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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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. A robust author's note brings further detail and highlights Evelyn's own voice. ...

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)

The girl who figured it out
Dentler, Minda
Paper Book
The uplifting true story of Minda Dentler, the first female wheelchair athlete to complete the Ironman World Championship triathlon. Minda Dentler made history when she became the first female wheelchair athlete to complete the world's toughest triathlon, using only her arms to...
A wheelchair athlete reflects on the ways her family support, problem-solving skills, and individual determination helped her embrace her love of sports. (Children's Nonfiction Age 5-8)
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
The #1 New York Times bestselling picture book by Tiffany Hammond, the creator of the popular Fidgets and Fries platform, invites readers into the life of an Autistic family who communicate without spoken language. Aidan doesn't talk with words. He uses a tablet,...

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...

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

I talk like a river
Scott, Jordan
Other
Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner A New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year 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?

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
From the creators of A Friend for Henry and Henry, Like Always comes a delightful beginning chapter book about embracing new experiences, starring a sweet and sensitive child on the autism spectrum. It's Field Trip Day Henry's class is excited to visit t

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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