“Hop-Frog” (originally titled “Hop Frog; Or, the Eight Chained Ourang-Outangs”) is among the last short stories by American horror and fiction author Edgar Allan Poe. First published in The Flag of Our Union in 1849, “Hop-Frog” explores themes of revenge, “madness,” and dehumanization. Poe explores similar themes in another short story published several years earlier, “The Cask of Amontillado,” a tale of betrayal and vengeance. Such thematic elements recur often in Poe’s work, given that... Read Hop-Frog Summary

House Rules (2010) is a domestic fiction novel by American author Jodi Picoult that tells the story of teenager Jacob Hunt, who has autism. It depicts his experience with discrimination in the US legal system and how his autism diagnosis impacts his family. This story is Picoult’s 18th bestseller and, in keeping with her overall body of work, explores medical, legal, and psychological issues of national significance in America through the lens of one family’s... Read House Rules Summary

How to Keep House While Drowning (2022) is a self-help guide by KC Davis. In the book, Davis offers a compassionate and practical guide to managing household tasks and self-care, especially for those living with mental health conditions. She emphasizes the moral neutrality of care tasks and advocates for integrating mental wellness into daily routines.This guide uses the 2024 Penguin Books edition. Content Warning: The source text discusses mental health conditions (including depression and ADHD)... Read How to Keep House While Drowning Summary

Hummingbird is a 2022 middle-grade fiction novel by Natalie Lloyd that explores living with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI or “brittle bone disease”) using magical realism. Set in a Tennessee town with folkloric influences, Hummingbird follows 11-year-old Olive Martin as she pursues a legendary hummingbird said to grant a wish. Lloyd’s own experience with OI and life in Tennessee inform Olive’s story. This study guide refers to the 2022 Scholastic hardcover edition. Plot SummaryHummingbird takes place in... Read Hummingbird Summary

Susan Sontag’s 1978 book Illness as Metaphor is an 87-page work of critical theory exploring the language we use to describe disease and its victims. The work was originally published in the New York Review of Books as three long-form essays. Sontag wrote Illness as Metaphor while undergoing treatment for breast cancer, though not mentioned in the text. This genre—critical theoretical examinations of social and cultural events or phenomena—was where Sontag established her reputation. Illness... Read Illness As Metaphor Summary

Born without arms, 13-year-old Aven Green approaches her unique life with good humor, grace, and unflagging positivity—until her parents take a job managing a worn-out Western theme park in Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus (2017). Suddenly the new kid at school, Aven discovers that others have trouble seeing past her disability to the creative, funny person inside. Aven’s life changes when she meets Connor, who struggles with Tourette syndrome. Author Dusti Bowling’s... Read Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus Summary

Among the most quoted poems in the English language, William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus” (1875) has become an inspiration for those who face difficult circumstances and who, in turn, rise to the challenge, asserting the indominable human spirit and the will to not only survive but to triumph. The poem’s stirring closing two lines—“I am the master of my fate / I am the captain of my soul” (Lines 15-16)—have been invoked to rally nations at... Read Invictus Summary

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, a children’s novel, was written by Jack Gantos. The book was initially published in 1998 by Square Fish, a trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group; the work was a National Book Award Finalist, an American Library Association notable children’s book, and the School Library Journal’s book of the year. The novel’s 10-year-old protagonist, Joey Pigza, deals with an unnamed hyperactive disorder, abandonment, and academic problems before finding some stability after his... Read Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key Summary

Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s by John Elder Robison is a personal memoir published in 2007. Like Temple Grandin’s Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism and Daniel Tammet’s Born on a Blue Day, Robison’s memoir is a personal account of living with autism spectrum disorder. A New York Times best-seller, the book has subsequently been translated into French, Italian, Portuguese, and German.Look Me in the Eye details Robison’s life growing... Read Look Me In The Eye Summary

Lucky Broken Girl is a middle-grade historical novel by Ruth Behar. Main character Ruthie Mizrahi, an immigrant from Cuba, lives with her parents and brother in 1966 Queens. Together they try to quell their homesickness for Cuba while seeking new opportunities in America. When a car accident injures Ruthie, she becomes bedridden in a full body cast for over a year; during that time, challenges and fears she never anticipated give her a new perspective... Read Lucky Broken Girl Summary

Widely praised by readers, educators, and parents’ groups alike, Kathryn Erskine’s young adult novel Mockingbird (2010) explores the emotional and psychological growth of Caitlin Smith, a precocious 10-year-old girl with Asperger’s syndrome who struggles to understand the implications of the recent death of her older brother in a school shooting. Caitlin is the novel’s first-person narrator, and the novel gained recognition for its sensitive portrayal of the minds of those on the autism spectrum as Caitlin... Read Mockingbird Summary

Dusti Bowling’s middle-grade novel, Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus (2019), follows 14-year-old Aven Green as she attempts to “slay the sucktastic beast known as high school” (146). Starting high school is tough for anyone, but for Aven, who was born without arms, it poses even bigger challenges. There are the everyday obstacles that people with arms do not even consider—like the vending machine where the best snacks are out of reach—but even... Read Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus Summary

My Sister’s Keeper is a 2004 novel by bestselling author Jodi Picoult centered on the controversy of savior siblings. In the novel, Anna Fitzgerald fights for medical emancipation in order to have a choice in whether or not she will donate a kidney to her sister, Kate, who has leukemia. In 2009, the novel was adapted into a feature film released by New Line Cinema. The movie was directed by Nick Cassavetes and starred Cameron... Read My Sister's Keeper Summary

American author John Steinbeck published his novella Of Mice and Men in 1937. Despite its place in the classical canon, the novella is one of the most challenged books of the 21st century due to its depiction of violence and use of profane, racist language. The novella’s title is an allusion to Scottish poet Robert Burns’s 1785 poem “To a Mouse,” in which a farmer unwittingly and regrettably kills a mouse while plowing. Of Mice... Read Of Mice and Men Summary

Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille, by Russell Freedman, is a biography of Louis Braille (1809-1852), innovator of the eponymous braille alphabet for reading and writing for blind individuals. Russell Freedman was a renowned journalist and nonfiction author. He specialized in biographies of inspirational individuals, usually writing for an audience of children and young adults. He received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, renamed the Children's Literature Legacy Award, which recognizes writers who have made... Read Out of Darkness Summary

Out of My Dreams is the third installment in the highly acclaimed, middle-grade Out of My Mind series by Sharon M. Draper. The series follows Melody Brookes, a teenage girl with cerebral palsy who fights to communicate and make her voice heard; the second in the series is Out of My Heart. In this novel, Melody saves the life of an elderly neighbor and travels to London to meet other gifted and visionary children. Through... Read Out of My Dreams Summary

Sharon M. Draper’s bestseller Out of My Heart (2021) returns to the story of Melody Brooks, a precocious and artistic 12-year-old with cerebral palsy. The story follows Draper’s 2013 novel Out of My Mind. Melody uses a wheelchair and communicates via her Medi-Talker, a computer device. Melody relates her experiences attending a one-week summer camp designed for kids with unique needs. The camp challenges Melody, now on her own far from home and her loving... Read Out of My Heart Summary

Sharon Draper’s Out of My Mind, based on her own experiences parenting a child with a disability, is a New York Times best-selling novel told from the first-person perspective of 10-year-old Melody Brooks. Melody is a fifth-grade girl who, due to cerebral palsy, is unable to communicate verbally and uses a wheelchair. The challenges and prejudice that Melody encounters provide a more intimate and personal view of the lives of people with disabilities. Atheneum Books... Read Out of My Mind Summary

Paperboy by American author Vince Vawter explores themes of The Acceleration of the Civil Rights Movement, The Treatment of People With Speech Disorders, and Independence in Childhood through its singular voice. Published in 2013, Paperboy was a Newbery Medal Honor Book in 2014. Vawter, who worked for more than 40 years in the newspaper business, wrote Paperboy as a lightly fictionalized version of his own childhood, which contributes to the text’s authenticity. This guide references... Read Paperboy Summary

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is a middle grade novel by Jonathan Auxier originally published in 2011. The novel encompasses a variety of genres: fantasy, the heroic quest, and even some Dickensian orphan flourishes, for good measure. It was a BookPage Magazine Best Book of the year, an ABA New Voices selection (2011), and a finalist for the Monica Hughes Award for science fiction and fantasy.This study guide references the edition published by Amulet... Read Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes Summary