Recommendations for Kids

Browse our regularly updated lists of staff picks, bestsellers, reading recommendations by grade, award winners, and more.

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Autism Awareness & Empowerment Month

Flap Your Hands

When four neurodivergent kids face some stressful moments, they use body movements called stims to self-regulate their emotions. One boy tickles the space next to his face; a girl flutters her fingers by her ears; another boy kicks his feet like splashy flippers; another girl directs her hands like a conductor! As the children say fun words, flap their hands, and engage in other stims, their actions build in energy and joyousness until their inner calm is restored.
Delightful text and color-drenched illustrations by debut author-illustrator Steve Asbell invites other neurodivergent readers to join in on the action. Flap Your Hands is a wonderful celebration and reminder that stimming is a natural and healthy thing to do!
A Kind of Spark

Ever since Ms. Murphy told us about the witch trials that happened centuries ago right here in Juniper, I can’t stop thinking about them. Those people weren’t magic. They were like me. Different like me.

I’m autistic. I see things that others do not. I hear sounds that they can ignore. And sometimes I feel things all at once. I think about the witches, with no one to speak for them. Not everyone in our small town understands. But if I keep trying, maybe someone will. I won’t let the witches be forgotten. Because there is more to their story. Just like there is more to mine.

Award-winning and neurodivergent author Elle McNicoll delivers an insightful and stirring debut about the European witch trials and a girl who refuses to relent in the fight for what she knows is right.
Henry and the Something New

It's Field Trip Day! Henry's class is excited to visit the museum, but Henry is not so sure. The museum means maybe seeing dinosaurs, Henry's favorite. But it also means a lot of things that are new: a noisy school bus ride, a building full of echoes and hallways, and plenty of chances to get lost! Will he find something that makes all of this new worth the trip? Come along with Henry in this funny, bighearted tale about trying new things, exploring new places, and finding the courage to make yourself heard.
Speak Up!

Twelve-year-old Mia is just trying to navigate a world that doesn't understand her true autistic self. While she wishes she could stand up to her bullies, she's always been able to express her feelings through singing and songwriting, even more so with her best friend, Charlie, who is nonbinary, putting together the best beats for her.
Together, they've taken the internet by storm; little do Mia's classmates know that she's the viral singer Elle-Q! But while the chance to perform live for a local talent show has Charlie excited, Mia isn't so sure.
She'll have to decide whether she'll let her worries about what other people think get in the way of not only her friendship with Charlie, but also showing everyone, including the bullies, who she is and what she has to say.
The Girl who Thought in Pictures

If you've ever felt different, if you've ever been low, if you don't quite fit in, there's a name you should know... Meet Dr. Temple Grandin--one of the world's quirkiest science heroes
When young Temple was diagnosed with autism, no one expected her to talk, let alone become one of the most powerful voices in modern science. Yet, the determined visual thinker did just that. Her unique mind allowed her to connect with animals in a special way, helping her invent groundbreaking improvements for farms around the globe.
It Was Supposed to Be Sunny

Laila feels like her sparkly sunshine birthday celebration is on the brink of ruin when it starts to storm. Then, just as she starts feeling okay with moving her party indoors, an accident with her cake makes her want to call the whole thing off. But with the help of her mom and a little alone time with her service dog, she knows she can handle this.

Changes in routine can be hard for any kid, but especially for kids on the autism spectrum. Samantha Cotterill's fourth book in the Little Senses series provides gentle guidance along with adorable illustrations to help every kid navigate schedule changes and overwhelming social situations.
Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen!

Vivy Cohen is determined. She's had enough of playing catch in the park. She's ready to pitch for a real baseball team.

But Vivy's mom is worried about Vivy being the only girl on the team, and the only autistic kid. She wants Vivy to forget about pitching, but Vivy won't give up. When her social skills teacher makes her write a letter to someone, Vivy knows exactly who to choose: her hero, Major League pitcher VJ Capello. Then two amazing things happen: A coach sees Vivy's amazing knuckleball and invites her to join his team. And VJ starts writing back!

Now Vivy is a full-fledged pitcher, with a catcher as a new best friend and a steady stream of advice from VJ. But when a big accident puts her back on the bench, Vivy has to fight to stay on the team.
Me and My Sister

Getting along with your sister is never easy--especially if your brains work in different ways! Based on the author's childhood, Me and My Sister is a gentle exploration of growing up with an autistic sibling.
Life in a neurodiverse home isn't straightforward: these siblings communicate and behave in different ways. They're also unique people with different likes and dislikes. Misunderstandings are bound to happen! But despite the occasional bickering and confusion, maybe this brother and sister can discover new ways to love and help one another.
Siblings of all backgrounds will connect to this playfully illustrated story about embracing difference.
Maya Plays the Part

A heartwarming middle-grade debut with autism representation and a musical flair.
Maya lives and breathes musicals. When her chance to finally be a part of the summer musical program at the community theater comes up, Maya is convinced she will get the lead. After all, who knows The Drowsy Chaperone better than she does? However, things don't turn out exactly the way Maya's planned, and the summer turns out to be jam-packed with problems: dealing with her best friend's move, her parents' busy jobs, and--since her autism diagnosis--the ongoing puzzle of how to be Maya in Public. But perhaps most important of all, Maya has to figure out how to play the part that truly feels like her own.
My Brother Otto and the Birthday Party

Piper and her little brother Otto, who is on the autism spectrum, are excited to attend a birthday party for their friend Ruthie. In kid-friendly language, Piper explains the accommodations Otto and Ruthie, who is also autistic, need in order to feel safe and secure in a stimulating new environment, such as wearing headphones to keep distracting noises muffled. The book provides explanations for Otto’s differences in easy-to-understand language and highlights that Otto desires fun, comfort, and love—just like his peers.
Ellen Outside the Lines

Thirteen-year-old Ellen Katz feels most comfortable when her life is well planned out and people fit neatly into her predefined categories. She attends temple with Abba and Mom every Friday and Saturday. Ellen only gets crushes on girls, never boys, and she knows she can always rely on her best-and-only friend, Laurel, to help navigate social situations at their private Georgia middle school. Laurel has always made Ellen feel like being autistic is no big deal. But lately, Laurel has started making more friends, and cancelling more weekend plans with Ellen than she keeps. A school trip to Barcelona seems like the perfect place for Ellen to get their friendship back on track. Except it doesn't. Toss in a new nonbinary classmate whose identity has Ellen questioning her very binary way of seeing the world, homesickness, a scavenger hunt-style team project that takes the students through Barcelona to learn about Spanish culture and this trip is anything but what Ellen planned.

Making new friends and letting go of old ones is never easy, but Ellen might just find a comfortable new place for herself if she can learn to embrace the fact that life doesn't always stick to a planned itinerary.
Izzy at the End of the World

Ever since Izzy Wilder's mom died, she's wanted life to feel normal. She plays video games with her little sister, helps her grandparents around the house, and takes care of her best dog, Akka. But losing her mom is far from normal, and for Izzy, who is autistic, it feels like the end of the world.
When mysterious lights flash across the mountains outside Izzy's house one night, and suddenly everyone except her and Akka seem to have disappeared in an instant, Izzy is more alone than ever. But Izzy is a fighter and she won't lose anyone else in her family, even if it means battling terrifying gray, ugly monsters and decoding cryptic messages that seem a lot like her mom talking to her from beyond the grave.
In the face of disaster, Izzy and Akka embark on an epic adventure filled with nail-biting suspense, unexpected allies, and life's greatest mysteries as they uncover the true endurance of the human spirit and save the world.
Can You See Me?

Eleven-year-old Tally is starting sixth grade at Kingswood Academy and she really wants to fit in, which means somehow hiding her autism, hypersensitivity to touch, and true self, and trying to act "normal" like her former best friend, Layla, who is distancing herself from Tally and her fourteen-year-old sister, Nell, who is always angry with Tally for being different; but as she records her thoughts and anxieties in her coping diary, Tally begins to wonder--what is "normal" anyway?
A Boy Called Bat

The first book in a funny, heartfelt, and irresistible young middle grade series starring an unforgettable young boy on the autism spectrum, from acclaimed author Elana K. Arnold and with illustrations by Charles Santoso.
For Bixby Alexander Tam (nicknamed Bat), life tends to be full of surprises—some of them good, some not so good. Today, though, is a good-surprise day. Bat’s mom, a veterinarian, has brought home a baby skunk, which she needs to take care of until she can hand him over to a wild-animal shelter.
But the minute Bat meets the kit, he knows they belong together. And he’s got one month to show his mom that a baby skunk might just make a pretty terrific pet.
"This sweet and thoughtful novel chronicles Bat’s experiences and challenges at school with friends and teachers and at home with his sister and divorced parents. Approachable for younger or reluctant readers while still delivering a powerful and thoughtful story" (from the review by Brightly.com, which named A Boy Called Bat a best book of 2017).
Al Capone Does My Shirts

Moose Flannagan moves with his family to Alcatraz so his dad can work as a prison guard and his sister, Natalie, can attend a special school. But Natalie has autism, and when she's denied admittance to the school, the stark setting of Alcatraz begins to unravel the tenuous coping mechanisms Moose's family has used for dealing with her disorder.
When Moose meets Piper, the cute daughter of the Warden, he knows right off she's trouble. But she's also strangely irresistible. All Moose wants to do is protect Natalie, live up to his parents' expectations, and stay out of trouble. But on Alcatraz, trouble is never very far away.
Set in 1935, when guards actually lived on Alcatraz Island with their families. Choldenko's second novel brings humor to the complexities of family dynamics and illuminates the real struggle of a kid trying to free himself from the "good boy" stance he's taken his whole life.

Forest Friends

National Card & Letter Writing Month

Lists

Caudill Cup

Grade 6-8

Get Reading for

Illinois Kids Book Awards

Monarch (Grades K-3) (PDF)
Bluestem (Grades 3-5) (PDF)
Caudill (Grades 4-8) (PDF)

National Kids Book Awards

NYT Best Sellers