The team at Lowestoft Library share some of their favourite books celebrating neurodivergence and positive disabilities! Browse our staff picks and pick up a copy from your local library.
Want more suggested books? Take a look at our recommendations or explore more of the National Year of Reading campaign.
Eating Chips With Monkey
Mark Lowery
Ten-year-old Daniel is never happier than when he is eating chips. Especially during his family’s annual Chip Shop Championships, the highlight of his year. And especially when he can also eat chips with Monkey, his beloved soft toy and trusty companion.
But one terrible November day, the lives of Daniel and his family are changed forever when an accident renders Daniel a shadow of his former self. As Daniel retreats into himself, his family slowly begin to fall apart, without this bright boy at the heart of their lives.
When an impromptu trip to a chip shop seems to briefly engage Daniel with the real world, the family decide to revisit their Chip Shop Championships, on a quest to find the best chip shop in the country.
The Space We’re In
Katya Balen
We are her world and her universe and her space and her sky and her galaxy and her cosmos too.
Frank is ten. He likes cottage pie and football and cracking codes.
Max is five. He only eats Quavers and some colours are too bright for him and if he has to wear a new T-shirt he melts down down down.
Sometimes Frank wishes Mum could still do huge paintings of stars and asteroids like she used to, but since Max was born she just doesn’t have time.
When tragedy hits Frank and Max’s lives like a comet, what will it take for Frank to piece together a universe in which he and Max aren’t light years apart?
The Secret of Haven Point
Lisette Auton
When Alpha was a baby, she washed up by the lighthouse at Haven Point, a remote beach alive with wild magic. Alpha was the first foundling – and now the lighthouse at Haven Point has become a ramshackle home for any disabled child or adult who has ever felt excluded from society.
They call themselves the Wrecklings, looting from passing ships with the help of the mermaids who live in their waters, and whispering superstitions to the wind and the waves. Alpha and her gang spend their days adventuring on the shore – and getting into trouble.
Then one day, everything changes. When Alpha spots a strange light up on the headland and realises that her beloved family are in danger of being discovered by Outsiders, it sets in motion a chain of events that will change Haven Point forever.
With their home under threat, the Wrecklings must decide what kind of future they want – and what they’re willing to do to get it.
Turtle Boy
M. Evan Wolkenstein
12-year-old Will likes two things – turtles and the local nature preserve.
Everything else is a nightmare, because Will has a facial difference that has earned him an unfortunate nickname.
But when Will meets RJ, who is confined to a hospital room, each boy discovers they have strength to lend the other and that life is too short to live in a shell.
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan
Look, I never asked to be the song of a Greek god, I was just a normal kid – until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher.
Percy Jackson is having a bad week. His life has gone from totally normal to monsters-from-Greek-mythology-randomly-appearing kind of strange. Worse still, the king of the gods thinks Percy has stolen his all-powerful lightning bolt – and it seems making Zeus angry is a very bad idea.
Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to catch the true lightning thief and stop all-out war from erupting on Mount Olympus.
Skulkmoor
Hana Tooke
Once, the great house of Skulkmoor stood proudly on its hillside, commanding the attention of anyone who came by.
Now, it is a curious puzzle of a place – not least thanks to the giant wall which cuts it straight in half, separating the two warring families that live inside it.
For you see, many years ago, the Fox family was torn apart by a question of murder – and of inheritance. With no clear heir, the vast family fortune – and the house – has been literally divided in two.
But now, two young cousins, one from rival sides of Skulkmoor, must race to solve the crime – or face losing their home forever.
The Boy Who Cried Ghost
Ian Eagleton
There’s a ghost in Richard’s wardrobe.
Every day he carries out a series of rituals which he believes will keep the ghost trapped inside.
He tries to tell his friends and family, but they dismiss his worries and concerns as being part of his anxiety.
But then one day, the wardrobe door is opened. And that’s when the hauntings begin.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a murder mystery novel like no other.
The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger’s Syndrome. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched.
He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour’s dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.
The Boy in the Tower
Polly Ho Yen
Ade loves living at the top of a tower block. From his window, he feels like he can see the whole world stretching out beneath him.
His mum doesn’t really like looking outside – but it’s going outside that she hates. She’s happier sleeping all day inside their tower, where it’s safe.
But one day, other tower blocks on the estate start falling down around them and strange, menacing plants begin to appear.
Now their tower isn’t safe anymore. Ade and his mum are trapped and there’s no way out.