Campbell Hall

Handicapped Fiction Bibliography

J Lit

Little, Jean. Take wing. [1st ed.]. Boston: Little, Brown, [1968].

When Mother is hospitalized, everyone in the Ross household must finally face the long ignored problem that seven-year-old James is not a baby, a slow learner, or lazy, but mentally retarded.

J Lai

Laird, Elizabeth. Loving Ben. New York: Delacorte Press, [1989].

Anna's teen years bring maturity and fulfillment as she experiences the birth and death of a loved and loving hydrocephalic brother, changing ideas about character in both boyfriends and girlfriends, and working with a child with Down's syndrome.

F Mat 6/90/Mathis

Mathis, Sharon Bell. Listen for the fig tree. [1st ed.]. New York: Viking Press, [1974].

A sixteen-year old black girl's first celebration of Kwanza gives her a sense of the past and strength to deal with her troubled mother and her own blindness.

J Lit

Little, Jean. Mine for keeps. [1st ed.]. Boston: Little, Brown, [1962].

J Bec

Beckman, Delores. My own private sky. 1st ed. New York: Dutton, [1980].

Eleven-year-old Arthur and his summer sitter help each other surmount difficulty.

J Bur c.4

Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The secret garden. Philadelphia: Lippincott, [1962].

Ten-year-old Mary comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors and discovers an invalid cousin and the mysteries of a locked garden.

J Bya

Byars, Betsy (Cromer). The summer of the swans. [1st ed.]. New York: Viking Press, [1970].

A teen-age girl gains new insight into herself and her family when her mentally retarded brother gets lost.

F Ure

Ure, Jean. See you Thursday. New York: Delacorte Press, [1981].

Sixteen-year-old Marianne, lonely and uncomfortable at the expensive girls' school she attends, finds an unexpected friend in her mother's new lodger, Abe Shonfeld, a young piano teacher who has been blind since birth.

F Voi

Voigt, Cynthia. Izzy, willy-nilly. 1st ed. New York: Atheneum, [1986].

A car accident causes fifteen-year-old Izzy to lose one leg and face the need to start building a new life as an amputee.

J Mac

MacLachlan, Patricia. Through Grandpa's eyes. 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, [1980].

A young boy learns a different way of seeing the world from his blind grandfather.

J Car

Carrick, Carol. Stay away from Simon! New York: Clarion Books, [1985].

Lucy and her younger brother examine their feelings about a mentally handicapped boy they both fear when he follows them home one snowy day.

J Lit

Little, Jean. From Anna. [1st ed.]. New York: Harper & Row, [1972].

When the family moves from Germany to Canada in the 1930's, a nine-year-old girl discovers the reason for her awkwardness and apparent inability to do anything right.

J Mar

Martin, Bill. Knots on a counting rope. 1st ed. New York: H. Holt, [1987].

A grandfather and his blind grandson, Boy-Strength-of-Blue-Horses, reminisce about the young boy's birth, his first horse, and an exciting horse race.

F Hoo

Hooks, William H. A flight of dazzle angels. 1st ed. New York: Macmillan, [1988].

In a small southern town in 1908, fifteen-year-old Annie Earle, though afflicted with a club foot and surrounded by a sick mother and brother, gains a new insight into herself and the possibilities of her life through her relationship with a young black woman and a new young man in town with whom she falls in love.

J Sle

Slepian, Jan. The Alfred summer. New York: Macmillan, [1980].

Four preteen outcasts, two of them handicapped, learn lessons in courage and perseverance when they join forces to build a boat.

J Yol

Yolen, Jane. The mermaid's three wisdoms. New York: Collins+World, [1978].

A mermaid who cannot speak is banished from her undersea home and sent to live on land as a human where she is found by a 12-year-old girl with a hearing impairment.

F How 10/89/Howe

0016349027Howe, James. A night without stars. 1st ed. New York: Atheneum, [1983].

When eleven-year-old Maria must go to the hospital for open-heart surgery, she finds strength in her friendship with a badly scarred burn victim.

F Key

Keyes, Daniel. Flowers for Algernon. [1st ed.]. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, [1966].

F Hal

Halvorson, Marilyn. Hold on, Geronimo. New York: Delacorte Press, [1988, 1987].

Having lost the use of his right hand and gotten into a private war with his spirited cousin Kat, fifteen-year-old Lance thinks things cannot get worse, until a plane crash strands them together in a snowy Canadian wilderness.

F Ste

Steinbeck, John. Of mice and men. [Compass ed.]. New York: Viking Press, [1965].

J Lit 12/94/Little

Little, Jean. Listen for the singing. 1st ed. New York: Dutton, [1977].

As the world around her braces itself for World War II, a young Canadian girl with impaired vision prepares to begin public high school.

J McK 12/94/McKenzie

McKenzie, Ellen Kindt. Stargone John. 1st ed. New York: H. Holt, [1990].

Six-year-old John, emotionally withdrawn and resistant to traditional teaching methods, experiences ridicule and punishment at his one-room schoolhouse, until an old retired teacher reaches out from her blindness to share with him the world of reading and writing.

J Pau

Paulsen, Gary. The monument. New York: Delacorte Press, [1991].

Thirteen-year-old Rocky, self-conscious about the braces on her leg, has her life changed by the remarkable artist who comes to her small Kansas town to design a war memorial.

J Buc

Buchanan, Dawna Lisa. The falcon's wing. New York: Orchard Books, [1992].

After her mother's death, twelve-year-old Bryn tries to make a new life when her taciturn father moves them to a rural community in Canada to live with her elderly aunt and her cousin Winnie, a loving girl with Down's syndrome.

J Lee

Lee, Jeanne M. Silent Lotus. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, [1991].

Although she cannot speak or hear, Lotus trains as a Khmer court dancer and becomes eloquent in dancing out the legends of the gods.

J Spr

Springer, Nancy. Colt. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, [1991].

A young boy with a crippling disease learns, through a horseback riding program, to overcome his own anxieties and to help others in dealing with their own problems.

F Cov

Covington, Dennis. Lizard. New York, N.Y: Delacorte Press, [1991].

Sent by his guardian to live at a Louisiana school for retarded boys, Lizard, a bright, deformed youngster, escapes with the help of a visiting actor who gives him a role in his repertory company's production of "The Tempest.".

J Con

Conly, Jane Leslie. Crazy lady! 1st ed. New York: Harper/Collins, [1993].

As he tries to come to terms with his mother's death, Vernon finds solace in his growing relationship with the neighborhood outcasts, an alcoholic and her retarded son.

J Wel

A young crippled prince must reclaim his kingdom from his evil uncle, with the help of a magic cape from his godmother. This adaptation of the story uses animal characters.

J Boo

Booth, Barbara D. Mandy. 1st ed. New York, N.Y: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, [1991].

Hearing-impaired Mandy risks going out into the scary night, during an impending storm, to look for her beloved grandmother's lost pin.

J Blo c.2

Bloor, Edward. Tangerine. 1st ed. San Diego, Calif: Harcourt Brace, [1997].

Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

J Adl

Adler, C. S. Eddie's blue winged dragon. New York: G.P. Putnam, [1988].

A sixth-grader with cerebral palsy becomes the owner of a brass dragon which helps him out in some of the battles he faces due to his handicap.

J Fro

Froehlich, Margaret Walden. Hide Crawford quick. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, [1983].

Gracie and her three sisters are overjoyed when their mother has a baby boy, but the whole family finds itself sharing the burden of a terrible secret when baby Crawford comes home.

J Hir

Hirsch, Karen. Becky. Minneapolis, Minn: Carolrhoda Books, [1981].

A deaf child lives with a hearing family while she attends school and enables them to become conscious of problems facing the deaf.

J Jon

Jones, Rebecca C. Angie and me. New York: Macmillan, [1981].

During her stay at a children's hospital where she is treated for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, twelve-year-old Jenna comes to terms with her illness.

J Kes

Although taunted for his small size and bad leg, Eemook proves his worth by saving his tribe from an evil and powerful spirit that comes visiting one stormy night.

J May

Mayne, William. Gideon ahoy! New York: Delacorte Press, [1989].

Twelve-year-old Eva's chaotic but cheerful family life in a small English town changes when Gideon, her brain-damaged deaf older brother, gets a job opening bridges and locks for the local canalboat.

J Pry

Pryor, Bonnie. Seth of the Lion People. New York: Morrow Junior Books, [1988].

Although Seth, the young teenager with the twisted leg, is only tolerated by his tribe for his storytelling abilities, he senses his people are on the brink of a transition from hunters to artisans and growers of food, if only he can become their leader.

J Ris

Riskind, Mary. Apple is my sign. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, [1981].

A 10-year-old boy returns to his parents' apple farm for the holidays after his first term at a school for the deaf in Philadelphia.

J Rod

Rodowsky, Colby F. P.S. write soon : a novel. New York: F. Watts, [1978].

A physically handicapped girl uses her letters to a pen pal as an outlet for daydreams about her family and herself.

J Sle

Slepian, Jan. Lester's turn. New York: Macmillan, [1981].

When 16-year-old Lester, himself a victim of cerebral palsy, takes his retarded friend from the hospital for the weekend, tragedy ensues, forcing Lester to examine the real meaning of their relationship.

J Spe

Spence, Eleanor. The nothing place. [1st American ed.]. New York: Harper & Row, [1973].

Learning to accept his partial deafness is bad enough, but having to adjust to a new neighborhood and a bunch of do-good friends is almost too much for Glen.

J Tay

Taylor, Theodore. Timothy of the cay. 1st ed. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, [1993].

Having survived being blinded and shipwrecked on a tiny Caribbean island with the old black man Timothy, twelve-year-old white Phillip is rescued and hopes to regain his sight with an operation. Alternate chapters follow the life of Timothy from his days as a young cabin boy.

J Phi

Philbrick, W. R. Freak the Mighty. New York, N.Y: Blue Sky Press, [1993].

At the beginning of eighth grade, learning disabled Max and his new friend Freak, whose birth defect has affected his body but not his brilliant mind, find that when they combine forces they make a powerful team.

J DeF

When she investigates the mysterious light up on Hogback Hill, eleven-year-old Hadley finds and befriends a hunchbacked old woman with a tragic past.

J Har

Harshman, Marc and Mohr, Mark. The storm. 1st ed. New York: Cobblehill Books/Dutton, [1995].

Though confined to a wheelchair, Jonathan faces the terror of a tornado all by himself and saves the lives of the horses on the family farm.

J Kon

Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who choses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition.

J Dor

Dorris, Michael. Sees Behind Trees. 1st ed. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, [1996].

A Native American boy with a special gift to "see" beyond his poor eyesight journeys with an old warrior to a land of mystery and beauty.

J Maz

Twelve-year-old Sammy, who is mildly retarded, runs away from home and becomes a prisoner of Kevin, a wild kid living in the woods.

J Mil

Millman, Isaac. Moses goes to a concert. 1st ed. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, [1998].

Moses and his schoolmates, all deaf, attend a concert where the orchestra's percussionist is also deaf. Includes illustrations in sign language and a page showing the manual alphabet.

J Fle

Fletcher, Susan. Shadow spinner. 1st ed. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [1998].

When Marjan, a thirteen-year-old crippled girl, joins the Sultan's harem in ancient Persia, she gathers for Shahrazad the stories which will save the queen's life.

J Hol

Holt, Kimberly Willis. My Louisiana sky. New York: Holt, [1998].

Growing up in Saitter, Louisiana, in the 1950s, twelve-year-old Tiger Ann struggles with her feelings about her stern, but loving grandmother, her mentally slow parents, and her good friend and neighbor, Jesse.

J Her

When ten-year-old Abby Carter attends the newly established school for the blind in Boston in 1832, she proves that blind people can learn and be independent.

F Bra

Brancato, Robin F. Winning. New York: Knopf, [1977].

Paralyzed as a result of a football accident, a high school student struggles to accept the reality of his condition and the effect it will have on his friendships and his future.

F Sku

Skurzynski, Gloria. Spider's voice. 1st ed. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [1999].

Because he is a young mute person who can hear, Aran becomes involved in the adventures of Eloise and Abelard, France's most famous lovers, who lived during the twelfth century.

J Hil

Hill, Elizabeth Starr and Liu, Lesley. Bird Boy. 1st ed. New York: Farrar Straux Giroux, [1999].

Chang, a mute Chinese boy whose father uses cormorants to fish, is pleased when he is finally old enough to help with the Big Catch and the raising of a new bird.

F McE

Thirteen-year-old Mic Parsons struggles with mixed feelings about his deaf and blind sister while at the same time he makes his way through the turmoils of junior high.

F Jor

Jordan, Sherryl. The raging quiet. New York: Simon & Schuster, [1999].

Suspicious of sixteen-year-old Marnie, a newcomer to their village, the residents accuse her of witchcraft when she discovers that the village madman is not crazy but deaf and she begins to communicate with him through hand gestures.

J Ham

Hamilton, Virginia. Bluish. New York: Blue Sky Press, [1999].

Ten-year-old Dreenie feels both intrigued and frightened when she thinks about the girl nicknamed Bluish, whose leukemia is making her pale and causing her to use a wheelchair.

Bk Tape J Bur

Bk Tape J Bya

A teen-age girl gains new insight into herself and her family when her mentally retarded brother gets lost.

Bk Tape F Key

J Kin

Spider, a baby abandoned on an English farm, grows up to be mentally slower than other children but manifests a remarkable talent for communicating with animals as he comes of age during World War II.

J Mil

Moses and his friends enjoy the first day of school at their special school for the deaf and hard of hearing, where they use sign language to talk to each other.

J Shy

Neil's life turns upside down when his parents take his retarded sister out of an institution and bring her home to stay.

J Wri 1/89

Wright, Betty Ren. The dollhouse murders. 1st ed. New York: Holiday House, [1983].

A dollhouse filled with a ghostly light in the middle of the night and dolls that have moved from where she last left them lead Amy and her retarded sister to unravel the mystery surrounding grisly murders that took place years ago.

F Tru

Trueman, Terry. Stuck in neutral. 1st ed. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, [2000].

Fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy and cannot function, relates his perceptions of his life, his family, and his condition, especially as he believes his father is planning to kill him.

Ahmanson Library