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Disability & mental health book recs

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A list of diverse book recommendations with disability rep, including both mental and physical health disabilities. All proceeds earned via Benable will go to a family in Gaza.
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Contemporary (adult)

Contemporary adult fiction about characters who have lupus, who are deaf, who live with OCD, and more.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
When twenty-five-year-old Kai Larssen agrees to pose as his best friend Mariah's date at a family gathering, he doesn't expect to fall-hard-for her twin brother, Ray. Anxious, magnetic, and achingly off-limits, Ray is everything Kai has ever wanted. ...
We Are Made Of Scars & Starlight by Nicole Zelniker
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
True biz? The students at the River Valley School for the Deaf just want to hook up, pass their history finals, and have politicians, doctors, and their parents stop telling them what to do with their bodies. This revelatory novel plunges readers int...
True Biz by Sara Nović
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
It begins as your typical boy meets boy. While out with friends at their local university drag night, Tom buys Ming a drink. Confident and witty, a magnetic young playwright, Ming is the perfect antidote to Tom's awkward energy, and their connection ...
Bellies by Nicola Dinan
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Lucas Goodgame lives in Majestic, Pennsylvania, a quaint suburb that has been torn apart by a recent tragedy. Everyone in Majestic sees Lucas as a hero—everyone, that is, except Lucas himself. Insisting that his deceased wife, Darcy, visits him every...
We Are the Light by Matthew Quick
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Gifty is a sixth-year PhD candidate in neuroscience at the Stanford University School of Medicine studying reward-seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and addiction. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted high school athlete who di...
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Juliet Milagros Palante is a self-proclaimed closeted Puerto Rican baby dyke from the Bronx. Only, she's not so closeted anymore. Not after coming out to her family the night before flying to Portland, Oregon, to intern with her favorite feminist wri...
Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Yara Murad has worked hard to outrun the demons of her tumultuous Brooklyn childhood. Now living far from home, Yara has achieved everything she aspired to: She is highly educated and teaches art to college student. She's also raising two daughters w...
Evil Eye by Etaf Rum

Contemporary (YA)

Contemporary young adult fiction about characters who have lBS, EDS, autism, and more.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Of course Avery Marsh's parents decide to divorce her senior year of high school, but what's way worse, they're shipping Avery across the country to spend the year with her extremely closeted, absentee half-brother Lucas and his secret boyfriend. And...
All I Know So Far by Nicole Zelniker
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Icarus Gallagher is a thief. He steals priceless art and replaces it with his father’s impeccable forgeries. For years, one man—the wealthy Mr. Black—has been their target, revenge for his role in the death of Icarus’s mother. To keep their secret, I...
Icarus by K. Ancrum
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Sixteen-year-old Yamilet Flores prefers to be known for her killer eyeliner, not for being one of the only Mexican kids at her new, mostly white, very rich Catholic school. But at least here no one knows she’s gay, and Yami intends to keep it that wa...
The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Ariana Ruiz wants to be noticed. But as an autistic girl who never talks, she goes largely ignored by her peers—despite her bold fashion choices. So when cute, popular Luis starts to pay attention to her, Ari finally feels seen. Luis’s attention soon...
The Luis Ortega Survival Club by Sonora Reyes
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Seventeen-year-old Cesar Flores is finally ready to win back his ex-boyfriend. Since breaking up with Jamal in a last-ditch effort to stay in the closet, he’s come out to Mami, his sister, Yami, and their friends, taken his meds faithfully, and gotte...
The Golden Boy's Guide to Bipolar by Sonora Reyes
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
After one of his songs goes viral, Ollie Cheriet gets the opportunity of a lifetime: a cross-country tour, an album deal, and a chance to help his family with their financial struggles. The only problem? Ollie has major stage fright, a symptom of his...
Under All the Lights by Maya Ameyaw
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Simone Garcia-Hampton is starting over at a new school, and this time things will be different. She's making real friends, making a name for herself as student director of Rent, and making a play for Miles, the guy who makes her melt every time he wa...
Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Ever since seventeen-year-old Josie Wright can remember, writing has been her identity, the thing that grounds her when everything else is a garbage fire. So when she wins a contest to write a celebrity profile for Deep Focus magazine, she's equal pa...
Off the Record by Camryn Garrett
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Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Sixteen-year old Niarah Holloway’s only goal in life is to get through it unnoticed. That, and to spend her first summer in LA building a doomsday bunker in her backyard. Because if the past few years have taught Niarah anything, it’s that the ocean ...
Our Shouts Echo by Jade Adia
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Ever since cancer invaded his adoptive mother’s life, Brett feels like he’s losing everything, most of all control. To cope, Brett fuels all of his anxieties into epic fantasies, including his intergalactic Kid Condor comic book series, which feature...
The Great Cool Ranch Dorito In The Sky by Josh Galarza
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
When eighteen-year-old Briar Vincent's mental health takes a turn for the worst, her parents send her to spend the summer in New York City with her older brother, Beau, also known as the drag queen Bow Regard. Backstage at the gay bar where Beau perf...
Don't Be a Drag by Skye Quinlan
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Aza Holmes never intended to pursue the disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the...
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Verónica has had many surgeries to manage her disability. The best form of rehabilitation is swimming, so she spends hours in the pool, but not just to strengthen her body. Her Florida town is home to Mermaid Cove, a kitschy underwater attraction whe...
Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
When Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they're thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas, whom Ben has never even met. Struggling with an anxiety disorder c...
I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
It’s the summer before college and Blake Brenner and her girlfriend, Ella, have one goal: join the mysterious and exclusive Serena Society. The sorority promises status and lifelong connections to a network of powerful, trailblazing women of color. E...
Thirsty by Jas Hammonds
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Casey Kowalski once dreamed of becoming a professional singer. Then the universe threw her a life-altering curveball—sudden, permanent, and profound hearing loss—just before her family’s move from Portland to Miami. Now, she’s learning to navigate th...
The Loudest Silence by Sydney Langford
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Before that awful Saturday, Molly used to be inseparable from her brother, Hank, and his best friend, Tray. The indoor climbing accident that left Hank with a traumatic brain injury filled Molly with anger. While she knows the accident wasn’t Tray’s ...
A Constellation of Minor Bears by Jen Ferguson

Fantasy

Contemporary and high fantasy about characters who have depression, PTSD, arthritis, and more.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Gem Echols is a nonbinary Seminole teen living in the tiny town of Gracie, Georgia. Known for being their peers’ queer awakening, Gem leans hard on charm to disguise the anxious mess they are beneath. The only person privy to their authentic self is ...
Godly Heathens by H. E. Edgmon
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Nicole Zelniker profile picture
When you're a geriatric armed with nothing but gumption and knitting needles, stopping a sorcerer from wiping out an entire dragon-fighting organization is a tall order. No one understands why 83-year-old Edna Fisher is the Chosen One, destined to sa...
The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher by E.M. Anderson
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Love potions is a dangerous business. Brewing has painful, debilitating side effects, and getting caught means death or a prison sentence. But what Venus is most afraid of is the dark, sentient magic within her. Then an enemy's iron bullet kills her ...
The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
The smallest spark can bind two hearts . . . or start a revolution. In the magic-soaked capital city of Oluwan, Small Sade needs a job--preferably as a maid, with employers who don't mind her unique appearance and unlucky foot. But before she can be ...
The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Faron Vincent can channel the power of the gods. Five years ago, she used her divine magic to liberate her island from its enemies, the dragon-riding Langley Empire. But now, at seventeen, Faron is all powered up with no wars to fight. She's a legend...
So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
In the world of Awei, magic is not fully understood. Humans can be born of air, guardians haunt old lands, and spirits make up most of society. Raised by a winged spirit in an enchanted forest, Wander is a stranger to the world. Forced out by a magic...
Wander by Allison Stalberg
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Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Olive Joshi is an imaginative sixteen-year-old with OCD. She checks and double-checks that the stove burners are off, avoids driving for fear of causing an accident, and constantly worries about hurting the people she loves. Olive finds refuge from h...
The Twin Stars by Bridgette Dutta Portman
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time. The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to ...
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
When twenty-three-year-old surly, and slightly tipsy, Frankie finds her hag of a grandmother dead on the sofa, her best friend, playful Ben Bowen, introduces her to the magical underbelly of Aspen Ridge, Utah. Ben is a witch, a seer to be exact, and ...
Peachy by Camri Kohler

Graphic novels

Graphic novels about characters who are dealing with disability from old age and characters who are living with OCD and anxiety.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
When Kumiko’s well-meaning adult daughters place her in an assisted living home, the seventy-six-year-old widow gives it a try, but it’s not where she wants to be. She goes on the lam and finds a cozy bachelor apartment, keeping the location secret e...
Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Shy and softhearted Charlie Spring sits next to rugby player Nick Nelson in class one morning. A warm and intimate friendship follows, and that soon develops into something more for Charlie, who doesn't think he has a chance. But Nick is struggling w...
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
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Historical

Historical fiction with characters who have PTSD, depression, HIV, and more.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Gabi Keefer flees Holocaust-era Germany with nothing but her husband, her nephew, and the clothes on her back, but that isn't the whole story. Over generations, her granddaughter, Lena, struggles with drug addiction and an unplanned pregnancy; her so...
From Where We Are by Nicole Zelniker
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
It’s 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing. Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He’s terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely ...
Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Earl "Trey" Singleton III arrives in New York City with only a few dollars in his pocket. Born into a wealthy Black Indianapolis family, at 17, he is ready to leave his overbearing parents and their expectations behind. In the city, Trey meets up wit...
My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
August is a misfit with a pyro streak and Jack is a golden boy on the varsity rugby team — but their intense friendship goes way back. Jack begins to see increasingly vivid hallucinations that take the form of an elaborate fantasy kingdom creeping in...
The Wicker King by K. Ancrum

Horror

Horror with characters who have OCD, seizure disorders, PTSD, and more.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Flora Braddock Paz is not the girl who survives. A colorful creative who spends as much time fearing death as she does trying to hide that fear from her loved ones, she’s always considered herself weak. But half a year into the global outbreak of a r...
If We Survive This by Racquel Marie
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
"Mom seems off." Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone. She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit...
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Five years ago, a parasite poisoned the water of Ian’s West Virginia hometown, turning dozens of locals into dark-eyed, oil-dripping shells of their former selves. With chronic migraines and seizures limiting his physical abilities, Ian relies on his...
Take All of Us by Natalie Leif
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
One last laugh for the summer as it winds down. One last prank just to scare a friend. Bringing a mannequin into a theater is just some harmless fun, right? Until it wakes up. Until it starts killing. Luckily, Sawyer has a plan. He’ll be a hero. He'l...
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality—Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, D...
Don't Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Evander has lived like a ghost in the forgotten corners of the Hazelthorn estate ever since he was taken in by his reclusive billionaire guardian, Byron Lennox-Hall, when he was a child. For his safety, Evander has been given three ironclad rules to ...
Hazelthorn by C.G. Drews
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or ...
Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old trans, autistic Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than be...
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
“Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories — she's come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there, beneath th...
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
So what if Sadie hears talking dead animals and a strange, comforting male voice in her head? The therapist insists these are just symptoms of PTSD. It makes sense considering that she hid under the bed and watched as her best friends were slaughtere...
The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
After a meltdown in her school cafeteria prompts an unwanted autism diagnosis, Cassie Davis moves back to her hometown in upstate New York, where her mom hopes the familiarity will allow Cassie to feel normal again. Cassie’s never truly felt normal a...
Hollow by Taylor Grothe

Magical realism

Magical realism novels with characters who have asthma, dyslexia, and ADHD.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Though Owen Tanner has never met anyone else who has a chatty bird in their chest, medical forums would call him a Terror. From the moment Gail emerged between Owen’s ribs, his mother knew that she had to hide him away from the world. After a decade ...
The Boy With a Bird in His Chest by Emme Lund
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Everyone who lives near the lake knows the stories about the world underneath it, an ethereal landscape rumored to be half-air, half-water. But Bastián Silvano and Lore Garcia are the only ones who’ve been there. Bastián grew up both above the lake a...
Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore

Mystery & thriller

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
It’s kind of hard to graduate high school when you’re the prime suspect in an attempted murder. Seventeen-year-old Eleanora Finkel just wants to finish her senior year and get the hell out of Texas. But when her LGBTQ+ club meeting inconveniently coi...
Pride or Die by CL Montblanc
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
On the night Miles Abernathy—sixteen-year-old socialist and proud West Virginian—comes out as trans to his parents, he sneaks off to a party, carrying evidence that may finally turn the tide of the blood feud plaguing Twist Creek: Photos that prove t...
Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Sam Sylvester's not overly optimistic about their recent move to the small town of Astoria, Oregon after a traumatic experience in their last home in the rural Midwest. Yet Sam's life seems to be on the upswing after meeting several new friends and a...
The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
When Mikky Graves left his small, stifling hometown of Prophets Lake to live with his estranged mother, he thought nothing could ever make him return for good. Until his sister Kyla’s best friend, Erin, is murdered. Mikky never worried about leaving ...
Girls Who Play Dead by Joelle Wellington

Nonfiction

Nonfiction with authors writing about chronic pain, Crohn's disease, OCD, and more.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Irby is forty, and increasingly uncomfortable in her own skin despite what Inspirational Instagram Infographics have promised her. She has left her job as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic, has published successful books and has been friendzoned ...
Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby
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Nicole Zelniker profile picture
The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a fi...
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school i...
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Poetry & novels-in-verse

Poetry & novels-in-verse with authors who write about chronic pain, fibromyalgia, HIV, and more.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
"Blood Orange" is a highly emotional, important and timely poetry collection by Mx. Yaffa (They/She), a trans Muslim displaced Indigenous Palestinian. Their writings probe the yearning for home, belonging, mental health, queerness, transness, and oth...
Blood Orange by Yaffa As
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
From The Yellow House And On is a memoir through poetry. The poems of this collection create a camera-like image of the writer's childhood and adolescence in Ohio.
From the Yellow House and On by Sojourner Davidson
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Nicole Zelniker profile picture
In her debut collection, The Whisper, The Storm and The Light in Between, Clara vulnerably reveals her experience as a racialized being surviving Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) and colonization. She describes her work as a "poetic memoir of ...
The Whisper, The Storm, and The Light In Between by Clara Olivo
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Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Award-winning poet Danez Smith is a groundbreaking force, celebrated for deft lyrics, urgent subjects, and performative power. Don’t Call Us Dead opens with a heartrending sequence that imagines an afterlife for black men shot by police, a place wher...
Don't Call Us Dead by Danez Smith
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
I'm safe here. That's how Sadie feels, on a perfect summer day, wrapped in her girlfriend's arms. School is out, and even though she’s been struggling to manage her chronic anxiety, Sadie is hopeful better times are ahead. Or at least, she thought sh...
Forever Is Now by Mariama J. Lockington
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
As far back as anyone can remember, the women of the Strand family have been magical. Their gifts manifest when they each turn fifteen, always in different ways. But Nell Strand knows that her family's magic is a curse. Her mother’s age changes every...
I Am the Swarm by Hayley Chewins

Retellings

Retellings of classic stories that involve Authorian legend, fairytale retellings, and classic literature. Characters are dealing with grief, limb difference, POTS, and more.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses...
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
The Lost Boys say that Peter Pan went back to England because of Wendy Darling, but Wendy is just an old life he left behind. Neverland is his real home. So when Peter returns to it after ten years in the real world, he's surprised to find a Neverlan...
Peter Darling by Austin Chant
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Princess Aurora has a secret. She thinks she owes everything to her fiancé, because he is kind and is helping save her kingdom from war debts. But, inside her heart, she knows she will never belong to him. Prince Elias has a secret. He loves Aurora w...
Vow of Moonlight by Morgana Stewart
 
One for All by Lillie Lainoff
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Unwieldy Creatures, a biracial, queer, nonbinary retelling of Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein, follows the story of three beings who all navigate life from the margins: Plum, a queer biracial Chinese intern at one of the world's top embryol...
Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Brook Tsai
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
It's Zinnia Gray's twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it's the last birthday she'll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no-one has ...
A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

Romance (adult)

Adult romance novels with characters who have autism, arthritis, anxiety, and more.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Winning the lottery has ruined Opal Devlin's life. After quitting her dead-end job where she’d earned minimum wage and even less respect, she’s bombarded by people knocking at her door for a handout the second they found out her bank account was over...
Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Ezra Beaumont never felt like New York was truly his home, which is why he's spent the last seven years studying abroad at university and backpacking across Europe. Some may say he's running from his problems, but he just hates feeling stuck. Then CO...
Queried Sick by Dallas Smith
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Congressman Jamie Montgomery knows that re-election will be tough as a young, single man representing a newly redrawn district in North Carolina. And that's without him coming out as bisexual. But when he sees Adrian across a bar, Jamie forgets about...
Bi-Partisan by Dallas Smith

Romance (YA)

Young adult romance with characters who have IBS, MS, arthritis, and more.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Seventeen-year-old Jamie Taher-Foster has big plans for senior year. She's made a list of things and places in Toronto she and her boyfriend of three years, Ben Cameron, need to check off before graduating. And the biggest plan of all: a very special...
You Started It by Jackie Khalilieh
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Ellie’s Deaf boarding school just shut down, forcing her to leave the place she considered home and return to her hearing family. But being mainstreamed into public school isn't exactly easy. So her guidance counselor pairs her with Jackson, a studen...
On the Bright Side by Anna Sortino
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Marlowe Meadows understands a lot of things. She understands that calculus isn’t overwhelmingly beautiful to everyone, and that it typically kills the mood when you try to talk Python coding over beer pong. She understands that people were surprised ...
The Calculation of You and Me by Serena Kaylor
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Phoebe Mendel's day is never ending--literally. On August 6th, she woke up to find herself stuck in a time loop. And for nearly a month of August 6ths since, Phoebe has relived the same day: pancakes with Mom in the morning, Scrabble with Dad in the ...
Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield
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Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Chronically ill seventeen-year-old Ivy has stayed inside baking all summer—pies are better than people, and they don’t trigger her social anxiety. So when her (also) chronically ill mom and sister cook up a plan to get Ivy out of the house and into a...
Joined at the Joints by Marissa Eller
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Bradley Graeme is pretty much perfect. He’s a star football player, manages his OCD well (enough), and comes out on top in all his classes . . . except the ones he shares with his ex-best friend, Celine. Celine Bangura is conspiracy-theory-obsessed. ...
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Enrique “Quique” Luna has one goal this summer—get over his crush on Saleem Kanazi by pursuing his other romantic prospects. Never mind that he’s only out to his best friend, Fabiola. Never mind that he has absolutely zero game. And definitely forget...
This Is Why They Hate Us by Aaron H. Aceves
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Julián Luna has a plan for his life: Graduate. Get into UCLA. And have the chance to move away from Corpus Christi, Texas, and the suffocating expectations of others that have forced Jules into an inauthentic life. Then in one reckless moment, with o...
Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun by Jonny Garza Villa
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Tilly Twomley is desperate for change. White-knuckling her way through high school with flawed executive functioning has left her burnt out and ready to start fresh. Working as an intern for her perfect older sister’s start up isn’t exactly how Tilly...
Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Theo Mori and Gabriel Moreno have always been at odds. Their parents own rival businesses—an Asian American café and a Puerto Rican bakery—and Gabi’s lack of coordination has cost their soccer team too many games to count. Stuck in the closet and sca...
Café Con Lychee by Emery Lee
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Hollis Beckwith isn’t trying to get a girl—she’s just trying to get by. For a fat, broke girl with anxiety, the start of senior year brings enough to worry about. And besides, she already has a boyfriend: Chris. Their relationship isn’t particularly ...
The No-Girlfriend Rule by Christen Randall

Short story & essay collections

Short story and essay collections by about mental health and disability. Collections are horror and nonfiction.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Outsmarting deadly video games, hunting the predatory monster in the woods, rooting out evil within their community, finding love and revenge with their newly turned vampire friend—this anthology upends expectations of the roles disabled people can p...
These Bodies Ain't Broken, edited by Madeline Dyer
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Nicole Zelniker profile picture
To be trans and disabled means to have experienced harassment, discrimination, loneliness, often poverty, to have struggled with feeling unworthy of love. To be trans and disabled means experiencing ableism within our trans communities and transphobi...
Trans and Disabled, edited by Alex Iantaffi
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Horror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. Common tropes--such as the circumsp...
It Came from the Closet, edited by Joe Vallese

Speculative & sci-fi

Speculative, thriller, & science fiction with characters who have limb differences, vision loss, chronic pain, and more.

 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life starts and ends with the pool. Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach is her guiding light. If she swims well enough, she will be scouted, get a scholarship, go to a good school. Her parents will love her. H...
Chlorine by Jade Song
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Sixteen-year-old Rumi Sabzwari has spent his entire life behind the armored walls of St. Iago, which protect citizens of the Union of Upper Cities from the outside world’s environmental devastation. But when rebels infect his father with a fatal viru...
Under This Forgetful Sky by Lauren Yero
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Nicole Zelniker profile picture
Charlotte "Chuck" Barnes is an agent in the Roger's Family, a secret society created to protect cryptids like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster from the outside world. Life is usually quiet at the aging Site Alpha where Chuck is stationed, but a seri...
Site Alpha by Neal Romriell
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
From a wheelchair user racing to save her kidnapped girlfriend and a little mermaid who loves her sisters more than suitors, to a slayer whose virgin blood keeps attracting monsters, the stories of this anthology are anything but conventional. Whethe...
Being Ace: An Anthology of Queer, Trans, Femme, and Disabled Stories ...
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her. It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning the...
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
 
Nicole Zelniker profile picture
The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall of China. It doesn't matter that the girls die from the mental strain. When 18-year-old Zetia...
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao