NLS Kids Zone
Schneider Family Book Awards
When Dr. Katherine Schneider was nine-years old, she began borrowing books in braille from NLS. She wished that she could find more books about children who were blind or had other disabilities. Now that she is grown up, Dr. Schneider and her family have set up an award to encourage authors and illustrators to produce books which will express a disability as part of the human experience.
Further information in News, July-September 2003
Award Recipients
2007
Young Children Book
The Deaf Musicians
by Pete Seeger and Paul DuBois Jacobs
Jazz pianist Lee is asked to leave his band when he loses his hearing. At sign language class, Lee meets Max who plays the sax. Riding the subway together, they form a new band with a big audience. For grades K-3 and older readers.
RC 64140
BR 17245 PRINT/BRAILLE
Middle School Book
Rules
by Cynthia Lord.
Sometimes twelve-year-old Catherine resents her autistic brother, David, who breaks rules and gets all her parents' attention. She meets Jason, a teenage nonverbal paraplegic, at David's therapy center. As the two become friends, Catherine realizes that accepting differencesmatters more than any rules. For grades 5-8. 2006.
RC 62696
Teen Book
Small Steps
by Louis Sachar
Three years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit, from Holes (RC 47444, BR 12174) is turning his life around in Austin, Texas, with the encouragement of his ten-year-old neighbor, Ginny, who has cerebral palsy. Then he meets a celebrity teen singer. For grades 5-8 and older readers.
RC 61629
2006
Young Children Book
Dad, Jackie, and Me
by Myron Uhlberg
illustrated by Colin Bootman
Brooklyn, New York; 1947. A boy learns about discrimination and tolerance as he and his deaf father share their enthusiasm over baseball and the Dodgers’ first African American player, Jackie Robinson. For grades 2-4.
BR 16354 PRINT/BRAILLE
Middle School Book
Tending to Grace
by Kimberley Newton Fusco
Cornelia is shy and withdrawn because of her stutter. She feels even lonlier when her mother drops her off to live with an eccentric great-aunt in a rundown farmhouse. But slowly and warily Cornelia and her aunt learn to share their strengths with each other. For grades 6-9.
RC 61921
Teen Book
Under the Wolf, Under the Dog
by Adam Rapp
Teenager Steve Nugent’s journal describes his experiences in an institution for emotionally disturbed youth. While discussing his interactions with fellow patients, Steve recalls his mother’s and brother’s deaths, his father’s aloofness, and his own self-destructive behavior. Strong language, some explicit descriptions of sex, and some violence. For senior high readers.
RC 59790
2005
Young Children Book
My Pal, Victor/Mi amigo, Victor
by Diane Gonzales Bertrand
illustrated by Robert L. Sweetland
Dominic talks about the activities he enjoys with his best friend Victor: jokes and stories, sleepovers, rides at the amusement park, swimming. Only the ending reveals that Victor uses a wheelchair. Bilingual book in English and Spanish. For grades K-3.
BR 16022 PRINT/BRAILLE
Middle School
Becoming Naomi León
by Pam Muñoz Ryan
For seven years Naomi and brother Owen lived happily with Gram in her trailer. Gram arranged Owen's surgeries for his physical disabilities and helped Naomi begin to speak again. When their mother reappears, Gram takes the children to Mexico to find their father and their heritage. For grades 4-7.
RC 60266
Teen Book
My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir
by Samantha Abeel
Abeel, both gifted and learning disabled, describes being different at school. Discusses her diagnosis of dyscalculia, which compromises sequential processing required for spelling, telling time, remembering locker combinations, and understanding math and grammar. Relates learning coping skills in a prescribed special ed math class. For senior high readers. 2003.
RC 58528
2004
Young Children Book
Looking Out for Sarah
by Glenna Lang
Describes a day in the life of Perry, a seeing-eye dog. He guides his owner, Sarah, to the grocery store and the post office and on a school visit. He dreams about the month that he and Sarah walked from Boston to New York. For grades K-3. 2001.
BR 14009 PRINT/BRAILLE
Middle School Book
A Mango-Shaped Space
by Wendy Mass
Eighth-grader Mia has been keeping a secret--even from her best friend, Jenna--ever since third grade, when she realized that not everyone sees a color for each name, number, and sound. Problems at school and her cat's death lead Mia to discoveries about herself and synesthesia. For grades 5-8. 2003.
RC 56666
Teen Book
Things Not Seen
by Andrew Clements
When fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up and can't see his body, his relationship with the physical world and with his parents changes. He confides his invisibility situation to a new friend, Alicia, blinded two years before, and they try to figure out what happened to him. For grades 6-9. 2002.
RC 54713