Middle Grade & Children’s – Page 13 – Trigger Warning Database

Lucy Fights the Flames by Julie Gilbert

Lucy Fights the Flames by Julie Gilbert and illustrated by Alessia Trunfio

In 1911, fourteen-year-old Lucy Morelli lives with her parents, older brother, and several younger siblings in a crowded apartment in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of New York City. Lucy dreams of going to college, but her Italian immigrant family relies heavily on her income from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory to survive. Lucy finds the factory work boring, but the working conditions are better than many other jobs. But when Lucy and her best friend, Rosie, head to work one Saturday in March, everything changes. Fire breaks out in the factory, and the doors… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a child
Death of a friend
Fire (theme)

Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee

Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee

For seventh-grader Mila, it starts with some boys giving her an unwanted hug on the school blacktop. A few days later, at recess, one of the boys (and fellow trumpet player) Callum tells Mila it’s his birthday, and asks her for a “birthday hug.” He’s just being friendly, isn’t he? And how can she say no? But Callum’s hug lasts a few seconds too long, and feels…weird. According to her friend, Zara, Mila is being immature and overreacting. Doesn’t she know what flirting looks like? But the boys don’t leave Mila alone. On the bus. In the halls. During band practice-the one place Mila always… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexual harassment (theme), including unwanted touching & pinching
Bullying & physical assault

The Strangers by Jacqueline West

The Strangers by Jacqueline West

Olive thought she’d uncovered all the house’s secrets. She was wrong. It’s Halloween night when strangers come to Linden Street…and something dear to Olive goes missing. To what lengths will she go to get it back? Can she trust the strangers? Will she turn to a new and dangerous magic within the paintings of Elsewhere? Or will she put her faith in her own worst enemies to save the people and home she loves? The stakes grow higher, the secrets more dangerous, and mystery and magic abound as Olive, the boys, and the cats uncover the true nature of the house on Linden Street.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Knife violence & stabbing recounted
Kidnapping of a parent
Immolation

Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros

Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros

Efrén Nava’s Amá is his Soperwoman, named after the delicious Mexican sopes his mother often prepares. Both Amá and Apá work hard all day to provide for the family, making sure Efrén and his younger siblings Max and Mía feel safe and loved. But Efrén worries about his parents; although he’s American-born, his parents are undocumented. His worst nightmare comes true one day when Amá doesn’t return from work and is deported across the border to Tijuana, México. Now more than ever, Efrén must channel his inner Soperboy to help take care of and try to reunite his family.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Deportation (theme)
ICE raids, off-page

True Colors by Lilah Sturges

Lumberjanes: True Colors by Lilah Sturges and illustrated by polterink

At Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqual Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady-Types, being yourself has a long tradition of being celebrated, and no one knows that better than Ripley, who has spent a summer going where the wind takes her. But sometimes going against the grain is starting to feel like she’s going against her friends, and Ripley’s not sure if being unique is all it’s cracked up to be. So when she meets a Zebracorn with the ability to blend in anywhere, Ripley’s starts to think she should take on a new identity, one that looks more like everyone else.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Bullying
Fire

Truly Tyler by Terri Libenson

Truly Tyler by Terri Libenson

Cliques. Crushes. Comics. Middle school. Ever since Tyler started getting into art and hanging out with Emmie, his friends and teammates have been giving him a hard time. He wonders why can’t he nerd out on drawing and play ball? Emmie is psyched that she gets to work on a comics project with her crush, Tyler. But she gets the feeling that his friends don’t think she’s cool enough. Maybe it’s time for a total reinvention…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Bullying
Cyberbullying

The Rogue Knight by Brandon Mull

The Rogue Knight by Brandon Mull

Cole Randolph never meant to come to The Outskirts, but when his friends were kidnapped on Halloween he had to try and save them. Now he’s trapped in a world that lies between wakefulness and dreaming, reality and imagination, life and death. Cole’s hunt for his lost friends has led him to the kingdom of Elloweer. Accompanied by new friends Mira, Twitch, and Jace, Cole teams up with the resistance movement and joins the search for Mira’s sister Honor. But Elloweer has grown unstable. A mysterious enemy is wiping out towns, leaving no witnesses or survivors. And an infamous rebel known throughout the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sword, flail & axe violence
Kidnapping
Animal death
Battle scenes

Crystal Keepers by Brandon Mull

Crystal Keepers by Brandon Mull

Cole Randolph is trapped in a world where magic is powerful and dreams are real. He found his friend Dalton and has survived the first two kingdoms of the Outskirts. But none of that has prepared him for the magnetic highways and robotic bounty hunters of Zeropolis. Ruled by Abram Trench, the one Grand Shaper who stayed loyal to the evil High King, the government of Zeropolis uses advanced technologies to keep tight control. Luckily, the resistance in Zeropolis is anchored by the Crystal Keepers—a group of young rebels with unique weapons… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Drugging
Bombing
Animal attack

Death Weavers by Brandon Mull

Death Weavers by Brandon Mull

Cole is about to face his biggest peril yet. Since arriving in the Outskirts, Cole and his friends have fought monsters, challenged knights, and battled rampaging robots. But none of that has prepared them for Necronum. In this haunting kingdom, it’s hard to tell the living from the dead, and secret pacts carry terrifying risks. Within Necronum lies the echolands, a waystation for the departed where the living seldom venture. Still separated from his power, Cole must cross to the echolands and rely on his instincts to help rescue his friends. With enemies closing in, Cole risks… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Death from lung disease mentioned
Murder
Sword violence
Imprisonment
Poisoning mentioned
Animal stampede

All the Ways Home by Elsie Chapman

All the Ways Home by Elsie Chapman

Sometimes, home isn’t where you expect to find it. After losing his mom in a fatal car crash, Kaede Hirano–now living with a grandfather who is more stranger than family–developed anger issues and spent his last year of middle school acting out. Best-friendless and critically in danger repeating the seventh grade, Kaede is given a summer assignment: write an essay about what home means to him, which will be even tougher now that he’s on his way to Japan to reconnect with his estranged father and older half-brother. Still, if there’s a chance Kaede can finally build a new… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother in a car accident