From Wallflowers to Bulletproof Families

Uses of disability in literature are often problematic and harmful to disabled people. This is also true, of course, in children's and young adult literature, but interestingly, when disability is paired and confused with adolescence in narratives, interesting, complex arcs often arise. In From Wallflowers to Bulletproof Families: The Power of Disability in Young Adult Narratives, author Abbye E. Meyer examines different ways authors use and portray disability in literature. She demonstrates how narratives about and for young adults differ from the norm. With a distinctive young adult voice based in disability, these narratives allow for readings that conflate and complicate both adolescence and disability. Throughout, Meyer examines common representations of disability and more importantly, the ways that young adult narratives expose these tropes and explicitly challenge harmful messages they might otherwise reinforce. The analysis offered expands to include narratives in other media: nonfiction essaysand memoirs, songs, television series, films, and digital narratives. These contemporary works, affected by digital media, combine elements of literary criticism, narrative expression, disability theory, and political activism to create and represent thesolidarity of family-like communities--