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The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry

The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry

Precocious Katy Thatcher always knew she wanted to be a doctor like her father. She joins him on his rounds and has a keen interest in the people around her. She’s especially intrigued by Jacob, a gentle, silent boy who has a special sensitivity toward animals. While Jacob never speaks to or looks at Katy, they develop an unusual friendship and understanding. The townspeople dismiss Jacob as an imbecile. Katy just thinks of him as someone special who has a way of communicating with the animals through his sounds and movements.

And only Katy comes to realize what the gentle, silent boy did for his family. He meant to help, not harm. It didn’t turn out that way.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Pregnancy
Death of a baby
Drowning
Animal death

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry

The Willoughby children—Timothy, twins Barnaby A and Barnaby B, and their sister Jane—are fond all old-fashioned things, but especially old-fashioned adventures. What they aren’t fond of, however, are their parents. Truth be told, their parents aren’t the fondest of them, either, and they’re concocting an evil plan to get rid of their children once and for all!

Both parents and children have plenty of dastardly ideas and tricks up their sleeves. The only thing they don’t have is any idea of what lies between them and a happily-ever-after.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Parental abandonment
Child abuse & neglect
Death from exposure to the cold

Gossamer by Lois Lowry

Gossamer by Lois Lowry

Where do dreams come from? What stealthy nighttime messengers are the guardians of our most deeply hidden hopes and our half-forgotten fears?

In a haunting story that tiptoes between reality and imagination, two people—a lonely, sensitive woman and a damaged, angry boy—face their own histories and discover what they can be to one another, renewed by the strength that comes from a tiny, caring creature they will never see.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Child abuse
Domestic abuse
Alcohol consumption mentioned

Son by Lois Lowry

Son by Lois Lowry

They called her Water Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even alive? She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Nonconsensual child pregnancy
Caesarian childbirth
Forced adoption
Shipwreck
Animal attack

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It’s now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are “relocated,” Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be one of the family. Soon Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen’s life.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Antisemitism
Alcohol consumption mentioned
Smoking mentioned
Death of a sister in a car accident mentioned
World War Two

Messenger by Lois Lowry

Messenger by Lois Lowry

Strange changes are taking place in Village. Once a utopian community that prided itself on its welcome to new strangers, Village will soon be closed to all outsiders. As one of the few people able to travel through the dangerous Forest, Matty must deliver the message of Village’s closing and try to convince Seer’s daughter to return with him before it’s too late. But Forest has become hostile to Matty as well, and he must risk everything to fight his way through it, armed only with an emerging power he cannot yet explain or understand.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Animal death
Animal abuse

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Orphaned and physically flawed in a civilization that shuns and discards the weak, Kira faces a frightening uncertain future.

When she is summoned by the Council if Guardians, Kira prepares to fight for her life, but the Council has unexpected plans for her. Now Kira faces new responsibilities. On her quest for truth, she discovers things that will change her life forever.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Misogyny
Child abuse
Suicide
Loss of vision
Death of a child
Murder
Physical assault
Poisoning

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Suicide
Needles
Infanticide
Drowning mentioned
War & battle mentioned
Animal death

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl’s virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction – at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful – and completely unforgettable

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slavery
Child abuse
Cheating
Alcohol consumption
Paedophilia
Rape
Abortion mentioned
Emesis
Physical injuries, including burns
Death of a parent
Explosion & bombings mentioned
Electrocution
World War Two

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism & racist language
Domestic abuse
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Miscarriage
Blood depiction
Cancer
Emesis
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a son