Books that Feature Characters with Visual Impairments

Karla Davisio   |   11 February, 2020   |   556   |   3980

It can be refreshing for students to read or listen to stories with characters to whom they can relate. The list below offers six young adult books that feature characters with visual impairments. Some are realistic, while others are fantasy based. Each book on the list easywaypaper is available in print and as an audiobook.

1. "WWW: Wake" by Robert J. Sawyer
"WWW: Wake" is the first book in a science fiction trilogy about Caitlin Decter, a young math genius who is also blind. She is given an implant meant to restore her sight, but instead of seeing the world as it is, she sees the landscape of the World Wide Web. Through this connection, she becomes aware of something sentient inside cyberspace.

2. "The Angel Experiment" by James Patterson
The first book in a science fiction/fantasy series by bestselling author James Patterson, "The Angel Experiment" follows six kids with no homes and no families who are running for their lives. Max Ride and her friends have powers and among them are the ability to fly. Unfortunately someone is hunting them and they don't know who or why. Iggy, one of Max's friends, also happens to be blind.

3. "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green
Medical advances have bought Hazel a few years, but her cancer is still terminal. She gains support through her friendship with Isaac, another cancer patient who has lost his eye sight, and Augustus, a friend of Isaac's who recently joined their support group. "The Fault in Our Stars" is a realistic fiction that can be both funny and heartbreaking.

4. "Girl, Stolen" by April Henry
"Girl, Stolen" is a realistic fiction filled with mystery and suspense. Cheyenne Wilder, a 16-year-old girl who is blind, is inadvertently kidnapped when Griffin steals her mom's car, unaware the girl is sleeping in the backseat. He's not sure what to do, especially after learning that she has pneumonia. However, once Griffin's dad learns that Cheyenne's father is the president of a powerful corporation, he wants to use the situation to his advantage.

5. "Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes" by Jonathan Auxier
"Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes" is a tall tale about a 10-year-old blind orphan who is a master thief. The young thief is Peter Nimble and one afternoon, he steals three pairs of magical eyes. As he embarks on the adventure on which these magical eyes take him, he may just learn his true destiny.

While some of the more fantasy-based stories may not show completely accurate depictions of visual impairments, it can still be fun for your students to read about them. The books that are more realistic can offer students without visual impairments a better understanding of peers who can't see or have difficulty seeing, as well as students with visual impairments a relatable character to read about.