The Diverse Families bookshelf was created and funded through numerous grants. Due to lack of additional grants and the loss of key personnel, the project has come to an end. We have tremendously enjoyed creating this database and hope that it can help bring readers and books together.

Browse by Health & Disability:

Physical Disability

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The One Where the Kid Nearly Jumps to His Death and Lands in California

Mary Hershey

Alastair, a thirteen-year-old who calls himself "Stump" because of his amputated leg, must face a summer at his wealthy but estranged father's beach house in Los Angeles, where he meets his stepmother, falls in love with a teenaged soap opera star, and decides to train for a race with a former Olympic swim coach.
The People of Twelve Thousand Winters

Trinka Hakes Noble

Ten-year-old Walking Turtle, of the Lenni-Lenape tribe, is close to his younger cousin, Little Talk, who has difficulty walking and worries about what will become of him when the time comes for Walking Turtle to leave his childhood friends to begin training at warrior school.
The Pirate of Kindergarden

Georgle Ella Lyon

Ginny's eyes play tricks on her, making her see everything double, but when she goes to vision screening at school and discovers that not everyone sees this way, she learns that her double vision can be cured.
The Proposal (Christy Series #5)

C. Archer and Catherine Marshall

Blinded in a riding accident, Christy has self-doubts about resuming her career and accepting the town minister's marriage proposal.
There's Only One You

Kathryn Heling and Deborah Hembrook

Celebrate your individuality with this picture book that honors all the wonderful things that make you . . . you.--.
The Road Back: Living with a Physical Disability

Harriet Sirof

Examines the various ways in which young people cope with sudden physical disabilities and learn to live again after serious injuries or illnesses.
The Running Dream

Wendelin Van Draanen

Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run? As she struggles to cope with crutches and a first cyborg-like prosthetic, Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there. Which she could handle better if she weren't now keenly aware that she'd done the same thing herself to a girl with CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all the math she's missed. A girl who sees right into the heart of her. With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that's not enough for her now. She doesn't just want to cross finish lines herself—she wants to take Rosa with her.
The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly

Stephanie Oakes

A handless teen escapes from a cult, only to find herself in juvenile detention and suspected of knowing who murdered her cult leader.
The Ship of the Dead

Rick Riordan

Magnus and his friends set sail for the farthest borders of Jotunheim and Niflheim in pursuit of Asgard's greatest threat, Loki's demonic ship full of zombies.
The Sound of All Things

Myron Uhlberg

A hearing boy and his deaf parents from Brooklyn enjoy the rides, food, and sights of 1930's Coney Island where the father longs to know about how everything sounds and his son tries to interpret the noisy surroundings through sign language and a wealth of new words learned from a trip to the library.
The Storm

Marc Harshman

Though confined to a wheelchair, Johnathan faces the terror of a tornado all by himself and saves the lives of the horses on the family farm. Full-color illustrations.
The Storm Runner

Jennifer Cervantes

To prevent the Mayan gods from battling each other and destroying the world, thirteen-year-old Zane must unravel an ancient prophecy, stop an evil god, and discover how the physical disability that makes him reliant on a cane also connects him to his father and his ancestry.
The Storyteller's Beads

Jane Kurtz

During the political strife and famine of the 1980's, two Ethiopian girls, one Christian and the other Jewish and blind, struggle to overcome many difficulties, including their prejudices about each other, as they make the dangerous journey out of Ethiopia.
The Truly Brave Princesses

Dolores Brown

Princess Nin is a firefighter, Princess Gilda is a supermarket cashier, Princess Agnes is retired, and Princess Liang is in a wheel chair. This gallery of princesses gives visibility to lot of women who do not fit with the traditional conception of a princess. Maybe it’s time to realize that each and every one of us could be a princess.
The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle

Leslie Connor

Mason Buttle is the biggest, sweatiest kid in his grade, and everyone knows he can barely read or write. Mason’s learning disabilities are compounded by grief. Fifteen months ago, Mason’s best friend, Benny Kilmartin, turned up dead in the Buttle family’s orchard. An investigation drags on, and Mason, honest as the day is long, can’t understand why Lieutenant Baird won’t believe the story Mason has told about that day. Both Mason and his new friend, tiny Calvin Chumsky, are relentlessly bullied by the other boys in their neighborhood, so they create an underground haven for themselves. When Calvin goes missing, Mason finds himself in trouble again. He’s desperate to figure out what happened to Calvin and, eventually, Benny. But will anyone believe him?
The War That Saved My Life

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

A young disabled girl and her brother are evacuated from London to the English countryside during World War II, where they find life to be much sweeter away from their abusive mother.
The Window

Jeanette Ingold

Mandy survived the terrible accident that killed her mother, but she was left blind and alone. Now she lives with relatives she doesn't know, attends a new school, and tries to make friends--all the while struggling to function without sight. Her unpredictable life takes its strangest turn when she begins to hear the oddest things through the window of her attic room. In fact, what she hears--and seems to "see"--are events that happened years ago, before she was even born.
Things Not Seen

Andrew Clements

Bobby Phillips is an average fifteen-year-old-boy. Until the morning he wakes up and can't see himself in the mirror. Not blind, not dreaming-Bobby is just plain invisible. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to Bobby's new condition; even his dad the physicist can't figure it out. For Bobby that means no school, no friends, no life. He's a missing person. Then he meets Alicia. She's blind, and Bobby can't resist talking to her, trusting her. But people are starting to wonder where Bobby is. Bobby knows that his invisibility could have dangerous consequences for his family and that time is running out. He has to find out how to be seen again-before it's too late.
This is Kind of an Epic Love Story

Kheryn Callender

Budding screenwriter Nate, sixteen, finds his conviction that happy endings do not happen in real life sorely tested when his childhood best friend and crush, Oliver James Hernandez, moves back to town
Three Little Words

Sarah N. Harvey

When Sid leaves his foster family on their remote island home in search of the mother he doesn't remember and a brother he's never met, he's ill-prepared for the surprises he finds.
Tiger's Fall

Molly Bang

After eleven-year-old Lupe is partially paralyzed in an accident in her Mexican village, other handicapped people help her realize that her life can still have purpose.
Tigger And Jasper's New Home

Cheryl Gillespie

A heart warming story of two kittens who through amusing happenings in their new home soon learn that Christie, their guardian, is blind.Sharing her true experiences of Tigger and Jasper, the author, blind from early childhood, gently acquaints children to Christie, a young blind woman.With expression and humor, the story comes to life as captivated by the brilliant illustrations of Michael LeBlanc.
Trouper

Meg Kearney

Trooper, a three-legged dog, remembers his life as a stray, before he was adopted.
Unbelievably Boring Bart

James Patterson and Duane Swierczynski

Invisible creatures are attacking the school and 12-year-old Bartholomew Bean is the only one who can stop them! Okay, so maybe Bart is only a hero in the video game app he created. But if he reveals his identity as the genius behind the game, he'll become the most popular kid in school! Or he could secretly use the game to get back at his bullies. Press Button A- Reveal. Press Button B- Revenge. Which would you choose?
Unbroken

Marieke Nijkamp

This anthology explores disability in fictional tales told from the viewpoint of disabled characters, written by disabled creators. With stories in various genres about first loves, friendship, war, travel, and more, Unbroken will offer today's teen readers a glimpse into the lives of disabled people in the past, present, and future.