Positive representations of disabilities: books for teens and young adults

When sixteen-year-old Freya collapses and wakes up to discover a surgeon has given her a temporary ileostomy bag, her dreams of the perfect summer go down the toilet. Suddenly, it's goodbye, Marbella and hello, poo camp when her parents send her to a specialist camp in the Scottish Highlands for children with bowel disease. With the help of her campmate Chris, Freya slowly learns to live with her bag, but, back in the real world, she is determined to get her old life back and prove to her classmates that she's more than just 'shit bag' by winning back her ex-boyfriend, Lockie. But as Freya's feelings for Chris grow, sh!t is sure to hit the fan, and Freya could end up with only her bag by her side.

Max is used to being called Stupid. And he is used to everyone being scared of him. On account of his size and looking like his dad. Kevin is used to being called Dwarf. On account of his size and being some cripple kid. But greatness comes in all sizes, and together Max and Kevin become 'Freak The Mighty' and walk high above the world.

A chance meeting and a secret message drags Libby into a thrilling mystery, but no one believes she can spot the clues. Can she make them realise what she is really capable of, before it's too late? Libby is visually impaired but that doesn't stop her being a keen photographer. She loves going out walking with her guide dog, Samson, and taking photos, but her family worry about her - and Libby wishes she could be more independent. The day that the boy gives her a secret note to deliver changes everything. Because soon after, the boy goes missing, and no one - except Libby and her new friend Kyle - thinks there is anything to worry about. Libby knows there's no way her parents would let her get involved. But what if she's the only person who can solve the mystery?

Noah, a cello prodigy from a long line of musicians, wants to stick to tradition. Daisy, a fiercely independent disabled violinist, is used to fighting for what she wants and likes to take risks. But the two surprise each other when they play. They fall perfectly in tune. After their performance goes viral, the rest of the country falls for them just as surely as they're falling for each other. But viral fame isn't all it's cracked up to be. No one seems to care about their talent or their music at all. People have rewritten their love story into one where Daisy is an inspiration for overcoming her cerebral palsy and Noah is a saint for seeing past it. Daisy is tired of her disability being the only thing people see about her, and all of the attention sends Noah's anxiety disorder into high speed.

A high school student with spinal muscular atrophy is determined to reinvent himself. When new-boy Harris meets cute-girl-in-his-class Nory, he is determined to prove he is more than just the kid in the powered wheelchair. Luckily, he has a secret weapon. His new nurse Miranda. Beautiful and confident, Miranda sees Harris for who he really is - funny, smart and totally worthy of Nory's affections. It seems everything is working out for Harris for once. But Miranda has her own demons, and Harris starts to wonder if she has his best interests at heart.

Juliet believes girls like her - girls with arthritis - don't get their own love stories. She exists at the edges of her friends' social lives, skipping parties to play online chess under a pseudonym with strangers around the world. There, she isn't just 'the girl with crutches'. Ronan is the new kid: good looking, smart, a bad boy plagued by guilt over what happened to his brother Ciaran. Chesslife is his escape. Juliet thinks Ronan thinks someone like Ronan could never be interested in someone like her - and she wouldn't want him to be anyway - he always acts like he's cooler than everyone else. Little do they know they've already discovered each other online, and have more in common than they think.

Steffi doesn't talk, but she has so much to say. Rhys can't hear, but he can listen. Their love isn't a lightning strike, it's the rumbling roll of thunder. Steffi has been a selective mute for most of her life - she's been silent for so long that she feels completely invisible. But Rhys, the new boy at school, sees her. He's deaf, and her knowledge of basic sign language means that she's assigned to look after him. To Rhys it doesn't matter that Steffi doesn't talk and, as they find ways to communicate, Steffi finds that she does have a voice, and that she's falling in love with the one person who makes her feel brave enough to use it.

Ven had her life all planned out - her dance group were going places and so was she. Then she passes out right in the middle of a life-changing performance. And she's forced to admit that she hasn't been feeling right for a while now. Ven is about to discover she has an illness that threatens to ruin everything. No more dancing, even walking is proving a challenge, and standing. But don't you DARE feel sorry for her! Ven is no victim, and she is in charge here. Sure, her future is going to be different, but that doesn't mean it's over.

Mafalda is a nine-year-old girl who knows one thing: some time in the next six months her sight will fail completely. Can Mafalda find a way through a seemingly dark future and still go to school, play football and look after her beloved cat? With the help of her family, and her friends, Mafalda needs to discover the things that will be important to her when her sight has failed. A moving, empowering tale of courage and determination that will inspire young and old.

Rosie loves Jack. Jack loves Rosie. So when they're separated, Rosie will do anything to find the boy who makes the sun shine in her head. Even run away from home. Even struggle across London and travel to Brighton, though the trains are cancelled and the snow is falling. Even though people might think a girl like Rosie could never survive on her own.

Fall in love, break the curse. It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope. Nothing has ever been easy for Harper Lacy. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she's instead somehow sucked into Rhen's cursed world. Break the curse, save the kingdom.