Blog

Despite some reservations, our reviewer would recommend this contemporary novel about young Bat – and the reviewer’s ten-year-old goddaughter agrees.

Stoner & Spaz is funny and often unafraid of ambivalence, and I feel similarly ambivalent: liking a lot of what I got, yet wanting more of the stuff between the lines of what Ben says and does.

Queens of Geek is an authentic and refreshing portrayal of an autistic and anxious girl.

Julia is a Deaf teen girl who is creative, artistic, and passionate. And she is an authentic portrayal of deafness.

You’re Welcome, Universe author Whitney Gardner sits down with Andrea Shettle and site editor Natasha Razi to discuss her debut novel!

All the way through the book, I felt that something was slightly off with the portrayal of Tessie’s selective mutism, but in a way that made it hard to pin down.

“How did you manage to capture that voice?” beta readers would ask. “How did you know to describe those particular feelings?” I was starting to have a few self-revelations about that.

I wanted to write about a real girl with real emotions struggling in a world that too often is unforgiving to those who don’t fit the right mold.

Wonderstruck is wonderful. It is, to date, the most creative and ambitious novel about the d/Deaf experience in America I’ve ever come across.

The characterization and descriptions of Grace do disabled readers a disservice in more ways than one.

I appreciated the honesty and authenticity with which the emotional aspects of serious illness were written; the actual details of day-to-day life with cystic fibrosis, however, were a mixed bag.

Skim does a good job of showing misguided attempts to help those with depression, and lets the reader see the absurdity for themselves.

I wish this book, featuring a girl newly diagnosed with Crohn’s, had existed when I was a teenager — my recurring thought throughout was, “Oh my god, someone wrote a book for me!”

While some elements of the representation were handled decently, I ultimately wasn’t a fan.

When Deenie was first published, it may well have been a positive representation of the experience of a child with scoliosis, but it hasn’t held up well.

Venkatraman creates a fully-formed character, and nails both the details and the emotion of having a limb amputated and adjusting to life afterwards.

Kayla Whaley talks with thirteen-year-old activist and author Melissa Shang about her recent middle grade debut.

Any time I pick up a book about addiction and recovery, I do so with equal parts hope and trepidation. Despite our differences, I understood Natalie fully and completely from the get-go.

I appreciated the nuance present in both Izzy’s portrayal as an undiagnosed teen with bipolar disorder and in the reactions of those around her.

Vivi’s struggle with bipolar disorder was portrayed accurately and compassionately, and I would highly recommend the book for readers who want to understand the illness better.

We invite Courtney Summers to the blog to discuss researching and writing mental illness, disability in her zombie novel, and the lack of diversity in apocalyptic narratives.

Although I can’t recommend it wholeheartedly, Louder Than Words features a well researched, realistic portrayal of progressive mutism.

One of the more authentic reflections I have seen of what it can be like to grow up deaf — this is the kind of book I wish I could have had when I was younger.

A well-researched exploration of how mental illness can interact with queer identity, especially for those just discovering themselves during a volatile time of life and those with less well understood identities.