By Laia Feliu Today we're pleased to welcome Heather Kamins to the WNDB blog to discuss YA novel The Moth Girl, out since March 8, 2022! Flying doesn’t always mean freedom. Anna is a regular teenaged girl. She runs track with her best friend, gets good grades, and sometimes drinks beer at … [Read more...] about Q&A With Heather Kamins, The Moth Girl
chronic illness
On Nancy Drew, and How Anyone With a Book Can Have an Adventure
By Katryn Bury I was home sick when my mother first handed me a Nancy Drew book. It wasn’t the first time I was missing school, and it wouldn’t be the last. In fact, I’d been stretching my allotted absences to the limit that particular year in fourth grade. I wasn’t sick every time I gave my … [Read more...] about On Nancy Drew, and How Anyone With a Book Can Have an Adventure
Q&A With Bethany Mangle, All the Right Reasons
By Alaina Lavoie Today we're pleased to welcome Bethany Mangle to the WNDB blog to discuss All the Right Reasons, out February 15, 2022! Cara Hawn’s life fell apart after her father cheated on her mother and got remarried to a woman Cara can’t stand. When Cara accidentally posts a rant about … [Read more...] about Q&A With Bethany Mangle, All the Right Reasons
People With Chronic Illness Are Missing From YA Fiction
Content note: Mentions of ableism, including internalized ableism, impacting people with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and other chronic illnesses By Penny Joelson You can’t go out. You’re stuck indoors for an indefinite time. There’s an illness, with no known cure, preventing you from living … [Read more...] about People With Chronic Illness Are Missing From YA Fiction
5 MG and YA Novelists with Disabled Characters Share What Inspired Their Stories
Editor's note: We Need Diverse Books has decided to update the original list of books, which included 7 titles, to remove A Monster Like Me by Wendy S. Swore and Ziggy, Stardust & Me by James Brandon. We were made aware of the Native representation in these books by Debbie Reese. For more … [Read more...] about 5 MG and YA Novelists with Disabled Characters Share What Inspired Their Stories
How Stories About Disability Help Create Empathy
By Karol Silverstein This story was first published in The Glass House. It happens to me regularly. I’ll be in a grocery store, a restaurant, maybe on the sidewalk in front of my apartment building, heading for the garage. A group of kids spots me and freezes—startled by my hand deformities, … [Read more...] about How Stories About Disability Help Create Empathy
