YA Characters with Special Needs

Abeel, Samantha, 1977-.

B My thirteenth winter : a memoir / by Samantha Abeel. -- New York :

ABE Orchard Books, c2003.

SUMMARY: In this memoir, the author describes how her life was affected by her learning disability before and after she was diagnosed. Though signs of a learning disability were there before, she was not diagnosed until she was thirteen. Thediagnosis was dyscalculia. It manifests itself during the acquisition of mathematical knowledge.

Clements, Andrew, 1949-.

FIC Things not seen / Andrew Clements. -- New York : Philomel Books,

CLE 2002.

“ SUMMARY: When fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up and finds himself invisible,he and his parents and his new blind friend Alicia try to find out what caused his condition and how to reverse it.” (LC)

Halpern, Julie, 1975-.

FIC Get well soon / Julie Halpern. -- 1st ed. -- New York : Feiwel and

HAL Friends, c2007.

“SUMMARY: When her parents confine her to a mental hospital, an overweight teenage girl, who suffers from panic attacks, describes her experiences in a series of letters to a friend.” (LC)

Hautman, Pete, 1952-.

FIC Invisible / Pete Hautman. -- 1st ed. -- New York : Simon & Schuster

HAU Books for Young Readers, c2005.

SUMMARY: “Doug and Andy are unlikely best friends—one a loner obsessed by his model trains, the other a popular student involved in football and theater—who grew up together and share a bond that nothing can sever.”

Hershey, Mary.

FIC The one where the kid nearly jumps to his death and lands in

HER California / Mary Hershey. -- New York : Razorbill, c2007.

“SUMMARY: Alastair, a thirteen-year-old who calls himself "Stump" because of his amputated leg, must face a summer at his wealthy but estranged father's beach house in Los Angeles, where he meets his stepmother, falls in love with a teenaged soap opera star, and decides to train for a race with a former Olympic swim coach.” (LC)

Hopkins, Ellen.

FIC Impulse / Ellen Hopkins. -- 1st ed. -- New York : Margaret K.

HOP McElderry Books, c2007.

SUMMARY: “Three teens who meet at Reno, Nevada's Aspen Springs mental hospital after each has attempted suicide connect with each other in a way they never have with their parents or anyone else in their lives.”

Koertge, Ronald.

FIC Stoner & Spaz / Ron Koertge. -- 1st ed. -- Cambridge, MA :

KOE Candlewick Press, 2002.

SUMMARY: “A troubled youth with cerebral palsy struggles toward self-acceptance with the help of a drug-addicted young woman.”

Peña, Matt de la.

FIC Ball don't lie / Matt de la Peña. -- New York : Delacorte Press, c2005.

PEN

SUMARY: “Seventeen-year-old Sticky lives for basketball and plays at school and at the Lincoln Rec Center in Los Angeles but he is unaware of the many dangers--including his own past--that threaten his dream of playing professionally.”

Stahler, David.

FIC Truesight / David Stahler Jr. -- 1st ed. -- New York : Eos, c2004.

STA

“SUMMARY: In a distant frontier world, thirteen-year-old Jacob is uncertain of his future in a community that considers blindness a virtue and "Seers" as aberrations.” (LC)

Vaught, Susan, 1965-.

FIC Trigger / Susan Vaught. -- 1st U.S. ed. -- New York : Bloomsbury :

VAU c2006.

“SUMMARY: Teenager Jersey Hatch must work through his extensive brain damage to figure out why he decided to shoot himself.” (LC)

Vizzini, Ned, 1981-.

FIC It's kind of a funny story / Ned Vizzini. -- 1st ed. -- New York :

VIZ Miramax Books/Hyperion Books For Children, c2006.

SUMMARY: “A humorous account of a New York City teenager's battle with depression and his time spent in a psychiatric hospital.”

Zimmer, Tracie Vaughn.

FIC Reaching for sun / Tracie Vaughn Zimmer. -- 1st U.S. ed. -- New York

ZIM : Bloomsbury Children's Books : c2007.

SUMMARY: “ Josie, who lives with her mother and grandmother and has cerebral palsy, befriends a boy who moves into one of the rich houses behind her old farmhouse.”