The author based the story on her own experiences and this is a wonderful, moving book. Confined to bed and totally dependent on others, Ruthie's physical world narrows, but as others come to visit her, Ruthie begins to collect stories and her emotional and intellectual world expands. After a car accident, Ruthie suffers terrible injuries and she is placed in a full body cast. In the 1960s, Ruthie and her family are recent Jewish-Cuban immigrants living in New York City. A thoughtful book that all middle schoolers will relate to. Norah struggles to find out where she fits in and how she wants to claim her own identity. Norah's tutoring pushed her into eighth grade math where she makes friends with Griffin, who doesn't het know about Norah's cancer and Norah hopes to keep it that way. Because of her sensitive immune system, her protective parents don't want her to rush into too many activities and Norah pushes back, wanting to join after school activities with her friends. Norah Levy is retuning to seventh grade after spending two years in treatment for leukemia. Wonderful writing makes this a book not just for baseball fans. His adopted father moves a lot, and when they move to a new town with a demoralized baseball team embroiled in scandal, Jeremiah becomes the motivating coach they need to lift them up. Jeremiah's medical challenge is that he has a weak heart which keeps him on the sidelines. (Note: book covers and titles are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.) Some of the books focus on the perspective of the patient but others narrate the experience of those whose lives are affected when a loved one gets ill. I looked for books to cover a wide range of medical conditions, from temporary to chronic but manageable to terminal illnesses.

With this list of children's books with characters who have medical challenges, I have chosen to focus on middle grade novels.

Soar by joan bauer summary