What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally

Genres:
Non-Fiction, Our Favorites

Excerpt:

Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally

by Emily Ladau

An approachable guide to being a thoughtful, informed ally to disabled people, with actionable steps for what to say and do (and what not to do) and how you can help make the world a more accessible, inclusive place.

People with disabilities are the world’s largest minority, an estimated 15 percent of the global population. But many of us - disabled and nondisabled alike - don’t know how to act, what to say, or how to be an ally to the disability community. Demystifying Disability is a friendly handbook on the important disability issues you need to know about, including:

 

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  • How to appropriately think, talk, and ask about disability
  • Recognizing and avoiding ableism (discrimination toward disabled people)
  • Practicing good disability etiquette
  • Ensuring accessibility becomes your standard practice, from everyday communication to planning special events
  • Appreciating disability history and identity
  • Identifying and speaking up about disability stereotypes in media

Authored by celebrated disability rights advocate, speaker, and writer Emily Ladau, this practical, intersectional guide offers all listeners a welcoming place to understand disability as part of the human experience.

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Genres:
Picture Book

Excerpt:

Awesomely Emma: A Charley and Emma Story

by Amy Webb

Emma has limb differences, but different isn't bad, sad, or strange. It's just different! But when some accessibility problems get in the way at the local art museum, it ruins the fun of a class trip...and then Emma's friend Charley makes things even worse! In the middle of a really bad day, Emma has to call upon her sense of inner awesome to stand up for herself and teach everyone a lesson about the transformative power of feeling awesome in your own skin.

Genres:
Non-Fiction

Excerpt:

The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb

by Melanie Benjamin

In her national best seller Alice I Have Been, Melanie Benjamin imagined the life of the woman who inspired Alice in Wonderland. Now, in this jubilant new novel, Benjamin shines a dazzling spotlight on another fascinating female figure whose story has never fully been told: a woman who became a 19th century icon and inspiration—and whose most daunting limitation became her greatest strength.

“Never would I allow my size to define me. Instead, I would define it.”

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She was only two-foot eight-inches tall, but her legend reaches out to us more than a century later. As a child, Mercy Lavinia “Vinnie” Bump was encouraged to live a life hidden away from the public. Instead, she reached out to the immortal impresario P. T. Barnum, married the tiny superstar General Tom Thumb in the wedding of the century, and transformed into the world’s most unexpected celebrity.

Here, in Vinnie’s singular and spirited voice, is her amazing adventure—from a showboat “freak” revue where she endured jeering mobs to her fateful meeting with the two men who would change her life: P. T. Barnum and Charles Stratton, AKA Tom Thumb. Their wedding would captivate the nation, preempt coverage of the Civil War, and usher them into the White House and the company of presidents and queens. But Vinnie’s fame would also endanger the person she prized most: her similarly-sized sister, Minnie, a gentle soul unable to escape the glare of Vinnie’s spotlight.

A barnstorming novel of the Gilded Age, and of a woman’s public triumphs and personal tragedies, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb is the irresistible epic of a heroine who conquered the country with a heart as big as her dreams—and whose story will surely win over yours.

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Genres:
Picture Book

Excerpt:

Authentically Addie: Adventures to the Ocean

by Stephanie Wolfe

Meet Addie!—A very special kid, with many characteristics that make her particularly unique. No matter what, Addie is always ready for an adventure—especially when she gets to discover what makes others different too.

Follow along with Addie on her trip to the Ocean, where she meets amazing animal friends and learns about their many disabilities.

In this ultra-inclusive series, author Stephanie Wolfe, with the help of her daughter, Addie, aims to help parents open the door to conversations with their children about disabilities.

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By normalizing the ability for kids to explore their curiosity and ask kind questions about people they don’t understand, they believe the world will be a less divided place.

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Genres:
Picture Book

Excerpt:

Authentically Addie

by Stephanie Wolfe

Meet Addie!—A very special kid, with many characteristics that make her particularly unique. No matter what, Addie is always ready for an adventure—especially when she gets to discover what makes others different too. Follow along with Addie on her trip to the Zoo, where she meets amazing animal friends and learns about their many disabilities. In this ultra-inclusive series, author Stephanie Wolfe, with the help of her daughter, Addie, aims to help parents open the door to conversations with their children about disabilities. By normalizing the ability for kids to explore their curiosity and ask kind questions about people they don’t understand, they believe the world will be a less divided place.

A Kids Book About Disabilities

by Kristine Napper

Quick Take This book helps kids approach disabilities as normal. For Ages 5+ What's Inside Sometimes people act like having a disability means you’re from another planet, even though over a BILLION people in the world have disabilities. So how do you talk about disability? How do you talk to people with disabilities? This book helps kids and grownups approach disability as a normal part of the human experience. About the Author Kristine Napper teaches middle school just outside Portland, Oregon. She’s a lifelong wheelchair user and social justice seeker. She finds joy in good books, long conversations, bright colors, and tacos.

Genres:
Non-Fiction, Picture Book

The Power of Choice

by Melissa Stockwell

Melissa Stockwell has been a restless force of nature from the time she was a little girl speeding around her neighborhood on her bike, to her tumbles and spills as a high-level gymnast and Olympic hopeful, to joining the ROTC in college as an outlet for her patriotism and love of America.

After 9/11, she was deployed to Iraq as a commissioned Army officer, where she suffered the injury that would change her life forever. After a long and challenging recovery at Walter Reed Hospital, she exercised her power of choice to channel her energy into competition, winning three Paratriathlon World Championships and medaling at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

Her journey weaves service to her country and the heartache of a painful divorce along with founding a successful nonprofit, launching a career in prosthetics, finding new love, and becoming a mother to two children. Along the way, she meets all the living American presidents and inspires others with disabilities—through a story that is riveting, moving, and an inspiration for anyone who would choose to live their life to the fullest.

Genres:
Memoir

The Oracle Code

by Marieke Nijkamp

After a gunshot leaves her paralyzed below the waist, Barbara Gordon undergoes physical and mental rehabilitation at the Arkham Center for Independence. She must adapt to a new normal, but she cannot shake the feeling that something is dangerously amiss. Strange sounds escape at night while patients start to go missing.

Is this suspicion simply a result of her trauma? Or does Barbara actually hear voices coming from the center's labyrinthine hallways? It's up to her to put the pieces together to solve the mysteries behind the walls.

In The Oracle Code, universal truths cannot be escaped, and Barbara Gordon must battle the phantoms of her past before they consume her future.

Genres:
Middle Grade

Unstoppable: True Stories of Amazing Bionic Animals

by Nancy Furstinger

Chris P. Bacon was born with malformed legs, but with the help of a wheelchair made of construction toys, he’s become a hero to people with similar challenges.

Nancy Furstinger profiles Chris P. Bacon and many other animals in Unstoppable—all of whom are making their way around with the help of prosthetics, braces, orthotics and wheelchairs! Readers will meet the caretakers, prosthetists, vets, and loving families that help to make recovery possible. Furstinger offers a glimpse into the cutting-edge technologies, such as 3D printing and brain-controlled prosthetics, that are helping to improve the lives of animals and humans alike.

Genres:
Non-Fiction

Genres:
Chapter Book

Excerpt:

Aven Green Baking Machine

by Dusti Bowling

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Now that third-grader Aven Green has retired from sleuthing, it’s time to conquer a whole new world: baking!
Aven knows she’s an expert baker of cakes and cookies since she’s been baking with her mom for a really long time. Plus no one bakes quite like she does. She cracks eggs with her feet and measures sugar and flour with her feet (plus measuring cups), since she was born without arms. And now Aven has her eye on the prize: a beautiful blue ribbon for baking at the county fair. So she teams up with her friends Kayla, Emily, and Sujata. But it turns out they all have very different tastes and a lot of opinions about baking. Talk about a recipe for disaster!

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