. The book depicts Leslie with strengths and weaknesses, and as an active, accepted member of the classroom. Afterword uses outdated language.

Nathan’s Wish
Laurie Lears
Nathan lives next door to Sandy, a woman who cares for injured birds of prey, like owls and hawks, and Nathan is fascinated by her work. He’s interested in helping her, but feels that, because he uses a wheelchair, he wouldn’t be able to make a worthwhile contribution. An owl with a broken wing and Nathan’s own determination change that.

Our Teacher is in a Wheelchair
Mary Ellen Powers
Positive portrayal of a young man whose disability was caused by an accident, rather than a condition present at birth. Contains some outdated language.

Rolling Along: The Story of Taylor and His Wheelchair
Jamee Riggio Heelan
A glimpse into the life of a young boy with cerebral palsy. Taylor describes his condition, aspects of his daily activities at home and at school, and his desire for independence. While he can get around using a walker, he prefers a wheelchair as it enables him to go faster and not tire as quickly. This story also touches on accessibility issues, something Taylor is more aware of once he’s using his chair.

Seal Surfer
Michael Foreman
Touching story about a young boy and his relationship to the seals living near his home. The illustrations show that he has a disability, but it is never mentioned in the text in any way.

Someone Special, Just Like You
Tricia Brown
Many photos show preschool aged children with disabilities playing and learning. Good introduction to physical disabilities.

Susan Laughs
Jeanne Willis
Rhyming couplets describe common emotions and activities experienced by Susan, a child whose disability is not revealed until the last page. Highly recommended!

The Balancing Girl
Berniece Rabe
Margaret comes up with a good idea for a school carnival, and makes friends with the boy in her class who doesn’t seem to like her. Her disability is incidental to the story and is barely mentioned.

The Gym Day Winner
Grace Maccarone
Brief story subtly illustrating the strengths and weaknesses of a group of children, one of whom uses a wheelchair. There is no mention of her disability at all, and she is not the ‘star’ at the end, either. Instead she is, like most of the characters, an active participant.

The Lonesome Pine
Jane West
An inspirational story about a pine tree's dream of becoming what he was planted to be...a Christmas tree. In his eyes he is perfect; in the eyes of others, he is not.

The Secret Code
Dana Meachen Rau
A young girl notices that one of her classmates, Oscar, who is blind, has books written in a secret code. Obligingly, Oscar teaches his classmates about Braille. Entertaining.

We Can Do It!
Laura Dwight
Not a story book, but a picture book giving kids with disabilities the chance to demystify their disabilities to some extent by talking about them and showing other kids the things they can do, not those they can’t.

We’ll Paint The Octopus Red
Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen
Engaging story of a young girl whose new brother is born with Down’s syndrome.  As she and her father talk about this unexpected turn of events, they discuss all the things they had planned to do with the new baby, and discover that, even though he has a disability, he will be able to do everything they’d looked forward to.

Where’s Chimpy?
Berneice Rabe
Misty is all ready for bed, but has lost her stuffed chimp. Her father helps her retrace the events of her day, and Chimpy is found at last in the bathroom, hidden under a towel. The photos reveal that Misty has Down’s syndrome, but her disability plays no part in the story, and is never mentioned.

Words in Our Hands
Ada B. Litchfield
Words in Our Hands is somewhat dated, but the message about fitting in and the fear of being different is still relevant.

For Kids aged 8 - 14

The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Ten-year-old Mary comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors. She and her cousin, Colin (who believes he is incurably ill), soon discover the mysteries and magic of a locked garden.

The Summer of the Swans
Betsy Byars
A teenager gains new insight into herself and her family when her brother with cognitive delays gets lost.

Freak the Mighty
Rodman Philbrick
Ages 10-14
For an eighth-grader, Max is big, and finds it hard to fit in. Things begin to change however, when Kevin, born with a disability that has restricted his growth, moves in down the street. The boys become friends. With Kevin, who's brilliant, providing the brains and imagination and Max providing the locomotion, the boys unite to become "Freak the Mighty" and venture out on "quests" around the neighborhood.