Children's Book Suggestions | Disability Pride Month Picture Books

A diverse selection of picture books celebrating a variety of disabilities, including neurodivergence.

Looking for more children's books about the disability experience? Try our Disability Pride Month Chapter Books list for readers in Grades 2-7 and the American Library Association's Schneider Family Book Award winners & honor books.

Updated May 17, 2024
LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County)Oregon City Public Library
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What happened to you?
Catchpole, James
Paper Book
The first ever picture book addressing how a disabled child might want to be spoken to. What happened to you? Was it a shark? A burglar? A lion? Did it fall off? Every time Joe goes out the questions are the same . . . what...

An award-winning story from English author James Catchpole, who uses gentle humor to navigate an all-too-common question asked of people with visible disabilities. (Picture Book Age 4-8)

Different : a great thing to be!
Avis, Heather
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER . This joyful rhyming book encourages children to value the "different" in all people, leading the way to a kinder world in which the differences in all of us are celebrated and embraced. Macy is a girl who's a lot like you and me, but she's also...

A young girl with Down syndrome encourages readers to see differences of all kinds as something to be valued and celebrated. (Picture Book Age 3-8)

Sam's super seats
Brown, Keah
Paper Book
A joyful picture book about a disabled girl with cerebral palsy who goes back-to-school shopping with her best friends, from #DisabledandCute creator and The Pretty One author Keah Brown. Sam loves herself, learning, and making her family and friends laugh. She also loves...

An author with cerebral palsy shares an inclusive back-to-school shopping story about the various seats that help a young girl with CP enjoy a day at the mall with her friends. (Picture Book Age 4-8)

Listen : how Evelyn Glennie, a deaf girl, changed percussion
Stocker, Shannon
Paper Book
* Schneider Family Book Award Winner * A gorgeous and empowering picture book biography about Evelyn Glennie, a deaf woman, who became the first full-time solo percussionist in the world. "No. You can't," people said. But Evelyn knew she could. She...

Deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie used her bare feet to feel the sounds of the orchestra around her and changed the musical world for D/deaf and hard of musicians everywhere. (Children's Nonfiction Age 4-8)

My city speaks
Lebeuf, Darren
Paper Book
A young visually impaired girl and her father spend a day in the city, her city, travelling to the places they go together: the playground, the community garden, the market, an outdoor concert. As they do, the girl describes what she senses in delightfully precise, poetic detail. Her city, she says,...

A girl and her dad set out to spend a day in their city in this sensory exploration of sound, smell, taste, and touch. (Picture Book Age 3-7)

The black book of colors
Cottin, Menena.
Paper Book
A New York Times Book Review choice as one of the 10 Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2008 It is very hard for a sighted person to imagine what it is like to be blind. This groundbreaking, award-winning book endeavors to convey the experience of a person who can only see through his or...
Braille and textured illustrations provide a tactile guide to colors as experienced through touch in an accessible book for both sighted and non-sighted readers. (Picture Book Age 4-8)
A day with no words
Hammond, Tiffany
Paper Book
An instant #1 New York Times bestselling picture book and Dolly Gray Award winner! A Day With No Words invites readers into the life of an Autism Family who communicates just as the child does, without spoken language. The American Library Association Booklist...

A day of ups and downs in the life of a nonverbal boy, showing all of the ways he communicates with friends, family, and his community. (Picture Book Age 4-8)

A walk in the words
Talbott, Hudson
Paper Book
Winner of a Schneider Family Honor! "A beautifully rendered and deeply inspiring book for everyone who has ever read slowly-myself included! Hudson shows us the beauty and magic that can come from taking our time. Brilliant."-Jacqueline Woodson Hudson Talbott's...

A neurodivergent author shares a story inspired by his childhood struggles with reading as a nontraditional learner. (Picture Book Age 4-8)

Out into the big wide lake
Harbridge, Paul
Paper Book
An empowering and necessary picture book about a young girl with Down syndrome who gains confidence and independence through a visit to her grandparents.

A trip to her grandparents' lakeside store helps a girl with Down syndrome develop the skills and confidence to step in when her grandfather is unable to make his usual deliveries by boat. (Picture Book Age 4-8)

What color is the wind?
Herbauts, Anne
Paper Book
A blind child questions all he encounters--a dog, wolf, elephant, mountain, bird, stream, and tree--about the color of the wind. Each responds differently, with a shape, color, smell, texture, or idea. Each page displays a visual and tactile palette of cutouts, textures, colors. It is a sensory...

Textured illustrations make this book about sensory perceptions accessible to sighted and non-sighted readers alike. (Picture Book Age 5+)

Rescue & Jessica : a life-changing friendship
Kensky, Jessica
Paper Book
A 2019 Schneider Family Book Award Winner Based on a real-life partnership, the heartening story of the love and teamwork between a girl and her service dog will illuminate and inspire. Rescue thought he'd grow up to be a Seeing Eye dog -- it's the family business,...

Inspired by the true story of Jessica's dog Rescue, who trained to be a service dog and joined her family after Jessica and her husband were injured in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. (Picture Book Age 5-9)

Best day ever!
Singer, Marilyn
Paper Book
A sweet dog-loves-kid/kid-loves-dog story, in which the kid uses a wheelchair, from an award-winning children's poet and talented debut illustrator. This playful puppy thinks she's having the best day ever! She's so happy to be out with her friend, she doesn...

Despite some setbacks, a puppy and her boy enjoy a day of playing and exploring together. (Picture Book Age 4-7)

Every body : a celebration of diverse abilities
Rotner, Shelley
Paper Book
Join this photographic celebration of differing physical and neurological abilities from a National Geographic photographer. We have different ways to move around. Celebrating children of different abilities, this photographic book presents large, clear images of...
Vibrant photos show kids with all sorts of visible and invisible differences playing and learning together, celebrating the many ways our different bodies experience the world. (Picture Book Age 3-6)
I talk like a river
Scott, Jordan
Paper Book
Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner 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? Sometimes it takes a change of perspective to get...

A trip to the river with his father helps a young boy see his stutter in a new way after a bad speech day at school in this story based on a true event from the author's childhood. (Picture Book Age 4-8)

Just ask! : be different, be brave, be you
Sotomayor, Sonia
Paper Book
Justice Sonia Sotomayor and award-winning artist Rafael Lopez create a kind and caring book about the differences that make each of us unique. A #1 New York Times bestseller! Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award! Feeling different,...

Inspired by Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor's experiences as a child with Type 1 diabetes, this book shares the ways people of all abilities contribute to their communities as young Sonia and her friends plant a garden. (Picture Book Age 4-8)

Henry and the something new
Bailey, Jenn
Paper Book
"Relatable characters, familiar scenarios, and gentle humor make this a remarkably satisfying read." --Horn Book Magazine, Starred Review  From the creators of the Schneider Award-winning books A Friend for Henry and...

This early reader series, based on Bailey's award-winning picture book A Friend for Henry, explores the joys and challenges of an elementary school classroom for a kid who appears to be on the autism spectrum. Gentle, empathetic, and never preachy. (Easy Readers Level 4)


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