"Petey" by Ben Mikaelsen

In 1920, Petey is born with Cerebral Palsy. After his parents drained their savings trying to treat him, Petey is given to the state, where he grows up in a state mental institution. Since he cannot speak, he is considered an idiot, but Petey can hear, think, and feel. As time goes by, Petey learns to communicate and makes friends along the way, but through various circumstances beyond his control, he is always alone in the end. In the second part of the book, Petey is an old man, and he hasn’t ignored his lifelong desire for friendship and family. When he meets a young teen, Petey thinks that maybe this is his final chance for all he has ever wanted.

Petey is a real tearjerker of a book. But through all of the sadness in the first half of the book, there is an uplifting theme, of compassion, of having a positive attitude, of how you shouldn’t judge people, of treatment of the disabled. I would consider this book “Inspirational Teen”; there’s not a strong religious tone to the book, but I would recommend this book to lovers of inspirational fiction.