2025 Summer Reading Guide: Tales Embracing Diversity for Young Minds

Discover a realm of creativity and disability representation through our thoughtfully assembled 2025 Summer Reading Guide. These compelling narratives fuel curiosity, foster empathy, and motivate young readers to honor the varied experiences that make us unique.

Summer presents the perfect moment for all children to launch into bookish escapades. Literature has the remarkable ability to captivate, educate, and inspire growth—and this selection is crafted to achieve exactly that.

We’ve curated a diverse collection of titles that authentically portray disability inclusion. Each book beckons readers to celebrate human variety and promotes a more empathetic, accepting society.

Access our free Story Circle Guide to ignite discussions on compassion, respect, and disability inclusion. Click the image to download.

2025 Summer Reading Guide

Peruse our 2025 Summer Reading Guide below and find narratives where children and teens of all abilities encounter authentic representation and connection.

Books for Ages 4-8

You’re SO Amazing! – Winner, 2024 Inclusive Books for Children Awards

Synopsis: This engaging story follows Joe, a boy with a limb difference, who tires of being called “amazing” for routine activities. He yearns to just be Joe. With humor and candor, the book questions stereotypes surrounding disability.

About the Authors: James and Lucy Catchpole, a UK writing team, prioritize genuine disability portrayals in children’s literature. James, living with an amputation, co-created this with Lucy; they also penned What Happened to You? and operate The Catchpole Agency.

Monster Hands – Honor Book, 2025 Schneider Family Book Awards

Synopsis: Milo battles bedtime fears of a monster under his bed, with aid from his friend Mel, a user of American Sign Language (ASL). They transform terror into play with shadow puppets, emphasizing friendship and bravery while introducing ASL to young audiences.

About the Authors: Karen Kane, a U.S. children’s author and former ASL interpreter, incorporates deaf community perspectives. Holding an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, she collaborated with Jonaz McMillan on this poetic picture book that uses ASL to calm nighttime anxieties. Jonaz, a Deaf screenwriter from Los Angeles with an MFA from Emerson College, crafts an interactive ASL reading adventure.

A Little Like Magic – 2025 Children’s Literature Awards for Inclusive Storylines

Synopsis: This touching picture book features a wheelchair-using girl who uncovers delight at a frozen festival amid glowing ice figures and a delightful revelation. Lively, blue-shaded illustrations reflect her emotional arc and sense of awe.

About the Author: Sarah Kurpiel, a self-taught author-illustrator and librarian using a power wheelchair, infuses her Schneider Family Book Award-winning tales with uplifting disability narratives.

Books for Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-11)

The Fire, the Water, and Maudie McGinn – 2024 Schneider Family Book Award

Synopsis: Displaced by a wildfire, autistic Maudie moves to a seaside trailer with her father. Through surfing adventures, she finds her resilience and learns to advocate for herself in this story of acceptance and growth.

About the Author: Sally J. Pla authors acclaimed books for young readers honoring neurodiversity, including ALA Schneider winner The Fire, The Water, and Maudie McGinn; Dolly Gray Award recipient The Someday Birds; and others. Late-diagnosed with autism, she advocates through talks and her A Novel Mind website, celebrating “different” characters rooted in kindness and inclusion.

Good Different – 2024 Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book

Synopsis: This inspiring narrative traces a neurodivergent girl’s path to embracing her distinct perspective, underscoring self-acceptance and the strengths of uniqueness.

“Neurodivergent” describes those whose brain wiring varies from “neurotypical” norms, including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and more. It’s a unique approach to thinking and sensing, not a limitation—just an alternative view of reality.

About the Author: Meg Eden Kuyatt, a 2020 Pitch Wars mentee, lectures on creative writing at Anne Arundel Community College. Her recent Good Different (Scholastic, 2023) joins her array of children’s novels.

Popcorn – 2025 Schneider Family Book Award

Synopsis: This poignant tale follows a boy managing social anxiety, exploring life with a disability through themes of friendship, determination, and self-awareness.

About the Author: Rob Harrell crafts graphic novels, series, and the widely syndicated comic Adam@Home, featured in over 140 publications.

Young Adult Books (Ages 12-18+)

Tilly in Technicolor – 2024 Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book

Synopsis: This lively YA romance unites neurodivergent teens Tilly and Oliver on a family business trip abroad for their perfume firms. Amid tensions and travels, they discover connection, blending humor with neurodiversity, romance, and authenticity.

About the Author: Bestselling author and dentist Mazey Eddings champions mental health, crafting narratives rich in heart, humor, and recovery.

Where You See Yourself – 2024 Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book

Synopsis: Effie Galanos, a wheelchair-using senior with cerebral palsy, pursues her NYC college dream and political communications career against societal doubts. Juggling applications, romances, friendships, and barriers, she asserts her destiny in this tale of drive and empowerment.

About the Author: Claire Forrest, a Minneapolis essayist with an MFA from Hamline University, focuses on YA, picture books, and essays advocating authentic disability representation.

Continue your journey into disability inclusion beyond these pages. Incorporate this guide into your summer activities and discover KIT Academy’s courses on inclusion and behavior support. Join us in crafting a world that treasures every child.

Inquire about our organizational inclusion training packages.