Neurodiversity Booklist

Recommended reads for children and teens

Updated May 8, 2024
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
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...
Aaron Slater, illustrator
Beaty, Andrea
Paper Book
Aaron Slater loves listening to stories and dreams of one day writing them himself. But when it comes to reading, the letters just look like squiggles to him, and it soon becomes clear he struggles more than his peers. When his teacher asks each child in the class to write a story, Aaron can't...
I am odd, I am new
Giroux, Benjamin
Paper Book
View the world through the eyes of a 10-year old boy with autism and a poem he wrote for a school assignment Foreword by the National Autism Association "I am odd, I am new. I wonder if you are too. I hear voices in the air. I see you don't, and that's not fair." ...
I am a masterpiece! : an empowering story about inclusivity and growing up with Down Syndrome
Armstrong, Mia
Paper Book
Tween actress Mia Armstrong celebrates her fun, funny, beautiful childhood living with Down syndrome in this debut picture book. Mia likes many of the things other people like--going to the beach, the color blue, drawing. But she doesn't like when strangers stare at her because...
Good different
Kuyatt, Meg Eden
Paper Book
A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book An extraordinary novel-in-verse for fans of Starfish and A Kind of Spark about a neurodivergent girl who comes to understand and celebrate her difference. Selah knows her rules for being normal. She always, always...
Also available as an eBook.
Honestly Elliott
McDunn, Gillian
Paper Book
Schneider Family Book Award: Best Middle Grade Honor Book! Highly-acclaimed author of Caterpillar Summer, Gillian McDunn explores boyhood in a funny, big-hearted story about a kid trying to find the best way to be his best self. ...
Growing pangs
Ormsbee, Kathryn
Paper Book
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR . A PARENTS MAGAZINE BEST BOOK Inspired by a true story! Eleven-year old homeschooled Katie has always felt different . . . and now she can't stop worrying. Introducing an irresistibly relatable graphic novel about friendship, anxiety...
Also available as an eBook.
Buzzing
Sattin, Samuel
Paper Book
2024 Eisner-Nominated for Best Publication for Kids * A 2024 ALA Notable Children's Book * New York Public Library Best Book of 2023  ★ "Heartwarming [and] authentic" --Shelf Awareness, starred review
Also available as an eBook.
Just roll with it
Durfey-Lavoie, Lee
Paper Book
Starting middle school is hard enough when you don't know anyone; it's even harder when you're shy. A contemporary middle-grade graphic novel for fans of Guts and Real Friends about how dealing with anxiety and OCD can affect everyday life. As long as Maggie rolls...
Wonderfully wired brains
Gooding, Louise
Paper Book
An informative and inclusive children's guide to neurodiversity for those not in the know and to inspire children who are neurodivergent. Our brains are unique in the way they function, work, and think. Neurodiversity is still a relatively 'new' concept that can be tricky to...
The Luis Ortega survival club /Sonora Reyes
Reyes, Sonora
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of the National Book Award Finalist The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School comes a revenge story told with nuance, heart, and the possibility of healing. Ariana Ruiz wants to be noticed. But as an autistic girl who never talks, she goes largely...
This is the way the world ends : a novel
Wilde, Jen
Paper Book
Fans of One of Us Is Lying and The Hazel Wood are cordially invited to spend one fateful night surviving an elite private school's epic masquerade ball in Jen Wilde's debut thriller, This Is the Way the World Ends. As an autistic scholarship student at the...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.