rachel @ typed truths

Counting by Sevens by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life…until now.

Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fatmisia & body shaming
Infertility & miscarriage mentioned
Blood depiction
Hospitalisation mentioned
Coma
Death of a parent in a car accident
Vietnam War mentioned
Poverty themes

The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan

The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan

It’s been almost a year since Sila’s mother traveled halfway around the world to Turkey, hoping to secure the immigration paperwork that would allow her to return to her family in the United States.

The long separation is almost impossible for Sila to withstand. But things change when Sila accompanies her father outside their Oregon town to fix a truck. There, behind an enormous stone wall, she meets a grandfatherly man who only months before won the state lottery. Their new alliance leads to the rescue of a circus elephant named Veda, and then to a friendship with an unusual boy named Mateo, proving that comfort and hope come in the most unlikely of places.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Terminal cancer
Death of a wife recounted
Graphic animal abuse, neglect & cruelty, including the use of electric prods

Home After Dark by David Small

Home After Dark by David Small

Thirteen-year-old Russell Pruitt, abandoned by his mother, follows his father to sun-splashed California in search of a dream. Suddenly forced to fend for himself, Russell struggles to survive in Marshfield, a dilapidated town haunted by a sadistic animal killer and a ring of malicious boys who bully Russell. Rescued from his booze-swilling father by Wen and Jian Mah, a Chinese immigrant couple who long for a child, Russell betrays their generosity by running away with their restaurant’s proceeds.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Queermisia
Suicide
Alcohol consumption
Smoking
Physical assault
Animal death
Animal abuse
Bullying

Stitches by David Small

Stitches by David Small

One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the fourteen-year-old boy had not been told that he had throat cancer and was expected to die.

Readers will be riveted by his journey from speechless victim, subjected to X-rays by his radiologist father and scolded by his withholding and tormented mother, to his decision to flee his home at sixteen with nothing more than dreams of becoming an artist.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Emotional & verbal child abuse
Alcohol consumption
Smoking
Cancer
Surgery
Fire

Bright Burning Stars by AK Small

Bright Burning Stars by A.K. Small

Best friends Marine Duval and Kate Sanders have trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School since childhood, where they’ve formed an inseparable bond forged by respective family tragedies and a fierce love for dance. When the body of a student is found in the dorms just before the start of their final year, Marine and Kate begin to ask themselves what they would do to win the ultimate prize: to be the one girl selected to join the Opera’s prestigious corps de ballet. Would they die? Cheat? Seduce the most talented boy in the school, dubbed the Demigod, hoping his magic would make them shine, too? Neither girl is sure… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Eating disorder (anorexia)
Restrictive & disordered eating (theme)
Disordered food & weight thoughts
Suicide & attempted suicide
Self harm
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Body dysmorphia
Abortion
Death from starvation
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a sibling

Deposing Nathan by Zack Smedley

Deposing Nathan by Zack Smedley

Nate never imagined that he would be attacked by his best friend, Cam.

Now, Nate is being called to deliver a sworn statement that will get Cam convicted. The problem is, the real story isn’t that easy or convenient—just like Nate and Cam’s friendship. Cam challenged Nate on every level from the day the boys met. He pushed him to break the rules, to dream, and to accept himself. But Nate—armed with a fierce moral code and conflicted by his own beliefs—started to push back. With each push, Nate and Cam moved closer to each other—but also spiraled closer to their breaking points.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia & homomisic slurs
Internalised bimisia
Hate crimes
Cheating
Panic attack
Death of a parent recounted
Stabbing

The Million Pieces of Neena Gill by Emma Smith-Barton

The Million Pieces of Neena Gill by Emma Smith-Barton

Neena’s always been a good girl – great grades, parent-approved friends and absolutely no boyfriends. But ever since her brother Akash left her, she’s been slowly falling apart – and uncovering a new version of herself who is freer, but altogether more dangerous.

As her wild behaviour spirals more and more out of control, Neena’s grip on her sanity begins to weaken too. And when her parents announce not one but two life-changing bombshells, she finally reaches breaking point. But as Neena is about to discover, when your life falls apart, only love can piece you back together.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Anxiety
Panic attacks
Psychosis & psychotic episode
Depression
Alcohol abuse
Suicide discussed
Disappearance of a loved one

The Size of the Truth by Andrew Smith

The Size of the Truth by Andrew Smith

When he was four years old, Sam Abernathy was trapped at the bottom of a well for three days, where he was teased by a smart-aleck armadillo named Bartleby. Since then, his parents plan every move he makes.

But Sam doesn’t like their plans. He doesn’t want to go to MIT. And he doesn’t want to skip two grades, being stuck in the eighth grade as an eleven-year-old with James Jenkins, the boy he’s sure pushed him into the well in the first place. He wants to be a chef. And he’s going to start by entering the first annual Blue Creek Days Colonel Jenkins Macaroni and Cheese Cook-Off.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Claustrophobia

Exile from Eden by Andrew Smith

Exile from Eden by Andrew Smith

It’s been sixteen years since an army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises forced Arek’s family underground and into the hole where he was born; it’s the only home he’s ever known. But now, post-end-of-the-world, the army of horny, hungry praying mantises might finally be dying out, and Arek’s ready to leave the hole for good.

All he has are mysterious letters from Breakfast, a naked, wild boy traveling the countryside with his silent companion, Olive. Together, Arek and his best friend Mel, who stowed away in his van, navigate their way through the ravaged remains of the outside world.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Alcohol consumption
Animal attack

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

This is the truth. This is history. It’s the end of the world. And nobody knows anything about it. You know what I mean.

In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend, Robby, have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia
Hate crimes
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Blood & gore depiction
Decapitation
Loss of limb
Bullying