It’s Disability Pride Month, and we’re celebrating with books that have queer disabled main characters! For more books with queer disabled MCs, or to look for specific conditions, check out our Disability/Neurodivergence page, linked here.
If you have a visual disability and are looking for more accessible titles, you can find lists on the site of books available in Large Print, Braille, and/or Audio under the Access dropdown.
One Killer Problem by Justine Pucella Winans
When Gianna “Gigi” Ricci lands in detention again, she doesn’t expect the glorified study hall to be her alibi.
But when she and her friends receive a mysterious email directing them to her favorite teacher, Mr. Ford’s room, they find him lying in a pool of blood. But calling the math teacher’s death an accident doesn’t add up, and Gigi needs all the help she can get to find the truth. Luckily, she’s friends with her high school’s “mystery club,” and so with her best friend, Sean, and longtime crush, Mari, Gigi sets out to solve a murder.
But it turns out, murderers are extremely unwilling to be caught, and the deeper Gigi gets in this mystery, the more dangerous things become. Between fending off a murderer, continual flare-ups of her IBS, and her archnemesis turning flirtatious . . . making it out of junior year is going to be one killer problem.
Take All of Us by Natalie Leif
A YA unbury-your-gays horror in which an undead teen must find the boy he loves before he loses his mind and body.
Five years ago, a parasite poisoned the water of Ian’s West Virginia hometown, turning dozens of locals into dark-eyed, oil-dripping shells of their former selves. With chronic migraines and seizures limiting his physical abilities, Ian relies on his best friend and secret love Eric to mercy-kill any infected people they come across.
Until a new health report about the contamination triggers a mandatory government evacuation, and Ian cracks his head in the rush. Used to hospitals and health scares, Ian always thought he’d die young… but he wasn’t planning on coming back. Much less face the slow, painful realization that Eric left him behind to die.
Desperate to find Eric and the truth before the parasite takes over him, Ian along with two others left behind—his old childhood rival Monica and the jaded prepper Angel—journey to track down Eric. What they don’t know is that Eric is also looking for Ian, and he’s determined to mercy-kill him.
Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield
Phoebe Mendel’s day is never ending–literally.
On August 6th, she woke up to find herself stuck in a time loop. And for nearly a month of August 6ths since, Phoebe has relived the same day: pancakes with Mom in the morning, Scrabble with Dad in the afternoon, and constant research into how to reach tomorrow and make it to her appointment with a doctor who may actually take her IBS seriously. Everything is exactly, agonizingly the same.
That is, until the most mundane car crash ever sends Phoebe’s childhood crush Jess crashing into the time loop.
Now also stuck, Jess convinces Phoebe to break out of her routine and take advantage of their consequence-free days to have fun. From splurging on concert tickets, to enacting (mostly) harmless revenge, to all-night road trips, Jess pulls Phoebe further and further out of her comfort zone–and deeper in love with them. But the more Phoebe falls for Jess, the more she worries about what’s on the other side of the time loop. What if Jess is only giving her the time of day because they’re trapped with no other options? What if Phoebe’s new doctor dismisses her chronic pain? And perhaps worst of all: What if she never gets the chance to find out?
The Loudest Silence by Sydney Langford
Sixteen-year-old Casey Kowalski dreamed of becoming a professional singer. Then the universe threw her a life-altering curveball—sudden, permanent, and profound hearing loss—mere months before her family’s cross-country move from Portland to Miami. Now, faced with the dual challenges of starting over at a new high school and learning to navigate the world as a Deaf-Hard of Hearing person, Casey is mourning the loss of her music while trying to conceal her hearing loss from her new schoolmates.
Soccer captain Hayden González-Rossi is facing his own challenges. Three generations of González men have risen to stardom on the soccer field, including Hayden’s older brother. Hayden knows his family expects him to follow in their footsteps, but he has a secret: he wants to quit soccer and pursue a career on Broadway. If only his Generalized Anxiety Disorder didn’t send him into a debilitating spiral over the thought of telling them the truth.
Casey and Hayden are determined to hide who they really are. But when they meet at school, they bond over their shared love of music and feeling like they don’t belong, and the secrets spill.
Splinter & Ash by Marieke Nijkamp (September 10, 2024)
Ash—or Princess Adelisa—is the youngest child of the queen, recently returned to the city of Kestrel’s Haven after spending six years on the other side of the country. Ash was hoping for a joyous reunion, but the reality is far from it. Her mother is holding the kingdom together by a thread; her brother has only taunts and jibes for her; and court is full of nobles who openly mock and dismiss Ash, who uses a cane and needs braces to strengthen her joints.
Splinter is the youngest child of one of Haven’s most prominent families. She’s fierce, determined, and adventurous, and she has her sights set on becoming a knight just like her older brother. Even if everyone says she can’t because she’s not a boy. So what? She’s not a girl, either.
A chance encounter throws Ash and Splinter into each other’s orbits and changes the course of the kingdom’s history. The princess and her new squire will face bullies, snobs, gossips, and their own disapproving families. But when they uncover a shadowy group of nobles plotting to overthrow the queen, they will show everyone how legends are born. Together.
Accidental Demons by Clare Edge (September 17, 2024)
Conjuring demons seems like something you should totally not be able to do by accident, right? Well, normally it isn’t. But Bernadette Crowley is the perfect storm of magical accidents.
For the youngest in a long line of witches, demons used to be no big deal. A spell and a quick prick of the finger, and a witch like Ber could summon a demon to do anything she needed—clean a mess, send a message, you name it.
But that was before Ber was diagnosed with diabetes. Now each time she tests her blood sugar, accidental demons are slipping into the human dimension…and causing absolute chaos.
Good thing Ber and her older sister, Maeve, know that every magical problem has a magical solution. They’ll just conjure a low-order demon to monitor her blood sugar! Bonus: they only have to bend one or two teeny, tiny rules. But before they know it, they’ve stumbled into deeper, more mysterious magic than they ever could have predicted. And soon it’s not just Ber’s magic but her entire coven that’s in danger.
