Central Kansas Library System

The author describes her battle against polio when she was thirteen and her efforts to overcome its debilitating effects.

"If anyone understands the phrase 'tough luck, ' it's Harrison. As a foster kid in a cruel home, he knows his dream of one day playing for the NFL is a long shot. Then Harrison's luck seems to change. He is brought into a new home with kind, loving parents--his new dad is even a football coach. Harrison's big build and his incredible determination quickly make him a star running back on the junior high school team. In no time, he's practically unstoppable....

"Two years after Brian Robeson survived fifty-four days alone in the Canadian wilderness, the government wants him to head back so they can learn what he did to stay alive. This time Derek Holtzer, a government psychologist, will accompany him. But a freak storm leaves Derek unconscious. Brian’s only hope is to transport Derek a hundred miles down the river to a trading post. He’s survived with only a hatchet before–now can Brian...

"Eleven-year-old homeschooled Katie experiences the ups and downs of growing up and 6th grade--from bad haircuts and friendship breakups to new experiences, new friends, and a new understanding of her OCD"--

"When eleven-year-old Sol arrives at the Ash House, desperate for a cure for his complex pain syndrome, he finds a community of strange children long abandoned by their mysterious Headmaster. The children at the Ash House want the new boy to love their home as much as they do. They give him a name like theirs. They show him the dorms and tell him about the wonderful oasis that the Headmaster has created for them. But the new boy already has a name....

In autumn 1932 Tommy McKnight, a twelve-year-old boy disabled by polio, and bullied at school for his disability--but inspired by Franklin Roosevelt's story and his campaign for the presidency, decides to run for the seventh grade class presidency at his Brooklyn school.

While vacationing in the country, eleven-year-old Toby, a cancer patient, learns some important lessons about living and dying from an elderly poet and her cow.

In the summer of 1954, eleven-year-old Jesse James MacLean contracts polio, but with a friend's help and despite his unsympathetic father, he finds ways to prove that his spirit is still strong.

Colin O'Brady's awe-inspiring memoir spans his triumphant recovery from a tragic accident to his gripping 932-mile solo crossing of Antarctica. Prior to December 2018, no individual had ever crossed the landmass of Antarctica alone, without support and completely human powered. Yet, Colin O'Brady was determined to do just that, even if, ten years earlier, there was doubt that he'd ever walk again normally. From the depths of a tragic accident, he...