Eddies Blue-Winged Dragon
C.S. Adler; reading Level 4-6

First person fantasy told by Eddie, who has cerebral palsy affecting motor skills and speech. Many pictures of school life include intolerance and victimization by students and teachers. After being challenged about his abilities, Eddie decides to enter and win a school competition, knowing that he will have to read his essay aloud. He chooses to speak about his CP, and wins the contest. A realistic look at CP, through the eyes of a child with the condition.

Gathering Blue 
by Lois Lowry
Left alone by her mother's sudden death in a savage future where life is ruled by fear and memory and humans feel powerless to affect their fate, Kira is a different breed, an artist who expresses her vision in colored thread on cloth. Such a gift, however, matters little to the general populace, scrabbling as they must to survive in a hostile physical world, particularly when the artist is imperfect, as Kira is, with her twisted leg and hobbled walk
 
 

Freak the Mighty 
by W.R Philbrick
What happens when two handicapped children, one physically handicapped yet mentally endowed and one mentally handicapped yet physically endowed, become friends in a society where they are rejected? The answer is tales of adventure beyond one's wildest imagination. Freak, the dwarf genius, has the vocabulary of a doctorate linguist and because of this he has no friends. Max, the slow yet oversized boy, is overly protected by his grandparents and is mocked at school for his handicap. They become neighbors and find they have more in common than meets the eye, such as family members who have former bonds. They get themselves involved in several impossible-to-solve adventures and from this learn that the most important things in life are love and companionship.

I Wish I Could Fly Like a Bird!
by Katherine Denison
This charming tale delivers a message of respect, resilience and hope to its young audience...The adventures of the appealing characters are extraordinarily effective in demystifying learning disabilities for special needs kids and their classmates.
 
 

What's Wrong with Timmy?
by Maria Shriver

When 8-year-old Kate meets a boy who seems somehow different, she feels funny inside. After talking with her mom, though, Kate begins to understand that Timmy is just like her in many ways. Timmy has special needs; he takes longer to learn than Kate does, and can't walk or run as well. But he also "loves his family, he wants friends, he goes to school, and he dreams about what he wants to be when he grows up." Kate and Timmy meet, and the seeds of a friendship are planted.
 
 
 
 

Special People, Special Ways 
by Arlene Maguire
Special People, Special Ways presents a positive image of persons with disabilities. It shares the message that even though each of us may have something different about us, we share many commonalties. Coupled with the colorful illustrations, the book conveys the message that although painful at times, being different can also be glorious.
 
 

Someone Special, Just Like You 
by Tricia Brown
Brown and Ortiz show that the differences that seem to separate children with handicaps from others are not important. What is important is the common delight in life--a desire to love, learn and play, and to be accepted for themselves as other children are.
 
 

Friends at School 
by Rochelle Bunnett
A wonderful portrait of children with different abilities busily working and playing together at school. The straightforward text and colorful photographs illustrate the true meaning of the word inclusion. It shows that given the opportunity, children readily accept one anothers differences.
 

Mine for Keeps 
By Jean Little
A child returns from a separate school and attempts to attend the regular classroom. A little dated, but a decent portrayal of adjustment problems.

Let the Balloon Go
By Ivan Southall
John, a boy with mild CP, has to find his own place, away from the teasing in school and his overprotective mother.

A Contest
By Sherry Payne
A child with CP is mainstreamed into a neighborhood school, after attending a special school, and must find his own place in the social setting. He finds that his disabilities have given him special gifts, as well as disadvantages.

Keeping it Secret
By Penny Pollack
Wisconsin, a girl who uses a hearing aid, has to move to a new school and deal with being accepted there.

The Flying Fingers Club:The Case of the Missing Newspapers
By Jean Andrews
An early chapter book, this book covers the interaction and friendship between Donald, who is repeating third grade due to reading difficulties, and Matt, a mainstreamed deaf child. The two boys develop a friendship, learn to communicate, and even solve a mystery.

Carver
By Ruth Radin
John wants to become a woodcarver, like his father, but his mother considers his blindness to be a barrier. John meets a blind woodcarver, learns to carve wood, and helps his mother adjust to his father's death.

Between Friends
By Marlene Shyer
A 10-year-old girl learns about retardation by making friends with a neighbor with mental retardation and getting to know the world from her perspective
 
 

Pay Attention, Slosh 
by Mark Smith

The unabashedly bibliotherapeutic story shows how Josh causes disturbances at home and at school until a doctor diagnoses him with ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder). Predictably, the doctor's treatments, which include a reward system and medication, improve Josh's life to the point that the class bully stops calling him Slosh, a nickname he hates.
 
 
 
 

My Sister Is Special 
by Larry Jansen
A little boy learns compassion and patience as he cares for his "special" little sister, who has Down Syndrome.
 
 

My Name Is Brian 
by Jeanne Betancourt
Struggling with problems that the kids in his class see as clowning around, such as mixing things up and spelling letters backwards, Brian learns he has dyslexia and suffers peer teasing when his friends do not understand.
 
 

Despite This Flesh : The Disabled in Stories and Poems
by Vassar Miller
This book has poems about all kinds of disabilities.

Challenging Voices: Writings by, for, and about Individuals with Learning Disabilities
by Chdryl Gerson Tuttle
The many aspects of learning disability are personalized in this collection of essays, poems and reflections by children, young adults, their families and teachers, who bare their pain as well as their courage. Dyslexia and attention deficit disorder are among the obstacles that prevent children from ``fitting in'' at an early age. As these writings attest, when properly nurtured by perceptive, caring parents and knowledgeable teachers, such students have a better chance of succeeding. These heartfelt writings reveal the world of those often termed ``lazy'' or ``stupid'' when their ability to read a sentence or solve a math problem is severely compromised, and generally not understood. Here they define themselves as real people, contending with bias and celebrating their triumphs.
 
 

Letters From Karen
by Marie Killilea Karen
One of the oldest portrayals of Cerebral palsy in literature, told from the perspective of an older sister about her disabled sibling. Has been criticized for its idyllic picture of the family, since real life is rarely that smooth.

No Pity : People With Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement
by Joseph P. Shapiro
A timely but diffuse chronicle of the ways that both society and self-perceptions have changed for America's largest minority; 43 million people with disabilities.
 
 
 
 

This is a wonderful web site that lists all sorts of resources for people that work with children with special needs.

http://www.specialneeds.com/store/