Considered by many to be mentally retarded, a brilliant, impatient fifth-grader with cerebral palsy discovers a technological device that will allow her to speak for the first time.

Lame and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously removed from her squalid village to live in the palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the all-powerful Guardians.

Making friends with a mentally retarded boy helps Kate learn that the two of them have a lot in common.

"When Tucker's brother escapes from a mental hospital and an old girlfriend appears with her son and a black eye, Tucker is forced to return home and face the agony of his own tragic past. Miss Ella Rain once loved Tuck and his brother like they were her very own sons. Hiring her to take care of Waverly Hall and to keep the boys out of sight was the only good thing their father ever did. And though Miss Ella has been gone for many years, Tuck can...

Most of the farm animals avoid talking to Fanny, the three-legged cat, mistakenly thinking she would be embarrassed about her physical handicap.

In 1922 Petey, who has cerebral palsy, is misdiagnosed as an idiot and institutionalized; sixty years later, still in the institution, he befriends a boy and shares with him the joy of life.

Emma and her father discuss what they will do when the new baby arrives, but they adjust their expectations when he is born with Down syndrome.