Happy July! The month best known for watermelon, fireworks, sunburns, and summer camps. But did you know that July also marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act being signed into law? The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed on July 26, 1990 to prohibit discrimination against people with disabilites. Celebrate Disability Pride all month - and year round! - with these staff picks. 

Happy reading, and happy Pride!

Jen’s Picks

Bet On It by Jodie Slaughter 

This sweet friends to lovers romance focuses on Aja and Walker, who first meet each other while Aja is having a panic attack in the local Piggly Wiggly. As they navigate their own mental health journeys they bond over their mutual love of Bingo. And of course there is a Bingo sex pact. 

I loved the mental health representation in this book and thought that the PTSD and anxiety storylines were handled with grace and care, letting the characters grow with each other and - of course, because it's a romance -  catch those pesky feelings. 

This is a delightful romance read. If you choose to pick up a copy, I hope you love it as much as I did.   

Get a life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

I loved the Brown sisters novels, and Get a life, Chloe Brown is centered around a chronically ill computer geek who has decided that she needs to get out of her bubble and experience life. Of course she enlists her super hot apartment manager for these shenanigans. This story is spicy, sweet, and so much fun to read.

Ally's Picks:

The Collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang 

I'm always a fan of nonfiction that mixes personal essay and research, especially when it takes an open minded and compassionate approach to tricky topics. Wang’s memoir mixed with short historical surveys of schizophrenia is wide ranging and creative. 

Abby’s Picks:

The War That Saved My Life Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

This is a middle-grade novel I originally read in college for a class, and I firmly believe anyone will enjoy it, no matter their age. Like so many children in her time, our main character Ada is preparing to leave London in favor of the safer countryside with her younger brother, in the midst of the bombings of World War II. But Ada has never left her London apartment, as her abusive mother keeps her locked away due to Ada’s clubfoot. As Ada gains the first bit of freedom she’s ever known when she finally escapes her mother’s clutches, both through the woman charged with caring for Ada and her brother and through horseback riding, she also works to move past the emotional abuse of her upbringing. A beautiful historical account, the novel is also a potent character study of a physically disabled child and her inner strength, which not only grew from her upbringing but despite it. 

True Biz

When I was in 1st Grade, there were two students in my class who were blind. They had canes for navigating the hallways and typewriters that typed in braille when we had assignments. This experience stuck with me since then, specifically my reflections regarding how those with disabilities function in schools not specifically equipped or ill equipped to help and teach them. Reading True Biz brought back all those thoughts that haunted little Abby’s brain, except this time the focus was on The River Valley School for the Deaf and the diverse cast of characters making up both the students and faculty. Not only does this novel ask important questions about access, education, and privilege but it’s also just an incredibly enjoyable read, with smart and flawed characters all navigating the modern world with their different abilities. I truly could not put it down and was incredibly excited to find out the author is working on a television adaption so I could live with these characters for just a little bit longer. 

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

Few things excite me more than the mixing of magic with the messy reality of humanity and this YA novel does just that! When undiagnosed Lyme disease derails Priya’s plans for Stanford, her only solace seems to come from an online support group for other teenagers struggling with chronic illness, specifically another girl named Brigid. But when Brigid goes offline and Priya is forced to investigate, she discovers that Brigid might be playing host to an entirely different monster than the two of them previously thought. Funny and truthful, I adored Priya and the treatment of her illness, something I hadn’t previously encountered widely in lit before. Simultaneously informative and hilarious, this lesser-known gem isn’t one to miss. 

Rachel’s Picks:

Knot My Type - Evie Mitchell

This book is just an absolute delight- Frankie is a sexologist and podcast who uses a wheelchair.  Her podcast is called “All Access” and focuses on accessibility in all facets of life.  She gets a request about accessible rope play and “ropes” in rigger, Jay Wood, who just so happens to teach an accessible rope class in town.  Even with his experience teaching classes focused on accessibility, watching Jay address his ableism instincts and Frankie guide him to question his assumptions in a firm but caring way was a lovely (and frankly, realistic) take on the relationship building process that’s key to any well-written romance novel.  With plenty of steam and heat, as well as a cast of diverse characters, including a girl gang who are all slated to get their own HEAs, this inclusive novel was a gem. 

Always Only You - Chloe Liese

Featuring a heroine with rheumatoid arthritis, Always Only You is slow-burn, grumpy/sunshine perfection.  Hockey player Ren and team employee Frankie are on a collision course for attraction when they unexpectedly end up as roommates.  Frankie firmly believes her RA makes her a burden to any relationship and Ren just wants to love and care for the whole person Frankie is. This book is full of hilarious moments, as well as some heart-wrenching, emotional passages, running the full gamut.  Chloe writes beautiful, inclusive love stories and the Bergman series is one of my all-time favorites. 

Nicole’s Picks:

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus & Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus - Dusti Bowling

This pair of middle grade novels are an absolute delight for all ages. Aven Green moves to a new town in 8th grade so her parents can take over the theme park Stagecoach Pass, and her move is even harder because she knows she’ll have to explain to her new classmates that she doesn’t have arms. She makes friends with Connor, who is figuring out how to navigate middle school with Tourette’s, and the two team up to solve a mystery at Stagecoach Pass. In the sequel, Aven heads off to high school where she has to figure out a whole new social scene. Plus, both books feature a llama named Spaghetti! 

Melissa’s Picks:

Aven Green Sleuthing Machine & Aven Green Baking Machine - Dusti Bowling (Ages 6-9)

I want to echo Nicole’s enthusiasm for Dusti Bowling’s middle-grade novels about the formidable Aven Green and add that the character ALSO has her own illustrated early chapter series for younger readers. Aven may have been born without arms, but she attests that all of the cells that were supposed to make her arms went into making her extra awesome brain instead. At least, that’s her theory and she’s sticking to it! Kids will love experiencing the world through the eyes of this funny, whip-smart, mystery-solving, baking-enthusiast girl who is unstoppable when she sets her mind to something. 

Wonder – R.J. Palacio (Ages 8-13)

If you’ve been holding off on putting this powerful, poignant book into your child’s hands, consider this magnificent new illustrated version a sign (plus we have SIGNED COPIES!). No book has been re-read in our house more than WONDER (my daughter alone has read it FOUR times). And her enthusiasm is hardly unique. This captivating, immensely readable story of August Pullman, a boy born with a facial difference who enters mainstream school for the first time as a fifth grader, has been on the NY Times Bestseller List for five years and counting, many of them in the #1 spot. Now we have a beautiful, illustrated edition with over twenty-five pieces of original art from Tad Carpenter, the artist behind the original cover. It also includes an essay from R.J. Palacio reflecting on ten years of WONDER and an introduction by Dina Zuckerberg, director of family programs at myFace, a non-profit dedicated to supporting the craniofacial difference community.

The Summer of June - Jamie Sumner (Ages 10-14) 

It’s unquestionably a sign of the times we’re living in that I get asked regularly to recommend books for middle-grade readers that touch on the subject of anxiety. But what a gift Jamie Sumner has given readers with June Delancey, a protagonist who struggles with anxiety and bears her soul to us so beautifully in THE SUMMER OF JUNE. While June’s anxiety is more extreme than what most children deal with—it causes her to pull out patches of her hair—the way it wreaks havoc on her confidence and sense of self will feel all too relatable. Best of all, the places in which June finds the support she needs—her mother, her therapist, a new friend, the public library, a garden—offer a myriad of paths for hope.