In a world where teens spend more time on social media communicating with friends than they do communicating in person, mental illness and mental illness awareness has continued to rise. Teens are more likely to be depressed and society has shed light on this issue. It is no longer taboo to admit suffering from depression or even anxiety. Cancer, especially childhood cancer, is often the charity of choice. Commercials and events to raise money for finding a cure occur often. However, there are many other disabilities and illnesses that affect teens every day. Students with a disability or illness that does not get regular notice face unique challenges. They may struggle to find books with characters similar to themselves and may find their peers do not know how to treat them.
The five books in this list showcase characters with disabilities and illnesses that are not often in the public eye. Readers will meet characters on transplant lists, some suffering from cystic fibrosis, liver disease, arthritis, and alopecia; a girl living in a hearing world as a deaf person; a boy who is a double amputee; and even a teen with depression. Readers will have their eyes opened to the social and emotional experiences of teens with disabilities and illness. These teens may have additional challenges to overcome but they can still learn, be great friends and live life fully.
How We Roll by Natasha Friend
When your brother has autism, your parents may not pay as much attention to you- at least, that’s how Quinn feels. Quinn has problems too that come in the form of cruel jokes about her bald head, a result of alopecia. But Quinn has a chance to start over when her family moves across the country so her brother can attend a school specifically equipped to help children like Julius.
Jake’s world changed after a snow mobile accident resulting in Jake losing both of his legs. Now Jake is wheelchair-bound, or so he lets people think because he is too embarrassed to use his prostheses. Quinn and Jake form a friendship that will help both become more comfortable in their “new” skin. Starting over is difficult, but with a little encouragement, “new” is not the worst thing for these freshmen.
Natasha Friend showcases two characters with disabilities in How We Roll. Friend even includes a minor character who has autism. The relationship between Quinn’s family demonstrates how children with autism can make life unexpected. Readers see how Quinn loves her brother but also struggles with feeling as if her problems are not as important. Although Quinn may avoid telling her parents about being bullied, her parents make a great effort to ensure she feels loved and cared for. In Jake’s story, readers are subtly made aware of the dangers of drinking and driving. Jake is angry at his brother and his circumstances, but his friendship with Quinn brings a new perspective to his situation. Friend does an excellent job showcasing different disabilities that affect people both mentally and physically. In this short novel, readers get to experience how the characters’ lives are changed when a medical issue impacts their physical appearance.
*How We Roll is available through Interlibrary Loan.*
The Arrival of Someday by Jen Malone
Amelia, Lia for short, did not expect to leave a roller derby bout in an ambulance, but when she starts vomiting blood, she doesn’t have a choice. At the hospital, Lia and her parents learn her biliary atresia, a rare liver disease she was born with, is now causing problems again. Lia’s doctor puts her on the donor list, but Lia does not want to admit she might be dying. Lia traverses all the stages of denial and grief as she comes to terms with her liver disease. Lia’s best friend, Sibby, tries to help by doing all she can to get classmates and community members to register as organ donors. Lia’s brother sends his best friend, Will, to be a support while he is away at college. Will is the only one that can keep Lia’s mind off her liver. However, eventually Lia must come to terms with her disease; she does so through sad videos, TED talks, and her chalk art.
Jen Malone sheds light on the experiences of a teen waiting for a lifesaving organ. Although Malone writes most of the book from Lia’s viewpoint, readers still catch glimpses of how this liver disease affects those closest to Lia. Each of the characters seem to handle the news that Lia is dying unless she gets a liver. Her parents must make some tough decisions about how to give Lia the greatest chance of success. Lia’s best friend puts her heart into the cause of signing up organ donors. Her big brother acts like a typical big brother when facing a situation like this. Malone includes some unexpected twists that tug at the heart strings. This book started out with a gripping scene and moves toward teen angst but redeems itself when Lia begins to come into her own. Not only is Lia coming to terms with her possible death, but she also must learn who she is. Malone expertly weaves an illness into a journey of self-discovery and friendship.
*The Arrival of Someday is available through Interlibrary Loan.*
The Silence Between Us by Alison Gervais
Maya is deaf and about to start her senior year of high school at a hearing school. Maya is not exactly thrilled about this situation, but for her mother’s sake she is going to make the best of it. Beau, one of Maya’s classmates, is surprised that Maya can speak even though she is deaf. Maya yells at Beau for his blunder of a comment, leading Beau to learn sign language. Can Maya let her guard down and be friends with the hearing kids at her school? Beau continues to wear down Maya’s walls with his efforts to communicate with her, even coming to her rescue as an interpreter when Maya’s brother must go to the emergency room due to cystic fibrosis complications. As Maya builds friendships with hearing people, she learns that it is okay to be like herself as deaf and have deaf friends, but she can also have deep relationships with hearing people as well.
Gervais also writes a book that includes more than one character with a disability: Maya, who contracted meningitis as a young child and became deaf as a result, and her brother, who has cystic fibrosis. Maya’s brother plays a minor role in the novel; however, his cystic fibrosis greatly impacts Maya’s character and future plans. Throughout the novel, Gervais highlights how people who can hear are widely unaware of how deafness can impact a person’s life. Readers see that people who are deaf have various abilities. Maya can speak because she could hear and talk before her illness, but she does not want a cochlear implant because she likes herself as a deaf person. Maya does realize that deafness could cause some major challenges if she wants to become a respiratory therapist. Gervais focuses on the relationship between Maya and Beau, a hearing boy. Maya reluctantly gives Beau a chance after he repeatedly puts effort into learning sign language. Although the book is about Maya, Beau is a major high point to this book. Readers see how a teen without a disability learns to understand a student with a disability. As a hard-of-hearing person herself, Gervais does an excellent job of incorporating both spoken and sign language into her novel.
*The Silence Between Us can be found on the 2nd floor in the recreational reading collection.*
Just Breathe by Cammie McGovern
Jamie and David meet at the hospital where Jamie volunteers and David is being treated for cystic fibrosis complications. Soon a secret friendship develops; both Jamie and David feel they are more themselves in their email conversations and hospital origami sessions. But their friendship isn’t the only secret. Jamie suffers from depression and spent several months at the hospital after a suicide attempt. David has only now begun to admit the seriousness of his cystic fibrosis and how he feels he now has true friends. David is getting worse physically and is put on the lung transplant list; Jamie seems to be the one bright spot in all this. David convinces Jamie to sneak him out of the hospital for some fresh air. It does not seem like a big problem because David seems to get better after each outing until it doesn’t, and David ends up in the ICU. David’s family blames Jamie for what happened and tries to sue the hospital, which means Jamie is not allowed to see David or know what is happening to him.
Cammie McGovern writes a compelling novel about two teens who form an unlikely friendship. Both characters are suffering from a disability; while David’s is more obvious, it seems that he is more in denial. Jamie, on the other hand, suffers from an unseen mental illness: depression. Jamie is not in denial about her depression but is also hiding it from all her peers. McGovern accurately writes about the ways that depression and a crush can impact a teen’s decision-making skills. Just Breathe, written from both David and Jamie’s points of view, incorporates a bit of fantasy as David’s subconscious tells part of the story while he is in the ICU. Readers also see the contrasting parenting styles between David and Jamie’s parents and even Jamie’s mother compared to her father. As both David and Jamie are experiencing major illnesses, it is beneficial that McGovern included parental relationships in the book. Although both teens have struggles not common to all teens, they do struggle with friend and romantic relationships as well as figuring out who they are as all teens do.
*Just Breathe is available in our recreational reading collection on the 2nd floor.*
Cursed by Karol Ruth Silverstein
Ricky loves to curse because she is cursed, or at least her body is. Ricky is a ninth-grade student at a middle school. Ricky’s diagnosis of juvenile arthritis makes it difficult for her to walk, leading to some major changes in her life: 1. moving into the Batch Pad with her dad, 2. losing all her friends, 3. skipping school, that is, until she gets caught. Now, her dad is paying attention to what she is doing every day and makes sure the school provides appropriate accommodations for her. Mr. Jenkins, Ricky’s public speaking teacher, decides after school sessions are the best way for Ricky to make up all the classes she has missed. Things start looking better when Ricky becomes friends with Oliver, a childhood cancer survivor. Oliver and Mr. Jenkins help Ricky learn the value of friendship and words, as well as the importance of standing up for what you believe in. Maybe Ricky isn’t so cursed after all.
In Cursed, Silverstein writes from Ricky’s point-of-view. In the beginning, Ricky and her parents are setting a bad example about how to handle unexpected illness. However, Silverstein redeems the family after Ricky is caught skipping school. Silverstein showcases Ricky’s stages of acceptance about her arthritis. She begins the novel having a pity party for herself. She refuses to go to school and enjoys cursing. However, with changes in doctors, new friends, and better relationships with her parents, and even the mentorship of her teacher, Ricky begins to accept her new normal. Silverstein does an excellent job of explaining how challenging it was for Ricky to have an illness that no one knows about in comparison to her best friend Oliver that had a disease everyone knows about. Cursed shows that all students respond to a peer’s illness differently; some respond kindly and others cruelly. Silverstein also shows that friends can make mistakes, but forgiveness is possible. As someone who suffers from arthritis, Silverstein understands the pain that impacted Ricky’s daily life. At the end of the novel, Ricky learns that her new friends also have issues that are seemingly unseen to others and that friends support each other.
*Cursed is available for checkout from the recreational reading (rec reads) collection.*
The five books mentioned above provide readers with a look at students who have a disability but still include the typical experiences of a teen. All the characters learn about themselves as people not defined by their disability or illness. In all the books, except The Arrival of Someday, the authors include more than one character with a disability. The majority of these disabilities are unrelated to the character’s mental abilities. Teens will be able to relate to how the books focus on relationships of all types. Readers can learn how to interact with students with disabilities and understand that students with disabilities experience the same things as other teens.
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