Main Characters with Learning Disabilities

I was looking for books with main characters that have learning problems/disabilities. A friend of mine, Kathy Young, is doing a presentation at the Illinois Reading Council Conference called “Literacy for Life” in March in Springfield, IL. the presentation is called “Motivate Students With Learning Differences Using Books Whose Main Characters have Learning Problems” and she asked me for titles. Kathy is the co-writer with Eileen Gold Kushner for the book Smart on the Inside, which is Eileen’s autobiography of her struggles with dyslexia.

I asked the Great Brain of list servs (LM_NET, child_lit, YALSA_bk, AASL, AISL, MAME) for help in finding titles. Below are the titles that were suggested. If you can think of any more titles that have a main character with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, etc., please let me know, I’d love to add them to the list.

Learning Disabilities

Sahara Special by Esme Raj Codell (Grades 3 to 6)

Do Bananas Chew Gum by Jamie Gilson(ages 8+)

Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan dyslexia and ADHD (IL 5-8)

My Name is Brian Brain by Jeanne Betancourt dyslexia (ages 8+)

Me and Einstein by Rose Blue (ages 8+) (out of print)

Tom’s Special Talent by Kate Gaynor dyslexia

Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt (IL 5-8) F&P Y reading problems

Chuck Close, up close by  Jan Greenberg  (ages 8+) learning disabilities

The Art of Miss Chew by Polacco (3-6)

Junkyard wonders by Patricia Polacco (ages 6+) learning disabilities

Will the Real Gertrude Hollings please stand up? by Sheila Greenwald (out of print)

Two-minute drill : a comeback kids novel by  Mike Lupica (ages 8+)

Yellow Bird and me by Joyce Hansen (IL 5-8) reading

Yours Turly, Shirley by Ann M. Martin (ages 8+) dyslexia

Because of Mr. Terupt  by Rob Buyea (ages 9+) various

There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom by Louis Sachar (IL 3-6) F&P Q, ADHD

After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick – chemo-induced learning difficulties

Dying to Know You by Aiden Chambers dyslexia

The Alphabet War: a story about dyslexia by Diane Burton Robb  (2-4)

Flight by Elizabeth Stow Ellison (grades 4-8) dyslexia

Bluefish by Pat Schmatz (ages 12+) can’t read

May B. by Caroline Starr Rose  dyslexia in 19th century Kansas (in verse) (ages 9+)

Trout and Me by Susan Shreve (grades 5-8) ADD

Double Dutch by Sharon Draper (grades 6-8) illiteracy

Stiks and Stoans by Andrew Mathews dyslexic

Hurricane Wills by Sally Grindley (grade 3-6) ADHD

Rescued by a Dog Called Flow by Pippa Goodhart (grades 3-6) dyslexia

Secrets at Silver Spires by Ann Bryant learning disabilities

Kids of Polk Street School series by Patricia Riley Gifford (grades K-3) learning problems

Wall of Words by Tim Kennemore  dyslexia

My Thirteenth Winter: A memoir (grades 7-12) dyscalculia – math

How to Write Really Badly by Anne Fine

My Life as a Book by Janet Tashjian (grades 4-7) reading

Back to Front and Upside Down by Claire Alexander (K-3) writing

Hank Zipzer series by Henry Winkler (grades 3-6) learning disabilities

Joey Pigza series by Jack Gantos (grades 5-8) ADHD

Thank you, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco (grades K-3) dyslexic

Ms. McCaw learns to draw by Kaethe Zemach (grades K-3) learning disabilities

The don’t-give-up kid and learning differences by Jeanne Gehret (grades K-3)

Josh : a boy with dyslexia by Caroline Janover (grades 3-6)

The hard life of Seymour E. Newton by Ann Bixby Herold (grades K-3) learning disabilities

Phoebe Flower’s adventures: Phoebe’s lost treasure by Barbara A. Roberts (grades K-3)

Mrs. Gorski, I think I have the wiggle fidgets written by Barbara Esham (grades K-3) ADHD/ learning disabilities

Stacey Coolidge’s fancy-smancy cursive handwriting written by Barbara Esham (grades K-3) writing/ learning disabilities

If you’re so smart, how come you can’t spell Mississippi? written by Barbara Esham  (grades K-3) spelling/ learning disabilities

Last to finish : a story about the smartest boy in math class written by Barbara Esham (grades K-3) math/ learning disabilities

It’s Called Dyslexia by Jennifer Moore-Mallinos (grades K-3) dyslexia

The Alphabet War: a story about dyslexia by Diane Burton Robb (grades 3-6) dyslexia

Lily and the Mixed Up Letters by Deborah Hodge (grades K-3) dyslexia

Eli, The Boy Who Hated to Write: Understanding Dysgraphia by Regina Richards YA dysgraphia

The Safe Place by Tehila Peterseil  ADD and dyslexia

Nonfiction

Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World By Sy Montgomery (Grade 4 and up)

 

Autism/Asperger’s

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Hadon — MS/YA

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork (ages 12+)

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine (IL 5-8) F&P W

Rules by Cynthia Lord (ages 8+) Catherine’s brother is autistic

Probably still Nick Swansen by Virginia Euwer Wolff (ages 12+)

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd (ages 9+)

Anything but Typical by Norah Baskin (5-8) autistic

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (YA or adult)

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick (5-8)

The Absolute Value of Mike by Kathryn Erskine (5-8)

House Rules by Jodi Picoult (YA or adult)

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko (sister autistic)

Reinvention of Edison Thomas by Jacqueline Houtman (grades 5-8) Asperger’s

Wild Orchid by Beverley Brenna (grades 9+) autism

Physical Challenges

Acorn People by Ron Jones (ages 12+)

The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin (MS/HS) deaf

Five Flavors of Dumb (HS) deaf

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen (ages 12+) loses leg

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper (ages 10+) F&P S Cerebral Palsy

So B. It”  by Sarah Weeks (ages 8+) mom is mentally disabled

Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby (IL 6-8) F&P W deaf

Can you feel the thunder? by Lynn E. McElfresh deaf and blind sister

Going bovine by Libba Bray (mad cow disease).  YA

The Alfred Summer by Jan Slepian cerebral palsy, mentally challenged

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (hearing loss-graphic novel)  5-8

Gringolandia: a novel by Lyn Miller-Lachmann  (handicapped).  YA

Keep Your Ear on the Ball by Genevieve Petrillo  blind

Darker Still by Hieber selective mute

Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester (grades K-3) lisp/speech

 

Other

Forgotten by Cat Patrick is a good YA book -Memory

Unforgettable by Loretta Ellsworth (ages 12+) -memory

The Spaghetti Detectives by Andreas Steinhöfel (ages 8+)

Alvin Ho series by Lenore Look (Ages 7+) selective mutism and anxiety

Total Constant Order by Crissa-Jean Chappell (ages 13 and up) OCD

A Mango-Shaped Space : a novel by Wendy Mass (grades 5-8)

 

For Teachers, Parents, Family

Still Alice by Lisa Genova Alzheimer’s

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova traumatic brain injury

Love Anthony by Lisa Genova Autism

*****

Schneider Family Book Awards winners http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/awards/1/all_years

http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/schneider-family-book-award

These awards “honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.”

Members of the jury have also compiled a bibliography of additional books: http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/sites/ala.org.awardsgrants/files/content/awardsrecords/schneideraward/2009_schneider_bio_children.pdf

 

This article from “Teaching Exceptional Children” has a list too, if you need more. http://parentmentors.org/Documents/Terri/2010-Tips%20Books%20that%20portray%20characters%20with%20disabilities.pdf

The following list is from a professor from South Carolina. She uses this list for her YA lit class students. (Thank you Karen!)

Understanding (dis)Abilities:

Young Adult Books about Individuals with Special Needs

 

 

Attention Deficit Disorder

Gantos, J. (2000). Joey Pigza Swallows the Key. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Joey is a young boy who takes medicine for his hyperactivity. He tries to keep his life from degenerating into chaos. Others in the series – What Would Joey Do? (2002) and Joey Pigza Loses Control (2000).

Autism / Asperger Syndrome

Baskin, N. R. (2009). Anything But Typical. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Jason, a twelve-year-old autistic boy who wants to become a writer, relates what his life is like as he tries to make sense of his world.

Brenna, B. (2005).  Wild Orchid. Calgary, CN: Red Deer Press.  Taylor Jane Simon, a teenager with an autistic condition, spends the summer with her mother in Prince Albert National Park, and learns how to make her own path in life.

Choldenko, G. (2004). Al Capone Does My Shirts. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons. A twelve year- old boy, Moose, moves to Alcatraz in 1935 when guards’ families were housed and contends with his new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.

Haddon, M. (2003). The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. New York: Doubleday. Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor’s dog and uncovers secret information about his parents.

Lord, C. (2006). Rules. New York: Scholastic Press. Frustrated at life with an autistic brother, twelve year- old Catherine longs for a normal existence but her world is further complicated by a friendship with a young paraplegic.

Stork, F. X. (2009). Marcelo in the Real World. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books. Marcelo Sandoval, a seventeen-year-old boy on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, faces new challenges, including romance and injustice, when he goes to work for his father in the mailroom of a corporate law firm.

Cerebral Palsy

Johnson, H.M. (2006). Accidents of Nature. New York: Henry Holt and Company. Having always prided herself on blending in with “normal” people despite her cerebral palsy, seventeen-year-old Jean begins to question her role in the world while attending a summer camp for children with disabilities.

Koertge, R. (2002). Stoner & Spaz. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. Sixteen-year-old Ben, who has cerebral palsy, leads an insular life with his overprotective grandmother.  However, everything changes when he is befriended by drug-addicted classmate Colleen, and a neighbor introduces him to filmmaking and encourages him to make a movie about his high school.  Strong language. For senior high readers.

Mikaelsen, B. (2000). Petey. New York: Hyperion Paperbacks for Children. In 1922 Petey, who has cerebral palsy, is misdiagnosed as an idiot and institutionalized; sixty years later, still in the institution, he befriends a boy and shares with him the joy of life.

Sachar, L. (2006). Small Steps. New York: Delacorte Press. Three years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit is trying hard to keep his life on track with the help of his best friend, Ginny, who has cerebral palsy.

Slepian, J. (2001). The Alfred Summer. New York: Philomel Books. Four preteen outcasts, two of them handicapped, learn lessons in perseverance when they join forces to build a boat.

Trueman, T. ( 2000). Stuck in Neutral. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. Fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel has severe cerebral palsy and he thinks his father wants to kill him.

Developmental Disabilities

Conly, J.L. (1993). Crazy Lady. New York: HarperCollins. As he tries to come to terms with his mother’s death, Vernon finds solace in his growing relationship with the neighborhood outcasts, an alcoholic and her retarded son. (F Con)

Nuzum, K. A. (2006). A Small White Scar. New York: Joanna Cotler Books. Colorado, 1940. Fifteen-year-old Will Bennon has his heart set on entering his first rodeo. He’s fed up with his father’s rules and with acting as caretaker for his twin brother, Denny, who has Down Syndrome. But when Will sets out on his horse to leave, Denny follows him.

Tashjian, J. (1997). Tru Confessions. New York: Scholastic. 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.

Weeks, S. (2004). So B. It. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. After spending her life with her mentally retarded mother and agoraphobic neighbor, twelve-year-old Heidi sets out from Reno, Nevada to New York to find out who she is.

Hearing Impairments

McElfresh, L. E. (1999). Can You Feel the Thunder?. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. Thirteen-year-old Mic Parsons struggles with mixed feelings about his deaf and blind sister while at the same time he makes his way through the turmoils of junior high.

Ray, D. (2006). Singing Hands. New York: Clarion Books.  Alabama, 1948. Twelve-year-old Gussie, a minister’s daughter, learns the definition of integrity while helping with a celebration at the school for the deaf—her punishment for impulsive misdeeds against her deaf parents and their boarders.

Rorby, G. (2006). Hurt Go Happy. New York: Starscape. Thirteen-year-old Joey Willis, deaf since the age of six, is used to being left out of conversations because her mother never allowed her to learn sign language. Everything changes when Joey meets Dr. Charles Mansell and his baby chimpanzee, Sukari, but as Joey’s world blooms with possibilities, everything changes again.

Selznick, B. (2011).  Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures.  New York: Scholastic. Rose and Ben are deaf children living 50 years and worlds apart, yet both marvel and connect with the world around them. The American Museum of Natural History links their separate stories – one narrated in text, the other through cinematic illustrations.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

MacCready, R. M. (2006). Buried. New York: Dutton Books. As her obsessive-compulsive disorder spirals out of control, Claudine finds herself buried under home and school duties after her alcoholic mother appears to have abandoned her.

Physical Impairments

Aronson, S. (2007). Head Case. New York: Roaring Brook Press. Seventeen-year-old Frank Marder leaves the hospital in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the neck down. He reflects on the mistake—driving while drunk—that made him a quadriplegic and killed two people. Frank faces society’s judgments and seeks forgiveness.  Strong language and some descriptions of sex.

Bingham, K. (2007).  Shark Girl. After a shark attack causes the amputation of her right arm, fifteen-year-old Jane, a talented artist, struggles to come to terms with her loss and the changes in her future plans.  Told in conversations, letters, and prose poems.

Katcher, B. (2008). Playing with Matches. New York: Delacorte Press. While trying to find a girl who will date him, Missouri high school junior Leon Sanders befriends a lonely, disfigured female classmate.

Ryan, Pam Munoz (2004).  Becoming Naomi Leon.  Naomi and Owen have lived happily with their great-grandmother in her trailer for seven years.  Gram has arranged Owen’s surgeries for his physical disabilities and helped Naomi begin to speak again.  When their mother reappears to claim only Naomi, Gram runs away with the children to Mexico to find their father and their heritage.

Van Draanen, W. (2011) The Running Dream.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf.  When sixteen-year-old track star Jessica loses her leg in an accident, she is devastated believing she will never run again. Rehabilitation forces Jessica to confront disabilities and rethink her physical limitations.

Speech Impairments

Gleitzman, M. (1995). Blabber Mouth. San Diego: Harcourt Brace. An Australian schoolgirl who is unable to speak is embarrassed by her father’s outlandish dress and behavior. (F Gle)

Visual Impairments

Delano, Marfe-Ferguson (2008).  Helen’s Eyes:  A Photobiography of Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller’s Teacher.  Covers the life of Annie Sullivan which changed dramatically in 1887, when she met her blind and deaf pupil seven –year-old Helen Keller.

Madden, K. (2005). Gentle’s Holler: A novel. New York: Viking. Told from the perspective of Livy Weems as she struggles to help her struggling family, especially her sister Gentle, who is blind.

Miscellaneous

Bauer, J. (2011). Close to Famous.  New York, N.Y.: Viking.  Twelve-year-old Foster dreams of growing up to become a famous celebrity chef despite her reading disability. Can the quirky townsfolk of tiny Culpepper help Foster succeed?

Friesen, J. (2008). Jerk, California.  New York, N.Y: Speak.  Plagued by Tourette’s syndrome and a stepfather who despises him, Sam meets an old man in his small Minnesota town who sends him on a road trip designed to help him discover the truth about his life.

Fusco, K. N. (2004). Tending to Grace. New York: Knopf. Cornelia is shy and withdrawn because of her stutter. She feels even lonelier when her mother drops her off to live with an eccentric great-aunt in a rundown farmhouse. But slowly and warily Cornelia and her aunt learn to share their strengths with each other.  (F FUS)

Mass, W. (2003). A Mango-Shaped Space: A novel. New York: Little, Brown. Afraid that she is crazy, thirteen-year-old Mia, who sees a special color with every letter, number, and sound, keeps this a secret until she becomes overwhelmed by school, changing relationships, and the loss of something important to her.

O’Connor, B. (1999). Me and Rupert Goody. New York: Frances Foster Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Eleven-year-old 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.

Philbrick, W.R. (2001). Freak the Mighty. New York: Scholastic. At the beginning of eighth grade, Max, who has a learning disability, 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.

Trueman, T. (2003). Inside Out. New York: HarperTempest. A sixteen-year-old with schizophrenia is caught up in the events surrounding an attempted robbery by two other teens who eventually hold him hostage.

Warman, J. (2009). Breathless. New York: Walker. At boarding school, Katie tries to focus on swimming and becoming popular instead of the painful memories of her institutionalized schizophrenic older brother.