by Junauda Petrus
Grade 9-12
Description
Told in two distinct and irresistible voices, Junauda Petrus’s bold and lyrical debut is the story of two black girls from very different backgrounds finding love and happiness in a world that seems determined to deny them both.
Port of Spain, Trinidad. Sixteen-year-old Audre is despondent, having just found out she’s going to be sent to live in America with her father because her strictly religious mother caught her with her secret girlfriend, the pastor’s daughter.
Minneapolis, USA. Sixteen-year-old Mabel is lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out why she feels the way she feels—about her ex Terrell, about her girl Jada and that moment they had in the woods, and about the vague feeling of illness that’s plagued her all summer.
Mabel quickly falls hard for Audre when they meet and is determined to take care of her as she tries to navigate an American high school. But their romance takes a turn when test results reveal exactly why Mabel has been feeling low-key sick all summer, and suddenly it’s Audre who’s caring for Mabel as she faces a deeply uncertain future.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Daniel Keyes
Grade 9-12
Description
Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, this powerful, classic story is about a man who receives an operation that turns him into a genius and introduces him to heartache.
Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with a low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence, a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon. As the treatment takes effect, Charlie’s intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie?
Before reading the book
Because Flowers for Algernon was published in the mid-20th century, it contains outdated language used to describe intellectual disabilities. A brief lesson on the story’s historical context and the evolution of disability terminology may be appropriate before starting the book.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Judith Heumann
Grade 9-12
Description
One of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human. From the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco to inside the halls of Washington, Being Heumann recounts Judy Heumann’s lifelong battle to achieve respect, acceptance, and inclusion in society that wasn’t built for all of us.
Paralyzed from polio at eighteen months, Judy’s struggle for equality began early in life. From fighting to attend grade school after being described as a “fire hazard” to later winning a lawsuit against the New York City school system for denying her a teacher’s license because of her paralysis, Judy’s actions set a precedent that fundamentally improved rights for disabled people.
Candid, intimate, and irreverent, Judy Heumann’s memoir about resistance to exclusion invites readers to imagine and make real a world in which we all belong.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Todd Parr
Grade PreK-1
Description
This book delivers a feel-good, positive message about acceptance and understanding. The brightly colored simple pictures and repetitive text work together to call attention to superficial differences and encourage readers to focus on acceptance and individuality. The child-friendly format feature’s Todd Parr’s trademark bold, bright colors and silly illustrations. This book is a great way to start the conversation about diversity with young students.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare
Grade K-3
Description
Written by the experts at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare and illustrated by beloved Twin Cities artist Nancy Carlson, It’s Okay to Ask! introduces five children who have disabilities or complex medical conditions. They love to read, play, tell jokes, and make friends. As you get to know the characters in the book and learn that it’s okay to ask questions, you will discover that everyone is more alike than you might think and that people of all abilities can be friends.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Jordan Scott
Grade K-3
Description
What if words got stuck in the back of your mouth whenever you tried to speak? What if they never came out the way you wanted them to? When a boy who stutters feels isolated, alone, and incapable of communicating in the way he’d like, it takes a kindly father and a walk by the river to help him find his voice. Poet Jordan Scott writes movingly in this powerful and uplifting book, based on his own experience. A book for anyone who feels lost, lonely, or unable to fit in.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Julia Finley Mosca
Grade K-5
Description
If you’ve ever felt different, if you’ve ever been low, if you don’t quite fit in, there’s a name you should know. Meet Dr. Temple Grandin. When young Temple was diagnosed with autism, no one expected her to talk, let alone become one of the most powerful voices in modern science. Yet the determined visual thinker did just that. Her unique mind allowed her to connect with animals in a special way, helping her invent groundbreaking improvements for farms around the globe.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Laurie Ann Thompson
Grade K-3
Description
This is the true story of Emmanuel Yeboah. Born in Ghana in 1977 with a deformed leg, he became the personification of courage, strength—mental and physical—and determination even as a child. His life, challenges and accomplishments are well-known in Ghana.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Mo Willems
Grade K-2
Description
Piggy and Elephant are about to start a game of catch when their friend Snake asks, “Can I play, too?” Both are puzzled by the request because Snake has no arms. But the three friends try hard to find a way to include everyone in the game. After trying different solutions, poor Snake is about to give up, saying, “Well, I guess I can’t play after all.” This is a wonderful read-aloud book with very funny illustrations.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
Allow time for all to share if they choose.
by Menena Cottin
Grade K-5
Description
Living with the use of one’s eyes can make imagining blindness difficult, but this innovative title invites readers to imagine living without sight through remarkable illustrations done with raised lines and descriptions of colors based on imagery. Braille letters accompany the illustrations and a full Braille alphabet offers sighted readers help reading along with their fingers. This extraordinary title gives young readers the ability to experience the world in a new way.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Annette Bay Pimentel
Grade K-4
Description
Experience the true story of lifelong activist Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins and her participation in the Capitol Crawl in this inspiring autobiographical picture book. This beautifully illustrated story includes a foreword from Jennifer and back matter detailing her life and the history of the disability rights movement.
Jennifer Keelan was determined to make a change, but the way the world around her was built made it hard to do even simple things like go to school or eat lunch in the cafeteria. When the Americans with Disabilities Act, a law that would make public spaces much more accessible to people with disabilities, was proposed to Congress, Jennifer went to the steps of the Capitol building in Washington DC to have her voice heard.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Shaina Rudolph and Danielle Royer
Grade K-3
Description
In All My Stripes, Zane worries that his “autistic stripe” is all that anyone sees. His mother points out that he is much more than that in a way that young children will understand.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Cynthia Lord
Grade 5-8
Description
Rules is a heartfelt and witty debut about feeling different and finding acceptance—beyond the rules. 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. She’s spent years trying to teach David the rules—from “a peach is not a funny-looking apple” to “keep your pants on in public”—in order to stop his embarrassing behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a paraplegic boy, 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?
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Ann M. Martin
Grade 4-6
Description
Rose Howard is obsessed with homonyms. She’s thrilled that her own name is a homonym, and she purposely gave her dog Rain a name with two homonyms (Reign and Rein), which, according to Rose’s rules of homonyms, is very special. Not everyone understands Rose’s obsessions, her rules, and the other things that make her different—not her teachers, not other kids, and not her single father. When a storm hits their rural town, rivers overflow, the roads are flooded, and Rain goes missing. Rose’s father shouldn’t have let Rain out. Now Rose has to find her dog, even if it means leaving her routines and safe places to search.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Sharon M. Draper
Grade 5-6
Description
Eleven-year-old Melody is not like most people. She can’t walk. She can’t talk. She can’t write. All because she has cerebral palsy. But she also has a photographic memory: She can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school, but no one knows it. Most people—her teachers, her doctors, her classmates—dismiss her as mentally challenged because she can’t tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by her disability. And she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Leslie Connor
Grade 3-7
Description
Mason Buttle is the biggest, sweatiest kid in his grade, and everyone knows he can barely read or write. Mason’s learning disabilities are compounded by grief. Fifteen months ago, Mason’s best friend, Benny Kilmartin, turned up dead in the Buttle family’s orchard.
An investigation drags on, and Mason, honest as the day is long, can’t understand why Lieutenant Baird won’t believe the story Mason has told about that day.
Both Mason and his new friend, tiny Calvin Chumsky, are relentlessly bullied by the other boys in their neighborhood, so they create an underground haven for themselves. When Calvin goes missing, Mason finds himself in trouble again. He’s desperate to figure out what happened to Calvin and, eventually, Benny.
But will anyone believe him?
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Cerrie Burnell, illustrated by Lauren Baldo
Grade 1-7
Description
In this stylishly illustrated anthology of short biographies, meet 34 artists, thinkers, athletes and activists with disabilities, from past and present. From Frida Kahlo to Stephen Hawking, find out how these iconic figures paved the way for others by making their bodies and minds work for them, becoming trailblazers, innovators, advocates, and makers.
Challenge your preconceptions of disability and mental health with the eye-opening stories of these remarkable people.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Grade 5-8
Description
Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, and that great minds don’t always think alike.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Cece Bell
Grade 3-7
Description
In this funny, poignant graphic novel memoir, author/illustrator Cece Bell chronicles her hearing loss at a young age and her subsequent experiences with the Phonic Ear, a very powerful—and very awkward—hearing aid.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Pablo Cartaya
Grade 5-6
Description
Emilia Torres has a wandering mind. It’s hard for her to follow along at school, and sometimes she forgets to do what her mom or abuela asks. But she remembers what matters: a time when her family was whole and home made sense. When Dad returns from deployment, Emilia expects that her life will get back to normal. Instead, it unravels. Dad shuts himself in the back stall of their family’s auto shop to work on an old car. Emilia peeks in on him daily, mesmerized by his welder. One day, Dad calls Emilia over. Then, he teaches her how to weld. And over time, flickers of her old dad reappear. Each tiny spark is a tender story about asking big questions and being brave enough to reckon with the answers.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Beth Adams
Grade 3-7
Description
After Katie gets caught teasing a schoolmate, she’s told to meet with Mrs. Petrowski, the school counselor, so she can make right her wrong and learn to be a better friend. Bothered at first, it doesn’t take long before Katie realizes that bullying has hurt not only the people around her, but her, too. Told from the unusual point of view of the bullier rather than the bullied, Confessions of a Former Bully provides kids with real life tools they can use to identify and stop relational aggression.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
Jan Greenberg & Sandra Jordan
Grade 4-6
Description
This 48-page picture book tells the story of Chuck Close’s life as an artist and his struggles, from overcoming learning disabilities as a child to fighting paralysis as an adult. Close’s monumental portraits, interpreted from photographs to reveal the fragments and wholeness of personality, are featured in collections around the world.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Karen Kane
Grade 3-7
Description
All Charlie Tickler wants is for his parents to listen, but Charlie’s parents have left him with his TV-obsessed grandparents while they travel to South Africa to help giant golden moles. Lonely and curious, Charlie heads into the village of Castle-on-the-Hudson, where a frightened old woman gives him a desperate message—in sign language. When she suddenly disappears, Charlie is determined to find answers.
All Francine (aka Frog) Castle wants is to be the world’s greatest detective. Frog, who is deaf, would rather be solving crimes than working at the Flying Hands Café. When Charlie Tickler walks into the café looking for help, Frog jumps at the chance to tackle a real-life case.
Together, Charlie and Frog set out to decipher a series of clues and uncover the truth behind the missing woman’s mysterious message. Charlie needs to learn American Sign Language (ASL) fast to keep up with quick-witted Frog. And Frog needs to gather her detective know-how to break the case before it’s too late. Discover the surprising ways people listen in this page-turning mystery filled with humor, intrigue, and heartwarming friendships.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Sherman Alexie
Grade 7-9
Description
Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is based on the author’s own experiences. Coupled with poignant drawings by Ellen Forney, it chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.
NOTE: Please take a minute to look over this list of resources to decide if this book is a good fit for your school given recent allegations of abuse and misconduct.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Kathryn Otoshi
Grade K-3
Description
Zero is a big round number. When she looks at herself, she just sees a hole right in her center. Every day she watches the other numbers line up to count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7… Those numbers have value. That’s why they count, she thinks. But how could a number worth nothing become something?
Zero feels empty inside. She watches One having fun with the other numbers. One has bold strokes and squared corners. Zero is big and round with no corners at all. If I were like One, then I could count too, she thinks. So she pushes and pulls, stretches and straightens, forces and flattens herself, but in the end she realizes that she can only be Zero.
As budding young readers learn about numbers and counting, they are also introduced to accepting different body types, developing social skills and character, and learning what it means to find value in yourself and in others.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Jen Bryant
Grade K-3
Description
Six Dots is a picture-book biography of Louis Braille, a blind boy so determined to read that he invented his own alphabet.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Peter H. Reynolds
Grade K-3
Description
From the creator of The New York Times bestseller The Word Collector comes an empowering story about finding your voice, and using it to make the world a better place. The world needs your voice. If you have a brilliant idea…say something! If you see an injustice…say something!
In this empowering new picture book, beloved author Peter H. Reynolds explores the many ways that a single voice can make a difference. Each of us, each and every day, have the chance to say something: with our actions, our words, and our voices. Perfect for kid activists everywhere, this timely story reminds readers of the undeniable importance and power of their voice. There are so many ways to tell the world who you are…what you’re thinking…and what you believe. And how you’ll make it better.
The time is now: SAY SOMETHING!
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Jessie Oliveros
Grade K-4
Description
This tender, sensitive picture book gently explains the memory loss associated with aging and diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Shane Burcaw
Grade 1-4
Description
Shane Burcaw was born with a rare disease called spinal muscular atrophy, which hinders his muscles’ growth. As a result, his body hasn’t grown bigger and stronger as he’s gotten older; it’s gotten smaller and weaker instead. This hasn’t stopped him from doing the things he enjoys (like eating pizza and playing sports and video games) with the people he loves, but it does mean that he routinely relies on his friends and family for help with everything from brushing his teeth to rolling over in bed.
Not So Different offers a humorous, relatable, and refreshingly honest glimpse into Shane Burcaw’s life. Shane tackles many of the mundane and quirky questions that he’s often asked about living with a disability and shows readers that he’s just as approachable, friendly, and funny as anyone else.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete
Grade 2-5
Description
My Brother Charlie is inspired by a true story. It is a book about a boy with autism, as told through the eyes of his twin sister. This book helps us recognize that we are all unique, with our own strengths and weaknesses.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Sonia Sotomayor
Grade K-3
Description
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and award-winning artist Rafael Lopez create a kind and caring book about the differences that make each of us unique. Feeling different, especially as a kid, can be tough. But in the same way that different types of plants and flowers make a garden more beautiful and enjoyable, different types of people make our world more vibrant and wonderful.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Tracy Newman
Grade K-3
Description
Before becoming one of the greatest violinists of all time, Itzhak Perlman was simply a boy who loved music. Raised by a poor immigrant family in a tiny Tel Aviv apartment, baby Itzhak was transformed by the sounds from his family’s kitchen radio. The rich melodies and vibrant rhythms spoke to him like magic, filling his mind with vivid rainbows of color. After surviving polio and begging his parents for a real instrument, Itzhak threw his heart and soul into playing the violin. Through dedication, perseverance, and hard work, Itzak honed his extraordinary gift. When he performed on the Ed Sullivan Show at only 13, audiences around the world were mesmerized by the warmth, joy, and passion in every note.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
edited by Marieke Nijkamp
Grade 8-12
Description
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 award winners, bestsellers, and newcomers. Each author identifies as disabled along a physical, mental, or neuro-diverse axis—and their characters reflect this diversity.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Naoki Higashida
Grade 9-12
Description
You’ve never read a book like The Reason I Jump. Written by Naoki Higashida, a very smart, very self-aware, and very charming thirteen-year-old boy with autism, it is a one-of-a-kind memoir that demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, perceives, and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Parents and family members who never thought they could get inside the head of their autistic loved one at last have a way to break through to the curious, subtle and complex life within.
Using an alphabet grid to painstakingly construct words, sentences, and thoughts that he is unable to speak out loud, Naoki answers even the most delicate questions that people want to know. Questions such as: “Why do people with autism talk so loudly and weirdly?” “Why do you line up your toy cars and blocks?” “Why don’t you make eye contact when you’re talking?” and “What’s the reason you jump?” (Naoki’s answer: “When I’m jumping, it’s as if my feelings are going upward to the sky.”) With disarming honesty and a generous heart, Naoki shares his unique point of view on not only autism but life itself. His insights—into the mystery of words, the wonders of laughter, and the elusiveness of memory—are so startling, so strange and so powerful that you will never look at the world the same way again.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Francisco X. Stork
Grade 9-12
Description
“The term cognitive disorder implies there is something wrong with the way I think or the way I perceive reality. I perceive reality just fine. Sometimes I perceive more of reality than others.” Marcelo Sandoval hears music that nobody else can hear, part of an autism-like condition that no doctor has been able to identify. But his father has never fully believed in the music or Marcelo’s differences, and he challenges Marcelo to work in the mailroom of his law firm for the summer to join the “real world.”
There Marcelo meets Jasmine, his beautiful and surprising coworker, and Wendell, the son of another partner in the firm. He learns about competition and jealousy, anger and desire. But it’s a picture he finds in a file a picture of a girl with half a face that truly connects him with the real world: its suffering, its injustice, and what he can do to fight for what is right.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Patricia Wood
Grade 9-12
Description
Perry L. Crandall knows what it’s like to be an outsider. With an IQ of 76, some see him as an easy mark. Before his grandmother died, she taught Perry many important lessons including the importance of words and writing things down—and how to play the lottery. Most importantly, she taught him who to trust, a crucial lesson for Perry when he wins the multimillion-dollar jackpot. As his dysfunctional and uncaring family descends, moving in on his fortune, he has a lesson for them: never, ever underestimate Perry Crandall.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Shane Burcaw
Grade 9-12
Description
With acerbic wit and a hilarious voice, Shane Burcaw’s Laughing at My Nightmare describes the challenges he faces as a twenty-one-year-old with spinal muscular atrophy. From awkward handshakes to having a girlfriend and everything in between, Shane handles his situation with humor and a you-only-live-once perspective on life. While he does talk about everyday issues that are relatable to teens, he also offers an eye-opening perspective on what it is like to have a life threatening disease.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Richard Wagamese
Grade 10-12
Description
Saul Indian Horse is a child when his family retreats into the woods. Among the lakes and the cedars, they attempt to reconnect with half-forgotten traditions and hide from the authorities who have been kidnapping Ojibway youth. But when winter approaches, Saul loses everything: his brother, his parents, his beloved grandmother—and then his home itself.
Alone in the world and placed in a horrific boarding school, Saul is surrounded by violence and cruelty. At the urging of a priest, he finds a tentative salvation in hockey. Rising at dawn to practice alone, Saul proves determined and undeniably gifted. His intuition and vision are unmatched. His speed is remarkable. Together they open doors for him: away from the school, into an all-Ojibway amateur circuit, and finally within grasp of a professional career. Yet as Saul’s victories mount, so do the indignities and the taunts, the racism and the hatred—the harshness of a world that will never welcome him, tied inexorably to the sport he loves.
Spare and compact yet undeniably rich, Indian Horse is at once a heartbreaking account of a dark chapter in our history and a moving coming-of-age story.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Amanda Gorman
Grade 8-12
Description
On January 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman became the sixth and youngest poet to deliver a poetry reading at a presidential inauguration. Taking the stage after the 46th president of the United States Joe Biden, Gorman captivated the nation and brought hope to viewers around the globe with her call for unity and healing.
Before or after reading the poem
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Naoki Higashida
Grade 9-12
Description
Naoki Higashida was only thirteen when he wrote The Reason I Jump, a revelatory account of autism from the inside by a nonverbal Japanese child, which became an international success. Now, in Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8, he shares his thoughts and experiences as a young man living each day with severe autism. In short, powerful chapters, Higashida explores school memories, family relationships, the exhilaration of travel, and the difficulties of speech. He also allows readers to experience profound moments we take for granted, like the thought-steps necessary for him to register that it’s raining outside. Acutely aware of how strange his behavior can appear to others, he aims throughout to foster a better understanding of autism and to encourage society to see people with disabilities as people, not as problems.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Adrienne Kisner
Grade 9-12
Description
In Adrienne Kisner’s Dear Rachel Maddow, a high school girl deals with school politics and life after her brother’s death by drafting emails to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow in this funny and heartfelt young adult debut.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Mark Haddon
Grade 9-12
Description
Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.
This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Mark Oshiro
Grade 9-12
Description
Moss Jeffries is many things: considerate student, devoted son, loyal friend and affectionate boyfriend, enthusiastic nerd. But sometimes Moss still wishes he could be someone else, someone without panic attacks, someone whose father was still alive, someone who hadn’t become a rallying point for a community because of one horrible night. And most of all, he wishes he didn’t feel so stuck.
Moss can’t even escape at school. He and his friends are subject to the lack of funds and crumbling infrastructure at West Oakland High as well as constant intimidation by the resource officer stationed in their halls. Something will have to change, but who will listen to a group of teens?
When tensions hit a fever pitch and tragedy strikes again, Moss must face a difficult choice: give in to fear and hate or realize that anger can actually be a gift.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by R.J. Palacio
Grade 3-7
Description
August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. Wonder begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others. These perspectives converge in a portrait of one community’s struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
Grade 3-7
Description
Omar and his younger brother, Hassan, have spent most of their lives in Dadaab, a refugee camp in Kenya. Life is hard there: never enough food, achingly dull, and without access to the medical care Omar knows his nonverbal brother needs. So when Omar has the opportunity to go to school, he knows it might be a chance to change their future, but it would also mean leaving his brother, the only family member he has left, every day.
Heartbreak, hope, and gentle humor exist together in this graphic novel about a childhood spent waiting and a young man who is able to create a sense of family and home in the most difficult of settings. It’s an intimate, important, unforgettable look at the day-to-day life of a refugee, as told to New York Times bestselling author/artist Victoria Jamieson by Omar Mohamed, the Somali man who lived the story.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Grade 4-7
Description
Ten-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him. So begins a new adventure for Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Aaron Phillip
Grade 3-7
Description
In this heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting memoir, Aaron (pronounced A-ron) Philip, a fourteen-year-old with cerebral palsy, shows how she isn’t defined as much by her disability as she is by her abilities. This Kid Can Fly chronicles Aaron’s extraordinary journey from happy baby in Antigua to confident teen artist in New York City. Her honest, often funny stories of triumph—despite physical difficulties, poverty, and other challenges—are as inspiring as they are eye-opening. NOTE: While the memoir uses the pronouns he/him when referring to Aaron, Aaron is transgender, and her pronouns are she/her.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Lynne Kelly
Grade 3-7
Description
In the spirit of modern-day classics like Fish in a Tree and Counting by 7s comes the Schneider Family Book Award-winning story of a deaf girl’s connection to a whale whose song can’t be heard by his species, and the journey she takes to help him.
From fixing the class computer to repairing old radios, twelve-year-old Iris is a tech genius. But she’s the only deaf person in her school, so people often treat her like she’s not very smart. If you’ve ever felt like no one was listening to you, then you know how hard that can be.
When she learns about Blue 55, a real whale who is unable to speak to other whales, Iris understands how he must feel. Then she has an idea: she should invent a way to sing to him—but he’s three thousand miles away. How will she play her song for him?
Full of heart and poignancy, this affecting story by sign language interpreter Lynne Kelly shows how a little determination can make big waves.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Allen Say
Grade 3-7
Description
James Castle was born two months premature on September 25, 1899, on a farm in Garden Valley, Idaho. He was deaf, mute, autistic, and probably dyslexic. He didn’t walk until he was four; he would never learn to speak, write, read, or use sign language.
Yet today Castle’s artwork hangs in major museums throughout the world. The Philadelphia Museum of Art opened “James Castle: A Retrospective” in 2008. The 2013 Venice Biennale included eleven works by Castle in the feature exhibition, “The Encyclopedic Palace.” And his reputation continues to grow.
Caldecott Medal winner Allen Say, author of the acclaimed memoir Drawing from Memory, takes readers through an imagined look at Castle’s childhood, allows them to experience his emergence as an artist despite the overwhelming difficulties he faced, and ultimately reveals the triumphs that he would go on to achieve.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
by Alan Rabinowitz
Grade K-3
Description
A Boy and A Jaguar is a book about a little boy who loves animals and has a difficult time communicating because of stuttering. Animals help him, because he sees them as misunderstood, just as he sees himself as misunderstood.
Discussion questions
Classroom activities
