Turning the page together logo featuring accessible people reading on a green hill

What is TTPT?

Turning the Page Together (TTPT) is a special legacy contribution to our community by educating, informing and creating awareness around disability. 

Through Turning the Page Together we hope to amplify voices of those with a disability or disability perspective by ensuring books about disability and books written by authors with a disability can be found in Little Libraries throughout Waterloo Region to help cultivate inclusion and belonging in our communities.


Turning the Page Together is an EAFWR initiative that will spark curiosity, educate and create awareness around disability, inclusion and belonging.


Funds raised from EAFWR’s 40th Anniversary will support the new initiative Turning the Page Together – an initiative that will spark curiosity, educate and create awareness around disability, inclusion and belonging in Little Free Libraries across Waterloo Region.

Resources

While we love books, we also love Podcasts. Here are some of the Podcasts we have been listening to:
The Accessible Stall – https://www.theaccessiblestall.com/
The Disability Visibility Project – https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/podcast-2/
Barrier Free Futures – https://barrierfreefutures.libsyn.com/
Down To The Struts – https://www.downtothestruts.com/episodes
Power Not Pity – http://www.powernotpity.com/episodes.html
The Disability Equity Podcast – https://included.libsyn.com/
Access All – https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02r6yqw/episodes/downloads

 

We do not endorse any specific Podcasts but offer them as resources that might be of interest to you. If you have a suggestion for a Podcast to include here, you can use our Contact Us form.

Share Your Thoughts

We’d love to hear from you about the book you read!

Turning the Page Together Book Reviews

We'd love to hear about a Turning the Page Together book you found in a local Little Library. Share your review with us!
Name
Would you recommend this book to other people?(Required)

Recommend A Book

We’d love to hear your suggestions for other books.

TTPT - Book Recommendations

We'd love to hear about a book about someone with a disability or a book written by someone with a disability. Share your recommendations with us.
Name
What's the title of the book that you recommend. You can add more than 1 recommendation if you want.
What's the name of the author of the book you recommendation?
What do you like about this book? Why should other people read it?

Build a Library Community

Little Libraries are popping up everywhere! If you’re looking to get involved and build our library community, here are some options.

Independent bookstores

Here are some independent bookstores we love for filling up a Little Free Library. Your home or the homes of friends, neighbours and coworkers are also a great option to fill your library for the first time.

Words Worth Books – http://www.wordsworthbooks.com/
Old Goat Books –https://www.oldgoatbooks.com/
KW Bookstore- https://www.facebook.com/kwbookstore/
A Second Look Books and Movies –https://www.facebook.com/people/A-Second-Look-Books-Movies/100069939412739/
Rookery Books – https://www.rookerybooks.com/

Amazon Wishlist

Are you interested in supporting Turning The Page Together by purchasing a book for us to include? Check out our Amazon Wishlist for the books we are looking to add in the future. (You don’t have to make the purchase through Amazon, it’s just where we’re keeping our list, but you can if you’re not local!).
If there is nothing on the list, it means we’re good for right now, but will be adding things later.

Little Libraries Near You

Are you looking for a Little Free Library to borrow or add to? The cool thing about these boxes is that as grassroots, community-based gathering places, they come and go pretty frequently! This map features some, but we bet if you go for a walk or roll in your neighbourhood, you might find one that’s not on it.

Donate to Support Turning The Page Together

If you would like to donate in support of Turning The Page Together, you can do so, using this form:

The funds donated to the Turning The Page Together program will be used to purchase books and materials which support the Turning The Page Together program. If the funds raised exceed program requirements or cannot be used as planned due to unforeseen circumstances, these funds will be redirected to our Community Development Initiatives, which are projects that build community, inclusion, belonging and relationships in Waterloo Region.

Share A Shelfie of You and the Little Library Where You Found Us

We’d love to see a shelfie of you and the Little Library where you found this book.

You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin.

Learn More About Community Building at EAFWR

Want to learn more about how EAFWR is building community? Visit our Community Development page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some answers to some frequently asked questions.

Q: Why is there a dinosaur on the QR code I found in a Turning The Page Together Book?

A: Dinosaurs are cool.

Q: How are books related to EAFWR’s work?
A: Way before things were written down, people have been connecting to one another through stories. The best way to get to know someone is simply to ask them “Tell me your story”. EAFWR’s values are community, relationships, belonging and equity. We couldn’t think of a better way to foster those things than providing an avenue for people to hear one another’s stories. And if you can’t hear a story, reading a story is the next best thing! The goal of these books is to capture stories by and about people with disabilities that perhaps you haven’t heard before, and we hope they’ll inspire you to ask someone new about their story.

As part of our 40th Anniversary, which this project honors, we had the opportunity to sit down with the founding families of EAFWR and capture their stories. Visit https://eafwr.on.ca/about/our-history/ if you want to hear those stories as well.

Q: How were these books selected?
A: In February of 2023, we shared a survey with almost everyone we knew asking them for their favourite stories by or about people with disabilities. We reviewed those selections and purchased the initial books, favoring those options that were written, co-written or illustrated by someone who identified as having a disability, because everyone should have the opportunity to tell their own story.

Do we agree with every single thing in every single book (or the podcasts recommended in our Resources section)? Maybe not, but we wanted to honor the diverse perspectives and beliefs shared by the authors, because everyone’s story is uniquely their own.

Q: Are you taking donations of books?
A: At this point, we are not accepting donations of books (we just don’t have the storage space!) however we are working on a wishlist of books that we would like to purchase. If you have a recommendation, please add it to our Recommend A Book section and we will consider it for future purchases!

Q: Can I buy a book to add?
A: Absolutely! Check out our work-in-progress Amazon Wishlist for what we’re currently looking to add. Alternatively, you could make a donation to EAFWR, which will help keep libraries stocked AND support other Community Development Initiatives.

Q: What Little Free Libraries have Turning The Page Together books in them?
A:  The short answer is, we have no idea! The great thing about Little Free Libraries is that even though we know what libraries we initially put the books in, we hope that those books are already gone, being read by people like you and returned to that library or maybe lent to a friend, or put back in a different library. The best way to find a book is to explore your neighbourhood (or visit the map) and see if you find any. There will usually be a few at our Little Free Library at 91 Moore Ave in Kitchener. And while you’re here, check out the KW-LOT or just come in and say hi.

Q: What do I do with this book when I’m done with it?
A: There are so many options. You could…
– Leave us a book review
– Share a Shelfie on your social media accounts (don’t forget to tag us @eafwr!)
– Give it to a friend and talk to them about it once you’ve read it
– Go for a walk and put it in a new-to-you library
– Put it back in the library where you found it with a note or card for the next reader. What could you include? Did you like it? What did you like about it? Did it make you think differently about something? Why will the next person like it?

Q: What’s next for Turning The Page Together?
A: We hope to keep filling up Little Free Libraries well into the future. We want to keep the conversation going about community, belonging, relationships and equity and we want to keep surprising you with new finds in your neighbourhood libraries.

Book List

We’ve been asked about whether specific books are on our radar. They might be. Here’s the complete list of books we have on our radar so far:

Title Author
Why Me, Mama? A children’s book about the disability experience. Catherine Lockwood
We Move Together Kelly Fritsch
Not So Different

What You Really Want to Ask About Having a Disability

Shane Burcaw
The Discovery of Flight Susan Glickman
A World Without Martha – A memoir of sister, disability, and difference Victoria Freeman
Out into the Big Wide Lake Paul Harbridge and Josée Bisaillon
Everything I’ve never said Samantha Wheeler
Falling for Myself Dorothy Ellen Palmer
My Art, My World Rita WInkley
Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century Alice Wong
High Fives and a Big Heart Jeffery and his Fourth Grade Friends
I Am Not A Label Cerrie Burnell
Star Keeper Series Andre Campbell
The Cassandra Complex Holly Smale
The Kiss Quotient Helen Hoang
The Reason I Jump Naoki Higashida
Loud Hands: Autistic people, speaking Julia Bascom
Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally Emily Ladau
Ido In Autismland Ido Kedar
In Two Worlds Ido Kedar
All My Stripes Shaina Rudolph, Danielle Royer, Jennifer Zivoin
Zoom! Robert Munsch
Ellie Bean the Drama Queen Jennie Harding
The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin Julia Finley Mosca
Plankton Dreams: What I Learned in Special-Ed Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay
Different A Great Thing to Be Heather Avis
A day with no  words Tiffany Hammond
My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay Cari Best
The Great Katie Kate Explains Epilepsy Dr. M. Maitland DeLand M.D.
The Power of Disability Al Etmanski
Only the Strong Survive: A Memoir of Infertility, Adoption and Unconditional Love of Special Needs Parenting Ashley Biddiscombe
Aaron Slater, Illustrator Andrea Beaty
Hank Zipzer series (5 books) Henry Winkler
Tea Dragon Society Katie O’Neill
Tea Dragon Festival Katie O’Neill
When Stars Are Scattered Victoria Jamieson
Roxy the Racoon Alice Reeves
The Boy with the Big Feelings Britney Winn Lee
I am Temple Grandin Brad Meltzer
Everyone Belongs Heather Avis
Unstoppable Women with Disabilities Helen Wolfe