Here are 100 books that Sick Girl Secrets fans have personally recommended if you like
Sick Girl Secrets.
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“Everyone’s got something,” my mom used to say about my cerebral palsy. I knew kids who wore glasses or had mouthfuls of metal, but those somethings seemed normal compared to my leg brace, my limp, and my inability to run. When Judy Blume’s Deenie came out on my eleventh birthday, it was the very gift I needed: the story of a girl, a diagnosis, a brace. Reading it, I felt seen and understood, which led me to believe I might have a story to tell. Now, I’m thrilled to share these books by disabled authors about disabled kids leading authentic, relatable lives. I had Deenie. Today’s lucky young readers have these.
I know a book has me in its grips when the world the characters inhabit feels as real as my own. This was so true for me with Cursed that when I got to the part where ninth-grader Ricky has a falling out with her dorky yet incredibly wise, solicitous friend Oliver, it upset me enough to affect my sleep.
Life’s thrown a lot at Ricky by the time we meet her. The end of her parents’ marriage, friends who ditched her when she got sick, bullies at her new school, and, through it all, debilitating pain from juvenile arthritis. She’s understandably angry. She’s also smart, determined, and funny as hell. I loved being in on her private jokes and innermost thoughts, watching her evolve, and ultimately evolving with her.
A debut novel for fans of The Fault in Our Stars that thoughtfully and humorously depicts teen Ricky Bloom's struggles with a recent chronic illness diagnosis.
"Silverstein sheds a powerful light on disease and how managing it can bring out one’s inner warrior. A blistering coming-of-age tale that will propel readers into Ricky’s corner." -Booklist
As if her parents' divorce and sister's departure for college weren't bad enough, fourteen-year-old Ricky Bloom has just been diagnosed with a life-changing chronic illness. Her days consist of cursing everyone out, skipping school--which has become a nightmare--daydreaming…
“Everyone’s got something,” my mom used to say about my cerebral palsy. I knew kids who wore glasses or had mouthfuls of metal, but those somethings seemed normal compared to my leg brace, my limp, and my inability to run. When Judy Blume’s Deenie came out on my eleventh birthday, it was the very gift I needed: the story of a girl, a diagnosis, a brace. Reading it, I felt seen and understood, which led me to believe I might have a story to tell. Now, I’m thrilled to share these books by disabled authors about disabled kids leading authentic, relatable lives. I had Deenie. Today’s lucky young readers have these.
Being a poet, I love verse novels, and this one grows richer every time I read it. Seventh-grader Selah works hard to follow rigid, self-imposed rules so she’ll be seen as a “normal” girl in school, someone who doesn’t get overwhelmed by crowds or noise or jump from unexpected touch as though she’s been shocked.
What’s amazing about Selah is that, when keeping to those rules proves impossible and she gets in trouble, she trusts herself. With a few clues, she comes to understand she’s on the autism spectrum and finds simple tools that make a big difference.
She also starts expressing herself by writing poems. It moves me so much that poetry is represented here as a source of strength and that being unique is recognized as an asset.
A debut novel-in-verse about understanding and celebrating your own difference. Selah knows her rules for being normal.
This means keeping her feelings locked tightly inside, despite the way they build up inside her as each school day goes on, so that she has to run to the bathroom and hide in the stall until she can calm down. Selah feels like a dragon stuck in a world of humans, but she knows how to hide it.
Until the day she explodes and hits a fellow student.
As her comfortable, familiar world crumbles around her, Selah starts to figure out more…
“Everyone’s got something,” my mom used to say about my cerebral palsy. I knew kids who wore glasses or had mouthfuls of metal, but those somethings seemed normal compared to my leg brace, my limp, and my inability to run. When Judy Blume’s Deenie came out on my eleventh birthday, it was the very gift I needed: the story of a girl, a diagnosis, a brace. Reading it, I felt seen and understood, which led me to believe I might have a story to tell. Now, I’m thrilled to share these books by disabled authors about disabled kids leading authentic, relatable lives. I had Deenie. Today’s lucky young readers have these.
The candor and vulnerability of seventh-grader Al Schneider grabbed me from the start. Her best and only friend is drifting away, she hasn’t told anyone she likes girls, and a constant urgent need to poop has taken over her life. When Al learns she has Crohn’s disease, she is terrified at first, but then the unexpected happens.
Her diagnosis brings a new group of friends into her life. They call themselves the Bathroom Club, and they’re warm, funny, understanding, and, above all, welcoming. What a gift to a kid who, until now, has found it “mortifying just to be alive and have a body.” What a gift to readers who have yet to discover that, if you let it, disability can offer entry into a rich, vibrant, and accepting community.
Twelve-year-old Al Schneider is too scared to talk about the two biggest things in her life:
1. Her stomach hurts all the time and she has no idea why. 2. She's almost definitely 100% sure she likes girls.
So she holds it in... until she can't. After nearly having an accident of the lavatorial variety in gym class, Al finds herself getting a colonoscopy and an answer - she has Crohn's disease.
But rather than solving all her problems, Al's diagnosis just makes everything worse. It's scary and embarrassing. And worst of all, everyone wants her to talk about it…
“Everyone’s got something,” my mom used to say about my cerebral palsy. I knew kids who wore glasses or had mouthfuls of metal, but those somethings seemed normal compared to my leg brace, my limp, and my inability to run. When Judy Blume’s Deenie came out on my eleventh birthday, it was the very gift I needed: the story of a girl, a diagnosis, a brace. Reading it, I felt seen and understood, which led me to believe I might have a story to tell. Now, I’m thrilled to share these books by disabled authors about disabled kids leading authentic, relatable lives. I had Deenie. Today’s lucky young readers have these.
What makes this novel so compelling to me is how it captures the exuberance and intensity of teen friendships. That intensity has really revved for seventeen-year-old Andrea now that she’s realized she’s in love with her best friend Hailee. Unfortunately, she’s certain—partly because of her cerebral palsy—that Hailee couldn’t possibly feel the same.
Despite these doubts, Andrea has confidence and sass, which makes her a great model for readers with disabilities. That, along with her loyal, affectionate friend group, are my favorite aspects of the book. Andrea’s friends adore her, even as she makes a mess of things in an attempt to fall out of love. Also, they treat her disability matter-of-factly, as does the author. Andrea’s C.P. is real and present but never takes over the story.
1. Blueberries 2. Art show in ShoeHorn 3. Lizzo concert 4. Thrift shop pop-up 5. Skinny Dipping at the lake house 6. Amusement Park Day! 7. Drew Barrymarathon 8. Paintball day
Oh, and ….
9. Fall out of love with Hailee.
Andrea Williams has got this. The Best Summer Ever. Last summer, she spent all her time in bed, recovering from the latest surgery for her cerebral palsy. She’s waited too long for adventure and thrills to enter her life. Together with her crew of ride-or-die friends, and the best parents anyone could ask…
After spending 25 years building software products and serving as a vice president of engineering at Adobe, I witnessed a sharp decline in the number of women working in tech. Frustrated but galvanized, I knew it was time to switch gears and focus on creating more inclusive workplaces where women and others who are marginalized can thrive. I naively set off to change workplaces around the world! My first step was starting the Twitter handle @BetterAllies to share simple, actionable steps to be more inclusive. That handle became the inspiration for my four books and my popular 5 Ally Actions newsletter, which I send to over 40,000 subscribers every Friday.
I first became a fan of Tiffany Yu because of her viral “Anti-Ableism Series,” a collection of videos about being more inclusive of disabled people. I knew I had to read her book as soon as it was published.
As someone who has lived with a permanent arm injury sustained at age nine, Yu explores the world of biases against people with disabilities. In her book, she shares both personal stories and those of others. I felt like I had a front-row seat to learn about the issues and the role we can and should play to be more inclusive. Along the way, she lays out practical actions we can take.
Yu’s book is my must-have companion for being more inclusive for people with disabilities at work and in everyday life.
'I defy anyone who reads this powerful and urgently needed manifesto not to be galvanised into action' Sophie Morgan, TV host and author of Driving Forwards
'A call to arms, not just for the disabled community, but for every single one of us' Dr Shani Dhanda, broadcaster and author
'An actionable antidote to fear and misconceptions' Service95
In The Anti-Ableist Manifesto, Tiffany Yu highlights the myriad ways in which our society discriminates against people with disabilities - and what we can do about it. Foregrounding disabled identities that have too often been rendered invisible, she demonstrates how ending discrimination begins…
Historians write about dead people and historical fiction authors breathe new life into those people. Reading and writing historical fiction is my passion. I crave well-researched, authentic stories that introduce me to a different time, place, culture, or perspective. I want to witness extraordinary times and events in history through the eyes of ordinary people. This is what I look for in the books I read and what I strive for in the books I write.
I was most impressed by this author’s ability to show me the innermost thoughts, fears, hopes, and dreams of two main characters who lacked basic communication skills. Lynnie is developmentally disabled. Homan is deaf. Yet, each had a distinct voice and was a fully developed individual.
Their allegoric journeys spanned four decades, and I rooted for them from the opening page until I closed the book at the end. The author carried me along, back and forth, over and under, in an effortless braid of the two stories, introducing many colorful secondary characters along the way. While I had to suspend disbelief a bit to go along for the ride, it was well worth the trip.
It is 1968. Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability, and Homan, an African American deaf man, are locked away in an institution, the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, and have been left to languish, forgotten. Deeply in love, they escape, and find refuge in the farmhouse of Martha, a retired schoolteacher and widow. But the couple is not alone-Lynnie has just given birth to a baby girl.
When the authorities catch up to them that same night, Homan escapes into the darkness, and Lynnie is caught. But before she is forced back into the institution, she…
I’m passionate about these books and authors because I’m also a disabled author whose debut young adult novel is coming out this year. We formed the 2024 Debuts group in mid-2022, so we’ve been there for each other through many ups and downs along our individual and collective journeys to publication. Our disabilities add another layer of complexity to that, and we’ve found comfort and solidarity in each other. Many of them are friends, and I couldn’t be prouder to share their incredible books with you. As we approach Disability Pride Month, I hope you consider adding a book written by a disabled author to your TBR!
We’re back to me being a baby again. As soon as people start dying, I’m usually out. That wasn’t the case with Cindy Otis’ mystery. I loved the high stakes and the part that disability played in the novel.
It all felt like a thoroughly modern version of a classic murder mystery, with our hearts racing as we reached the end. Also, the fact that this YA novel was written by an actual former member of the CIA is just objectively cool.
Quinn Calvet was supposed to be having an epic year. She had all kinds of plans with her best friend, Ximena and sister, Ava, and to grow her following as an influencer on The Whine. Instead, Quinn finds herself third wheel to Ximena and her new boyfriend or getting ditched by Ava who has turned into an overachiever, obsessed with studying and joining every school club. It brings up Quinn's old feelings that her disability has her left behind. She tries to talk to Ava about it, but she's too busy with the newest club at school, Defend Kids, which…
As an author, executive coach, and neurodiversity advocate, I’ve spent years helping individuals unlock their unique potential—especially those who think differently from the norm. My passion stems from personal experience navigating life as a neurodivergent individual while building systems that empower others. Through my work in leadership development and personal growth (Be Your Own Commander-in-Chief), I’ve seen firsthand how embracing diverse perspectives leads to innovation and success. This list reflects books that have inspired me on my journey.
I loved this book because it reframes neurodiversity as an asset rather than a challenge. Praslova’s insights into creating inclusive environments where neurodivergent people can thrive were incredibly empowering. As someone passionate about neurodiversity advocacy, I found her strategies for fostering belonging both practical and inspiring.
This book gave me new ideas for how workplaces can unlock the unique potential of neurodiverse individuals and reminded me why diversity is so essential for innovation. It also happens that my journey is featured in this book, which is pretty cool.
Featured on the 2024 Top 10 Best New Management Books list by Thinkers50, the global authority on management thinking.
“Exclusion robs people of opportunities, and it robs organizations of talent. In the long run, exclusionary systems are lose-lose.”
How do we build win-win organizational systems?
From a member of the Thinkers50 2024 Radar cohort of global management thinkers most likely to impact workplaces and the first person to have written for Harvard Business Review from an autistic perspective comes The Canary Code—an award-winning guide to win-win workplaces.
Healthy systems that support talent most impacted by organizational ills—canaries in the coal…
Teachers and children’s writers are some of each other’s biggest fans, and I have been both, so I couldn’t resist putting a teacher in my book. Besides that, teachers are very useful characters because they can make kids in books do things like write reports or keep a journal. Initially, my main character, Patsy, doesn’t especially like her teacher, Miss Ashman. Patsy thinks she’s too strict. But by the end of the book, she realizes that challenging students and having high expectations are some of the things that make a great teacher. If you’ve ever had a teacher you loved, you’ll want to check out the books on this list.
Despite cerebral palsy preventing her from speaking, Melody Brooks, the main character of this novel, loves language and aptly describes the teachers who have taught her in both her special needs and general education classrooms – the good, the bad, and ugly.
But the character who really spoke to me was her educational aide. So I’m bending the rules of my list a bit to give a shout out for the aide, Catherine, who quietly advocated for respect and inclusion for all students through her example.
As a parent of a child with special needs I’m grateful for all the Catherines that come into my child’s life.
A New York Times bestseller for three years and counting!
"A gutsy, candid, and compelling story. It speaks volumes." -School Library Journal (starred review) "Unflinching and realistic." -KirkusReviews (starred review)
From award-winning author Sharon Draper comes a story that will forever change how we all look at anyone with a disability, perfect for fans of RJ Palacio's Wonder.
Eleven-year-old Melody is not like most people. She can't walk. She can't talk. She can't write. All because she has cerebral palsy. But she also has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She's the…
I am an avid fantasy reader and writer. I have been writing for many years and love to craft detailed worlds and complex characters that surprise and delight readers. Stories are about challenges, overcoming the barriers that are put in front of us, and growing in the process. Characters do not have to be good or bad; they can be both, a mixture, just like real people. I strive to create characters that make people stop and think, make them question their assumptions, or relate to them in ways that they had not expected. Fantasy is about bringing real emotions to readers through an imaginary setting, and I love it.
I loved this book because it is all about the main character, Yarvi, overcoming the obstacles that are thrown at him through no fault of his own. Yarvi is happy with his life; he does not seek problems or hunger for more; he is simply expected to do something, and everything begins to unravel from there.
I really liked Yarvi. He is likable and quick-witted, and his intelligence makes up for his disability, which means others often put him down. I loved his journey and his character growth with an ending that was just perfect.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY TIME AND THE WASHINGTON POST • LOCUS AWARD WINNER
“The Shattered Seas trilogy has worked its way into a very exclusive group of my favorite fantasy novels of all time.”—James Dashner, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maze Runner
“A fast-paced tale of betrayal and revenge that grabbed me from page 1 and refused to let go.”—George R. R. Martin
“I swore an oath to avenge the death of my father. I may be half a man, but I swore a whole oath.”
