Enhancing Student Outcomes BoQks That Portray Characters With Disabilities A Top 25 List for Children and Young Adults Mary Anne Prater • Tina Taylor Dyches Our lives are full of lists. From David Letterman to college or professional sports rankings, lists of the top 10 or top 25 are readily available. In fact, the authors of this article conducted a quick Google search using the phrase top 25 and found Web sites devoted to the top 25 highest-grossing films, innovations, executives, podcasts. lighthouses, cities for doing husiness in America, and many more. Even books of lists, for example. The New Book of Lists (Wal- lechinsky and Wallace, 2005), are avail- able. The authors of this article have col- lectively read and researched the por- trayal of disabilities in juvenile literature for nearly 25 years. We have therefore generated our list of the top 25 chil- dren's and young adults' books that portray characters with disabilities. To select our list, we applied the Dyches and Prater (2000) guidelines on evaluat- ing books that have high literary and artistic quality as well as multidimen- sional portrayals of characters with dis- abilities. These guidelines include analysis of the following: • Literary quality (e.g., engaging theme or concept woven throughout the story, thoroughly developed plot, credible and multidimensional char- acters) . • Illustrative quality (e.g.. illustrations interpret and extend the story; illus- trations are of high quality, including design, layout, and style; TYinnell & Jacobs, 2007). • Characterization of the characters with disabilities (Dyches & Prater, 2000). This guideline includes ele- ments that are consistent with cur- rent knowledge and practices in the field: (a) accurate portrayal of the disability; (b) exemplary practices (e.g.. characters are contributors in inclusive settings, with an emphasis on acceptance rather than on rejec- tion and on similarities rather than on differences); (c) realistic sibling relationships, if depicted; (d) appro- priate emotional reactions (e.g., respect rather than pity, acceptance rather than ridicule); and (e) accu- rate illustrations of the disability or assistive devices being used. This article briefly describes each of the books on our top 25 list to help readers make informed decisions when selecting books that depict characters with disabilities. This list inciudes 14 chapter books and 11 picture books. The books span a wide range of publication dates—the oldest was first published in 1955, and the most recent appeared in 2006, They depict most of the 13 dis- abilities recognized by the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improve- ment Act (IDEA. 2004). To select eur list, we applied guidelines on evaluating books that have high literary and artistic quaiity, as well as multidimensional portrayals ol characters with disahiiities. Five of the books received the presti- gious Newbery Medal or Honor award, and one is a Caldecott Honor Book. Five additional books earned either the Dolly Gray or Schneider Family Awards. These two awards specifically honor juvenile books that portray disabilities (see box, "Major Book Awards"), Although 14 of the selected books did not win notewor- thy awards, they deserve attention for their literary and artistic qualities, as well as their appropriate and realistic portrayals of disabilities. The following discussion presents the top 25 books in alphabetical order. not rank order. Table 1 indicates the type of disability portrayed, major awards earned, type of book, and grade levels for each of the 25 books. Table 2 presents 10 additional books that almost made the list. The box "Additionai 32 • COUNCIL FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN