Positive portrayals of disabilities in children's fiction

[steviesmith]

I was set the task of finding books featuring children with disabilities as part of my librarian studies.

My 3yr old DS's collection of books feature a couple of children in wheelchairs and the local library is no better really. So can anyone recommend any good books, ones with proper plots rather than thinly disguised discussions of issues?

Any age group really but I'm particularly interested in younger children.

I have two books by Tamarind called Boots for a Bridesmaid and Are We Nearly There Yet?

They both have nice plots involving children and parents, don't mention disability but the pictures show the (capable and independent) parents using wheelchairs.

I'd say they were suitable for pre-schoolers.

Dont call me special is good, but very much an overt discussion of issues. For older children the london eye mystery by siobahn dowd has a character on the autistic syndrome.

Thank you both. I'll look out for your recommendations.

This isn't exactly what you're asking for, but the film version of "How To Teain Your Dragon" ends up with Hiccup having a prosthetic leg (like a blade), and riding off on his (prosthetic winged) dragon. Not in the book though.

Thanks meditrina, it's interesting to hear about the film. One of the best examples I could think of was the film "Finding Nemo."

Not sure about physical disability, but Anne fine wrote a sensitive book about a child called soli who suffered from some kind of self harming mental condition - possibly a form of depression? And her book "Tulip"(or similar - I'm not in front of the bookshelves!) confronts similar difficult issues of difference. She writes wonderfully on a whole range of topics - I seem to remember that "how to write really badly" is about dyslexia or similar? Why don't you get in touch with her and ask. I bet she has tackled physical disabilities too. And there is always a great narrative story.

My dd loved CHF publication "Rosie goes red, Violet goes blue" and read it to her class at school, about child with congenital heart defect.

Scope has a project on including images of children with disabilities in children's books. The website is here

Should be helpful :)

www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Bottle-Mystery-Adventure-Adventures/dp/1853029785/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Dd says they're good

Jean Ure in her previous incarnation as an author for teens wrote See You Thursday, and After Thursday about the romance between Marianne and Abe who is blind. She also wrote about a boy having a breakdown in If It Weren't For Sebastian.

Just Because by Rebecca Elliott (a picture book for younger children) is narrated by a little boy talking about his sister Clemmie who is profoundly physical and mentally disabled.

There is also "red sky in the morning" by Elizabeth laird, about a little girl whose baby brother Ben is born profoundly disabled.

Jacqueline Wilson's Sleepovers has a heroine with a disabled sister.

from a few years ago, there was an author called Jane Stemp who had disabilities herself and wrote 2 teenage novels with disabled heroines, I think they were called Waterbound and Secret Songs.

actually I've just remembered, the heroine in Waterbound wasn't disabled herself but virtually all the other characters were.

are you including classics with weird and cliched portrayals - Heidi, The Secret Garden, Dombey and Son (isn't Paul Dombey an invalid?)

Thank you all. The scope website is great.

It would be really interesting if there were any classics with positive portrayals of disability but I can't think of anything. They all seem to be insipid heroes like Tiny Tim or What Katy did or villains like Long John Silver.

this might be a bit young but Ian's walk is lovely. My husband and I ended up all choked reading it.

If you were including asthma in "disabling conditions" then the Seven Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix has a 12yo boy with severe asthma as a hero (he loses it magically but he starts off with it)

Also, Terry Pratchett has an asthmatic boy, Bigmac, in his "Johnny" series.

Can't think of any others at the moment - agree that the classics are not very good with disability (reflection of society at the time).

Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray is a beautiful story about a prince who can neither hear nor speak. The illustrations are stunning and the story quite charming.

This might be way too young, but I have a baby signing book of animals and each animal is signed by a picture of a toddler and there are some with hearing aids, etc.

www.pricerunner.co.uk/pl/802-66573120/Books/My-First-Animal-Signs-(Baby-Signing)-(BSL)-Compare-Prices

found this while I was trying to work out which tv show it is that I've seen (children's) that has a black child in a wheelchair with such severe asthma that he can only speak 2 words at a time. Anyway - the link has a Literature section which gives some other sources of books that might be of interest to you.

"which tv show it is that I've seen (children's) that has a black child in a wheelchair with such severe asthma that he can only speak 2 words at a time."

Malocolm in the middle isn't it?

From ages ago Deenie by Judy Blume, where the heroine is a girl with scoliosis. Also, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, but I'm not sure how much this is aimed at children.

Yes it is tabulahrasa! Thank you for setting my mind at ease :)

Izzy, willy nilly, is about a girl who loses a leg and has to adjust. Deenie, by judy Blume is about a girl with scoliosis.

Cross post!