Children's Books About
Disabilities and Handicaps

These children's books about disabilities and handicaps were recommended on more than one highly regarded list.

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Appearing on 6 bibliotherapy lists

• Where's Chimpy? (Down's Syndrome) by Berniece Rabe

Appearing on 5 bibliotherapy lists

• Be Good to Eddie Lee (Down's Syndrome) by Virginia Fleming
• Someone Special, Just Like You (assorted disabilities) by Tricia Brown

Appearing on 4 bibliotherapy lists

• Big Brother Dustin (Down's Syndrome) by Alden R. Carter
• How Smudge Came (Down's Syndrome) by Nan Gregory
• Howie Helps Himself (Cerebral Palsy) by Joan Fassler
• Knots on a Counting Rope (Blindness) by Bill Martin Jr.
• My Brother, Matthew (Brain Injury) by Mary Thompson
• Talking to Angels (Autism) by Esther Watson

Appearing on 3 bibliotherapy lists

• A Very Special Critter (wheelchair) by Gina Mayer
• About Handicaps: An Open Family Book for Parents and Children Together by Sara Bonnett Stein.
• Andy and His Yellow Frisbee (Autism) by M. Thompson
• Andy Finds a Turtle (Cerebral Palsy) by Nan Holcomb
• Dad and Me in the Morning (Deafness) by P. Lakin
• Extraordinary People With Disabilities by Deborah Kent
• Harry and Willy and Carrothead (prosthesis) by Judith Caseley
• I Have a Sister, My Sister Is Deaf by Jeanne Peterson
• Ian's Walk : A Story About Autism by Laurie Lears
• My Buddy (Muscular Dystrophy) by Audrey Osofsky
• Nick Joins In (wheelchair) by Joe Lasker
• Our Brother Has Down's Syndrome by Shelley Cairo, Jasmine Cairo, Tara Cairo
• Our Teacher's in a Wheelchair by Mary Ellen Powers
• Radiance Descending (Down's Syndrome) by Paula Fox
• See You Tomorrow, Charles (Blindness) by Miriam Cohen
• The Balancing Girl (wheelchair and crutches) by Berniece Rabe
• The Berenstain Bears and the Wheelchair Commando by Stan Berenstain
• The Storm (wheelchair) by Marc Harshman
• Views From Our Shoes: Growing Up With A Brother Or Sister With Special Needs edited by Donald J. Meyer

Children's books about disabilities and handicaps

The books above are fiction and non-fiction, picture books and mostly text. For that reason, you'll want to find out more about them to determine which is right for a particular situation.

This library locator finds the libraries nearest you.

Bibliotherapy is the use of books to help children understand, cope and heal. On the bibliotherapy page you can learn more and also find lists of children's books appropriate for other situations.

This list of children's books about disabilities was compiled by consulting some of the best bibliotherapy booklists on the subject (from the US and Britain) and finding the books that were common to more than one list.

The ten sources I consulted were:

• Birmingham (UK) Public Libraries
• C.S. Mott Children's Hospital
• Canisius College (NY)
• Monroe County (IN) Public Library
• Nancy Keane's Children's Literature Webpage
• National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
• Our-Kids.org
• teachervision.com
• Univ. of S. Carolina Medicine Library
• Worcester (MA) Public Library

(This longer list of children's books about disabilities features those books that appeared on lists by two of the above sources.)

Amazon search results for children's books about disabilities.

The Best Children's Books - Find, Read or Write home page.