Woodpecker Girl — Ching-Yen Liu

Based on an actual story, a girl with cerebral palsy feels trapped in her body and unable to communicate. It causes her to grunt in anger, scaring off children and making it impossible to make friends. When her art teacher straps a paintbrush to her head, the children nickname her “Woodpecker Girl.” But the girl begins to paint her thoughts and feelings and her talent bursts through. Illustrator Heidi Doll mimicked the girl’s style for the book, and the girl’s real paintings are displayed in the backmatter.