July is the perfect month to grab a book to learn about the life and traditions of new characters. Consider choosing a book from the list below that explores the experiences of people with a wide variety of challenges. The stories are inspiring and memorable.
How Lucky by Will Leitch
Unable to speak or move without a wheelchair, Daniel, spending hours observing his neighborhood from his front porch, believes he has witnessed the kidnapping of a young college student and vows to solve this mystery.
The Color of Family by Jerry McGill
Paralyzed for life after a car accident, Devon Payne, over the course of a decade, visits his seven siblings now scattered across the globe, confronting the guilt and heartbreaking betrayals that followed in the wake of the tragedy and discovering the power of forgiveness to live free in the present.
Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner
A heartrending story about a young mother’s fight to keep her daughter and the winds of fortune that tear them apart, by the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things and The Last Year of the War. California, 1938–When she loses her parents in an accident, sixteen-year-old Rosanne is taken in by the owners of the vineyard where she has lived her whole life as the vinedresser’s daughter. She moves into Celine and Truman Calvert’s spacious house with a secret, however–Rosie sees colors when she hears sound.
Soul Jar : Thirty-One Fantastical Tales by Disabled Authors
Too often, science fiction and fantasy stories erase–or cure–characters with disabilities. Soul Jar, edited by author and bookstore owner Annie Carl, features thirty-one stories by disabled authors, imagining such wonders as a shapeshifter on a first date, skin that sprouts orchid buds, and a cereal-box demon. An insulin pump diverts an undead mob. An autistic teen sets out to discover the local cranberry bog’s sinister secret.
The Circus Train by Amita Parikh
When all is lost, how do you find the courage to keep moving forward? 1938. Lena Papadopoulos has never quite found her place within the circus, even as the daughter of the extraordinary headlining illusionist, Theo. Brilliant and curious, Lena–who uses a wheelchair after a childhood bout with polio–yearns for the real-world magic of science and medicine, her mind stronger than the limitations placed on her by society.
The Dog I Loved by Susan Wilson
After spending years in prison for a crime she didn’t intend to commit, Rose Collins is suddenly free. Someone who knows about the good work she has done–training therapy dogs while serving time–has arranged for her early release. This mysterious benefactor has even set her up with a job in the coastal Massachusetts community of Gloucester, on the edge of Dogtown, a place of legend and, for the first time since Rosie’s whole world came crashing down, hope. There she works to rebuild her life with the help of Shadow, a stray dog who appears one rainy night and refuses to leave Rose’s side.
Every Time You Go Away by Abigail Johnson
Knowing each other for eight years, when they were troublemaking kids sharing secrets and first kisses, Ethan and Rebecca, kept apart by grief and tragedy, will discover whether their hardships have torn them apart or will bring them closer than ever.
So Long, Chester Wheeler by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Lewis Madigan is young, gay, out of work, and getting antsy when he’s roped into providing end-of-life care for his insufferable homophobic neighbor, Chester Wheeler. Lewis doesn’t need the aggravation, just the money. The only requirements: run errands, be on call, and put up with a miserable old churl no one else in Buffalo can bear. After exchanging barbs, bickering, baiting, and pushing buttons, Chester hits Lewis with the big ask.
Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream by Jeannie Zusy
Every family has its fault lines, and when Maggie gets a call from the ER in Maryland where her older sister lives, the cracks start to appear. Ginny, her sugar-loving and diabetic older sister with intellectual disabilities, has overdosed on strawberry Jell-O. Maggie knows Ginny really can’t live on her own, so she brings her sister and her occasionally vicious dog to live near her in upstate New York. Their other sister, Betsy, is against the idea but as a professional surfer, she is conveniently thousands of miles away.
—Hongmei, Adult Services & Acquisitions