Unbroken

September 1, 2018

Gr 8 Up-The founding member of We Need Diverse Books and author of This Is Where It Ends, has compiled and edited a much-needed collection of short stories about disabled teens by authors who identify as disabled. The disabilities of the authors and the characters in the stories include physical differences and myriad types of neurodivergence. In every story, the protagonists face challenges, both internal and external; the struggle with the disability is the main challenge in some entries while the presence of a disability or difference is more subtle in others. Issues of intersectionality are addressed-other identities, such as race, socioeconomic status, and concerns faced by those in the LGBTQ+ community are threaded throughout. The settings are varied; in one vignette the main character goes on a pilgrimage to Mecca while in another a character uses her coding skills to save her futuristic world from attacking invaders-but both struggle with debilitating anxiety. A particularly moving story by Francisco X. Stork features Alberto, a young Mexican immigrant who has been told he has an intellectual and developmental disability. His constant companion is Captain America, a voice who speaks to him in his head and doesn't necessarily have his best interests in mind. The collection of stories is eclectic-not every selection will appeal to every reader-but there is something for everyone in this volume. VERDICT A great choice for all YA collections.-Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's School, Brooklyn

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 22, 2018
Nijkamp (This Is Where It Ends) presents 13 fictional short stories written by authors with disabilities and featuring variously abled teens. Authors including William Alexander, Corinne Duyvis, and Heidi Heilig represent varied genres and diverse protagonists. Kody Keplinger offers romance in “Britt and the Bike God,” which traces the relationship between a blind cyclist and her tandem riding partner. Katherine Locke’s sci-fi story, “Per Aspera ad Astra,” introduces Lizzie, who may be able to save her planet if she can harness her anxiety. More often than not, what makes these protagonists different proves far less relevant than the universal emotions they express. Ages 14–18.

Starred review from September 1, 2018
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* The 13 stories in this brilliant anthology feature teenagers with physical disabilities, mental illness, anxiety disorders, or autism. The authors of the stories are all people with various disabilities as well, and the stories themselves cover a range of genres. In the realistic Britt and the Bike God, by Kody Keplinger, a girl with retinitis pigmentosa rides the stoker, or back seat, of a tandem bicycle in her father's biking club, and she's both thrilled and horrified when her crush, a boy she thinks of as the bike god, is assigned to be her captain. Katherine Locke's Per Aspera Ad Astra features a girl with agoraphobia who must overcome her disorder to save her planet. An abandoned carnival is the setting for the creepy The Leap and the Fall, by Kayla Whaley, with a protagonist in a wheelchair who must summon the will to rescue a friend, while Dhonielle Clayton's advice columnist heroine in Dear Nora James, You Know Nothing of Love learns to not let her irritable bowel syndrome control her life. The stories feature wide variety and high quality, but most important, none of the teens at the center of the stories are defined by their disabilities. Teens disappointed by the lack of nuanced depictions of disability in YA fiction will cheer for these compassionate, engaging, and masterfully written stories.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from August 1, 2018
Thirteen realistic, fantasy, and science-fiction stories starring disabled teenagers.These tales feature teens with different mental illnesses and physical, sensory, and intellectual disabilities, but all share common threads: no overcoming disability, magical healing, or disability-as-metaphor; just kids shaped by their bodies and minds, their experiences, and the worlds they inhabit. The #ownvoices tales (all by disabled authors) feature a few standouts. Schneider Award winner Francisco X. Stork's (Disappeared, 2017, etc.) protagonist is a cognitively disabled Mexican immigrant who hears voices and who makes a friend. Dhonielle Clayton's (The Belles, 2018, etc.) heroine, a black girl with gastrointestinal disease, pens an advice column. William Alexander (A Festival of Ghosts, 2018, etc.) offers a cane-using Latinx boy with chronic pain who accidentally animates the spirit of Richard III. Disability drives the plots at different levels: Corinne Duyvis' (On the Edge of Gone, 2016, etc.) cursed wish-granter, a 17-year-old girl who likes girls, may not even be noticeably autistic to some neurotypical readers, while the anxiety of Katherine Locke's (The Spy with the Red Balloon, 2018, etc.) programming heroine might prevent her from saving her city during an extraplanetary attack. Heidi Heilig's (For a Muse of Fire, 2018, etc.) heroine has mania and depression in ancient China, where her condition is seen as bad fate.For intersectional representations of disabled kids leading complex lives--sometimes painful, sometimes funny, never sentimentally inspirational--a vital collection. (Anthology. 13-17)

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.