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1. In our first book of LPL’s Disability Book Club, we’ll read Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally by Emily Ladau. In this recently published (2021) and approachable guide to disability, Ladau lays out disability etiquette, community, and justice. This book assumes no prior knowledge about disability history, and it is an excellent resource for everyone, whether disabled or non-disabled, no matter where they are in learning about disability.

2. Our second pick for the Disability Book Club is Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro. This 2020 novel, shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, is a crime novel set in Argentina and follows the protagonist, Elena, 63, who lives with Parkinson’s. In this tightly woven contemporary tale, Elena is determined to solve the mystery of the sudden death of her daughter when it is ruled a suicide by the police.

3. Our March read is Please Read This Leaflet Carefully: Keep This Leaflet. You May Need to Read It Again. In this compelling 2019 debut novel by Norwegian writer and translator Karen Havelin, spanning between New York, Paris and Norway, we move backwards to trace the life of Laura Fjellstad, recently divorced with a young daughter. In this humorous story of hope and illness, womanhood and queerness, this perceptive novel asks what it means to live with the complexities of pain and of being human.

4. Our April read is The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang. In this bestselling 2019 journalistic memoir in essay, former Sandford researcher and writer Wang discusses her own mental and chronic illnesses and the cultural and medical views of Schizophrenia in a series of intricate, wide-ranging and timely pieces.

5. Our May read is from a Canadian author! From the pen of novelist S.K. Ali comes Love From A to Z, about two teenagers whose paths cross on spring break in Qatar. Told in alternating dual perspectives, this enchanting and romantic novel follows Adam and Zayneb, both angry and sad, worn down by a new diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis and islamophobia, respectively, as they figure out how to find grace and faith amidst the challenges of young adulthood.

6. Did you miss the latest novel by best-selling author John Green? It’s our June pick for LPL’s Disability Book Club. Turtles All the Way Down follows teenager Aza Holmes, who lives with anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, as she navigates friendship and growing up alongside her best friend Daisy. When Aza’s neighbour, famous billionaire Russell Pickett, goes missing, Aza and Daisy race to solve the disappearance while Aza struggles to control her worsening mental health.

7. For Disability Pride Month in July, we will read the striking collection of essays from disabled writers, thinkers, and artists, including disability activist Alice Wong, who brought together the collection as editor. Based upon Wong’s American Disability Visibility Project, these essays and first-person stories of living with disability and chronic illness will challenge and give nuance to such ideas as what it means to be ill or well, systemic inaccessibility, and disability pride.

8. From acclaimed author Sara Novic comes the novel True Biz, our August book club read. At River Valley School for the Deaf, the high school students want to be normal teenagers: pass their exams and hang out with friends, but not necessarily in that order. The novel follows a cast of diverse characters as the school faces closure and the students navigate family disruptions, friendship, and romance.

9. This 2019 novel, set in Scotland, features neurodivergent 12-year-old Cora and her friend Adrien, whose father runs an emerging technology company. This novel, with moving themes of acceptance and friendship, asks timely questions about Artificial Intelligence, grief and love.

10. In October, we are reading the Goodreads Choice winner of 2022, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. The novel by Gabrielle Zevin is about growing up, enduring friendship, the power of play and the power of love. It follows friends Sam and Sadie, spanning across America and over 30 years from creating a best-selling video game that changes their lives and binds them together.

11. Our November read is a short story anthology: Rebuilding Tomorrow: Anthology of Life After the Apocalypse edited by Tsana Dolichva. In this collection of hopeful stories by disabled writers and featuring disabled characters, the collection asks, what if the world didn’t end after the apocalypse? And how would we create a better world for everyone? This collection draws on sci-fi and the resilience of the disabled community.

12. Our final book club pick of the year blends magical realism and whimsy. The Ice Bear Miracle by English TV host and disability advocate Cerrie Burnell is an enchanting and wintery novel that features a boy called Marv Jackson, who was scarred in a polar bear attack as a baby. Marv doesn’t quite believe this story, so he attempts to figure out what really happened and how it's connected to a mysterious figure skater.