Disability Visibility - Picture Books

We’ve gathered together picture books that feature young people with disabilities. Many are memoirs or fiction that draw upon the authors’ own experiences. We hope you find books here to share with your family that can serve as mirrors for children with disabilities and doorways to deepen understanding and empathy for all.

Updated June 13, 2025
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You're so amazing!
Catchpole, James
Paper Book
A Schneider Family Book Award Honor book! ​In this authentic and humorous picture book, a child with a limb difference is tired of being told how amazing he is for doing normal things. Joe and his friend Simone are practicing their best playground...
We want to go to school! : the fight for disability rights
Cocca-Leffler, Maryann
Paper Book
A Junior Library Guild Selection February 2022 The true story of the people who helped make every public school a more inclusive place. There was a time in the United States when millions of children with disabilities weren't allowed to go to...
I will dance
Flood, Bo
Paper Book
This poetic and uplifting picture book illustrated by the #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator of We Are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines follows a young girl born with cerebral palsy as she pursues her dream of becoming a dancer. Like many young girls, Eva longs...
Monster hands
Kane, Karen
Paper Book
A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Two best friends use rhyming ASL to help vanquish their fear of the monster under the bed in this fun, interactive bedtime readaloud. When nighttime comes, Milo has a problem--he's convinced there's a monster under his bed! Luckily...
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,...
Dancing hands : a story of friendship in Filipino sign language
Que, Joanna
Paper Book
A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book An Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Honor Winner Read the world to change the world! This artful picture book about friendship and sign language, originally published in the Philippines in concert with nonprofit Room to Read, is beautifully...
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...
Ali and the sea stars
Stroker, Ali
Paper Book
Tony Award-winning actress Ali Stroker captures the magic and community of theater in her debut picture book, about a spirited girl in a wheelchair who stages a show for her hometown. Based on the pivotal summer Ali performed in her first musical by the Jersey Shore! Ali...

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