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Honor Roll

The Disability in Kidlit Honor Roll is a list of young adult and middle grade novels we enthusiastically recommend. All titles have been thoroughly vetted by disabled readers.

For more information, please see our Honor Roll FAQ. You may also suggest novels that would be a good fit for the list. If you want to stay up-to-date on new additions to the Honor Roll, please subscribe to our newsletter.

We also have a list with UK editions only.

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  • Looking Back at 2016, and Looking Ahead to 2017 1

    History Is All You Left Me

    Author: Adam Silvera
    Publisher: Soho Teen (2017)
    ISBN: 9781616956929

    Griffin struggles with the death of his ex-boyfriend Theo and his relationship with Theo's new boyfriend Jackson. Told in dual timelines, History Is All You Left Me features a nuanced portrayal of OCD.
    Buy on Bookshop
  • The Real Boy

    The Real Boy

    Author: Anne Ursu
    Publisher: Walden Pond Press / HarperCollins (2013)
    ISBN: 9780062015075

    This lush fantasy story stars an autistic protagonist whose portrayal is immersive and utterly believable.
    Read our review Buy on Bookshop
  • Five Flavors of Dumb

    Five Flavors of Dumb

    Author: Anthony John
    Publisher: Dial / Penguin (2010)
    ISBN: 9780803734333

    A deaf girl decides to become manager of a high school rock band whose members don't get along.
    Read our review Buy on Bookshop
  • The Upside of Unrequited 1

    The Upside of Unrequited

    Author: Becky Albertalli
    Publisher: Balzer & Bray / HarperCollins (2017)
    ISBN: 9780062348708

    Molly – who is Jewish, fat, and has an anxiety disorder – has had twenty-six crushes and zero kisses. When her twin sister finds a girlfriend, she tries to set Molly up with a new guy.
    Buy on Bookshop
  • El Deafo

    El Deafo

    Author: Cece Bell
    Publisher: Amulet / ABRAMS (2014)
    ISBN: 9781419710209

    Author/illustrator Cece Bell recounts her experiences growing up deaf and seeking true friendship.
    Buy on Bookshop
  • When Reason Breaks

    When Reason Breaks

    Author: Cindy L. Rodriguez
    Publisher: Bloomsbury (2015)
    ISBN: 9781619634121

    A thoughtful and important read about two teens girls experiencing depression in different ways.
    Read our review Buy on Bookshop
  • Kinda Like Brothers

    Kinda Like Brothers

    Author: Coe Booth
    Publisher: Scholastic (2014)
    ISBN: 9780545224963

    Jarrett, who has asthma, is used to his mom bringing home foster babies – but now, she's taken in a kid Jarrett's age, and he's forced to share everything from his room to his school.
    Read our review Buy on Bookshop
  • Otherbound

    Otherbound

    Author: Corinne Duyvis
    Publisher: Amulet Books / ABRAMS (2014)
    ISBN: 9781419709289

    With Nolan’s every blink, he witnesses the life of a servant girl from another world. He's already lost his leg as a result of his constant distraction – and their inexplicable connection may soon lose the both of them far more.
    Read our review
  • This Is Not a Test

    This Is Not a Test

    Author: Courtney Summers
    Publisher: St. Martin's Press / Macmillan (2012)
    ISBN: 9780312656744

    The apocalypse is supposed to be about survival – but what if you don't want to survive? This zombie horror novel features a deft portrayal of depression.
    Read our review Buy on Bookshop
  • A Boy Called Bat

    A Boy Called Bat

    Author: Elana K. Arnold
    Publisher: Walden Pond Press / HarperCollins (2017)
    ISBN: 9780062445827

    An adorable middle-grade novel about an autistic boy bound and determined to keep a skunk pet.
    Read our review Buy on Bookshop
  • Not Otherwise Specified

    Not Otherwise Specified

    Author: Hannah Moskowitz
    Publisher: Simon Pulse / Simon & Schuster (2015)
    ISBN: 9781481405966

    A former ballerina in recovery for an eating disorder makes an unlikely friend in her therapy group.
    Buy on Bookshop
  • The Iron Trial 1

    The Iron Trial

    Author: Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
    Publisher: Scholastic (2014)
    ISBN: 9780545522250

    The main character in this adventurous middle grade fantasy has a limp that's realistically present yet never overtakes the story – a delicate balance.
    Read our review Buy on Bookshop
  • Rage

    Author: Jackie Morse Kessler
    Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011)
    ISBN: 9780547445281

    A girl who self-injures is tapped by Death to become War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
    Read our review
  • Will Grayson, Will Grayson

    Will Grayson, Will Grayson

    Author: John Green & David Levithan
    Publisher: Dutton / Penguin (2010)
    ISBN: 9780525421580

    Told through alternating points of view, two wildly different boys – both named Will Grayson – cross paths and find their lives becoming increasingly entwined.
    Buy on Bookshop
  • Discussion: Magical Disabilities 5

    Six of Crows

    Author: Leigh Bardugo
    Publisher: Henry Holt (2015)
    ISBN: 9781627792127

    A thief leads an unlikely group of criminals on an impossible heist in this fantasy adventure.
    Read our review Buy on Bookshop
  • Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling

    Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling

    Author: Lucy Frank
    Publisher: Schwartz & Wade / Penguin Random House (2014)
    ISBN: 9780307979742

    In this novel-in-verse, two girls with Crohn's bond over the course of a week while sharing a hospital room.
    Read our review
  • The Wild Book

    Author: Margarita Engle
    Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2012)
    ISBN: 9780547581316

    In early-1900s Cuba, young Fefa is diagnosed with dyslexia – "word blindness" – and is given a blank book by her mother to practice her writing in.
    Buy on Bookshop
  • Handbook for Dragon Slayers

    Handbook for Dragon Slayers

    Author: Merrie Haskell
    Publisher: HarperCollins (2013)
    ISBN: 9780062008169

    A fun, feminist fairy tale involving dragons, the wild hunt, and a librarian princess with a clubfoot.
    Read our review Buy on Bookshop
  • The State of Grace

    The State of Grace

    Author: Rachael Lucas
    Publisher: Pan Macmillan (2017)
    ISBN: 9781509839568

    Grace, who's autistic, navigates her first relationship while trying to cope with her father's absence and her mother's strange behavior.
    Buy on Bookshop
  • Don't Touch

    Don’t Touch

    Author: Rachel M. Wilson
    Publisher: HarperCollins (2014)
    ISBN: 9780062220936

    A complicated friendship, budding romance, and theater drama – and one teen girl's authentically depicted struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
    Read our review Buy on Bookshop
  • Stranger

    Stranger

    Author: Rachel Manija Brown & Sherwood Smith
    Publisher: Viking / Penguin (2014)
    ISBN: 9780670014804

    A teen boy deals with PTSD and a damaged hand in this richly populated western/post-apocalyptic YA novel.
    Read our review Buy on Bookshop
  • The Elementals

    The Elementals

    Author: Saundra Mitchell
    Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2013)
    ISBN: 9780547853147

    Los Angeles, 1917: a free-spirited girl sets out to become a film director, and a boy disabled after a childhood bout with polio is determined to succeed on his own, each with a wondrous ability to manipulate the world around them ...
    Read our review Buy on Bookshop
  • Far From You

    Far From You

    Author: Tess Sharpe
    Publisher: Hyperion / Disney (2014)
    ISBN: 9781423184621

    A small-town girl with chronic pain and mobility issues searches for the killer of the girl she loved; this dual-timeline YA is part mystery, part doomed romance.
    Read our review Buy on Bookshop