Sitting Pretty

by Rebekah Taussig

A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most.

Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the '90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted as something monstrous (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), inspirational (Helen Keller), or angelic (Forrest Gump). None of this felt right; and as she got older, she longed for more stories that allowed disability to be complex and ordinary, uncomfortable and fine, painful and fulfilling.

Writing about the rhythms and textures of what it means to live in a body that doesn’t fit, Rebekah reflects on everything from the complications of kindness and charity, living both independently and dependently, experiencing intimacy, and how the pervasiveness of ableism in our everyday media directly translates to everyday life.

Disability affects all of us, directly or indirectly, at one point or another. By exploring this truth in poignant and lyrical essays, Taussig illustrates the need for more stories and more voices to understand the diversity of humanity. Sitting Pretty challenges us as a society to be patient and vigilant, practical and imaginative, kind and relentless, as we set to work to write an entirely different story.

Genres:
Memoir, Our Favorites

Rescue and Jessica

by Jessica Kensy

Based on a real-life partnership, the heartening story of the love and teamwork between a girl and her service dog will illuminate and inspire.

Rescue thought he’d grow up to be a Seeing Eye dog — it’s the family business, after all. When he gets the news that he’s better suited to being a service dog, he’s worried that he’s not up to the task. Then he meets Jessica, a girl whose life is turning out differently than the way she'd imagined it, too. Now Jessica needs Rescue by her side to help her accomplish everyday tasks. And it turns out that Rescue can help Jessica see after all: a way forward, together, one step at a time. An endnote from the authors tells more about the training and extraordinary abilities of service dogs, particularly their real-life best friend and black lab, Rescue.

Genres:
Non-Fiction, Picture Book

Scottie on the Space Station

by Kaela C Green and Shannon E Green

Ellie and her family love living on the space station! With a mother who is an intergalactic doctor and a father who studies the stars, Ellie's life on the station is a blast. They can do anything you can do on Earth... except they can do it with alien visitors in zero gravity. Sometimes the aliens don't know how to play or talk with Ellie's little brother, Scottie, because he is a person with disabilities. But this doesn't stop Ellie from introducing them and showing them that Scottie is a great friend! Come join Ellie and Scottie as they meet a young alien who has just arrived on the station...

Genres:
Picture Book

Uniquely Brave

by Trace Wilson

Sometimes to overcome your challenges, all you need is bravery. Follow one little boy as he proves that a little bit of courage can go a long way and shows his friends what it means to be brave!

Genres:
Picture Book

Uniquely Me

By Trace Wilson

Every child worries about being different. Follow one brave little boy as he embarks on a wild adventure and learns to understand, accept, and love the differences that make him unique.

Genres:
Picture Book

Bodies Are Cool

by Tyler Feder

This cheerful love-your-body picture book for preschoolers is an exuberant read-aloud with bright and friendly illustrations to pore over.

From the acclaimed creator of Dancing at the Pity Party and Roaring Softly, this picture book is a pure celebration of all the different human bodies that exist in the world. Highlighting the various skin tones, body shapes, and hair types is just the beginning in this truly inclusive book. With its joyful illustrations and encouraging refrain, it will instill body acceptance and confidence in the youngest of readers. “My body, your body, every different kind of body! All of them are good bodies! BODIES ARE COOL!”

Genres:
Picture Book

Sensing the Rhythm: Finding My Voice in a World Without Sound

by

Mandy Harvey,
Mark Atteberry

Mandy Harvey - a young woman who became deaf at age 19 while pursuing a degree in music - reads her inspiring story and how she overcame adversity and found the courage to live out her dreams.

When Mandy Harvey began her freshman year at Colorado State University, she could see her future coming together right before her eyes. A gifted musician with perfect pitch, she planned to get a music degree and pursue a career doing what she loved. But less than two months into her first semester, she noticed she was having trouble hearing her professors. In a matter of months, Mandy was profoundly deaf.

With her dreams so completely crushed, Mandy dropped out of college and suffered a year of severe depression. But one day things changed. Mandy's father asked her to join him in their once favorite pastime - recording music together - and the result was stunningly beautiful. Mandy soon learned to sense the vibrations of the music through her bare feet on a stage floor and to watch visual cues from her live accompaniment. The result was that she now sings on key, on beat, and in time, performing jazz, ballads, and sultry blues around the country.

Full of inspiring wisdom and honest advice, Sensing the Rhythm is a deeply moving story about Mandy's journey through profound loss, how she found hope and meaning in the face of adversity, and how she discovered a new sense of passion and joy.

Disability genre: Deaf/hard of hearing

Genres:
Memoir

Able: Gold Medals, Grand Slams and Smashing Glass Ceilings

by Dylan Alcott

The astonishing life of Australia's most inspirational athlete Not long after he was born in 1990, Dylan Alcott was found to have a tumour on his spine. The surgery to remove it was successful, but left Dylan a paraplegic. Part of an average Aussie family in Melbourne, Dylan experienced his fair share of bullying and loneliness growing up. By early high school he was feeling pretty low - depressed, overweight and fearful for his future. Then, somehow, he discovered sport - swimming, basketball and tennis. Fast forwards 10 years or so and the Order of Australia recipient has climbed to the top of not just one sport but two, winning gold and silver at two Olympics and in two sports. Now the four-time winner of the Australian Open, is not only a sports star, but a motivational speaker, triple j radio host, music fan, keynote presenter, business owner, and youth mentor with his own youth foundation. In Game Changer, Dylan Alcott at last tells his story.

Disability genre: Paralysis

Genres:
Memoir

All the Way to the Top

by Annette Bay Pimentel

Illustrated by Nabigal-Nayagam Haider Ali

Experience the true story of lifelong activist Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins and her participation in the Capitol Crawl in this autobiographical picture book.

This is the story of a little girl who just wanted to go, even when others tried to stop her.

Jennifer Keelan was determined to make a change―even if she was just a kid. She never thought her wheelchair could slow her down, but the way the world around her was built made it hard to do even simple things. Like going to school, or eating lunch in the cafeteria.

Jennifer knew that everyone deserves a voice! Then the Americans with Disabilities Act, a law that would make public spaces much more accessible to people with disabilities, was proposed to Congress. And to make sure it passed, Jennifer went to the steps of the Capitol building in Washington DC to convince them.

And, without her wheelchair, she climbed.

ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP!

Genres:
Non-Fiction, Picture Book

5 Fingers and 10 Toes

by Dawn Civitello

Illustrated by Francisco Villa

A Children's book written by Dawn Civitello who is a Mom and Teacher. In hopes of spreading awareness to young children and families about limb deficiencies that exist among peers. This book is a great way to explain to children that differences exist and it's ok to be different, everyone should be accepted for who they are!!

Genres:
Picture Book