Limb Difference: Popular Literature

The Civil War acted like a battering ram on human beings, shattering both flesh and psyche of thousands of soldiers. Despite popular perception that doctors recklessly erred on the side of amputation, surgeons labored mightily to adjust to the medical quagmire of war. The hospital emerged as the first arena where southerners faced the stark reality of what amputation would mean for men and women and their respective positions in southern society after the war. Thus, southern women, through nursing and benevolent care, prepared men for the challenges of returning home defeated and disabled. Still, amputation was a stark fact for many soldiers.

As a child in a small rural village in Sierra Leone, Mariatu Kamara lived peacefully surrounded by family and friends. Rumors of rebel attacks were no more than a distant worry. But when 12-year-old Mariatu set out for a neighboring village, she never arrived. Heavily armed rebel soldiers, many no older than children themselves, attacked and tortured Mariatu. During this brutal act of senseless violence they cut off both her hands. As told to her by Mariatu, journalist Susan McClelland has written the heartbreaking true story of the brutal attack, its aftermath and Mariatu's eventual arrival in Toronto where she began to pull together the pieces of her broken life with courage, astonishing resilience and hope.

Touching, funny, and honest, "In a Single Bound" is the story of how a feisty little girl from Long Island became one of the world's most famous disabled sports figures. More than a book on sports, this is a gripping memoir of inner strength and perseverance.

Bethany Hamilton, a teenage surfer lost her arm in a shark attack off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. Not even the loss of her arm keeps her from returning to surfing, the sport she loves.

Jessica thinks she'll never be able to run again after she loses her leg in a car accident. With the support of family, friends, a coach, and a new friend Rosa, who has cerebral palsy, Jessica is able to rekindle her love for running.

This is Pobi’s first novel starring Lucas Page, a double amputee (one arm, one leg) and gonzo physicist/mathematician who can distill every murder scene to its component forces and angles.

Life is over in an instant for sixteen-year-old Finn Miller when a devastating car accident tumbles her and ten others over the side of a mountain. The main character undergoes finger amputation as a result of frostbite.

Bucky Barnes, best known as The Winter Soldier, loses his left arm while diffusing a booby-trapped plane headed for America. His survival story first appears in Captain America vol.5 #11.

Veda, a classical dance prodigy in India, lives and breathes dance -- so when an accident leaves her a below-knee amputee, her dreams are shattered. For a girl who's grown used to receiving applause for her dance prowess and flexibility, adjusting to a prosthetic leg is painful and humbling. But Veda refuses to let her disability rob her of her dreams, and she starts all over again, taking beginner classes with the youngest dancers. Then Veda meets Govinda, a young man who approaches dance as a spiritual pursuit. As their relationship deepens, Veda reconnects with the world around her, and begins to discover who she is and what dance truly means to her.

When Charley goes to the playground and sees Emma, a girl with limb differences who gets around in a wheelchair, he doesn't know how to react at first. But after he and Emma start talking, he learns that different isn't bad, sad, or strange--different is just different, and different is great.

Rescue thought he'd grow up to be a Seeing Eye dog -- it's the family business, after all. When he gets the news that he's better suited to being a service dog, he's worried that he's not up to the task. Then he meets Jessica, a girl whose life is turning out differently than the way she'd imagined it, too.

Every time Joe goes out the questions are the same . . . what happened to his leg? But is this even a question Joe has to answer?

After being accidentally launched on a dangerous and terrible voyage, a one-legged soldier finds his way back to his true love--a paper dancing girl.