Middle Grade & Children’s – Page 14 – Trigger Warning Database

Cattywampus by Ash Van Otterloo

Cattywampus by Ash Van Otterloo

In the town of Howler’s Hollow, conjuring magic is strictly off-limits. Only nothing makes Delpha McGill’s skin crawl more than rules. So when she finds her family’s secret book of hexes, she’s itching to use it to banish her mama’s money troubles. She just has to keep it quieter than a church mouse — not exactly Delpha’s specialty. Trouble is, Katybird Hearn is hankering to get her hands on the spell book, too. The daughter of a rival witching family, Katy has reasons of her own for wanting to learn forbidden magic, and she’s not going to let an age-old feud or Delpha’s contrary ways stop her. But their quarrel accident… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Persecution for witchcraft
Parental abandonment discussed
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a cousin recounted
Death of a grandmother from dementia recounted
Death of a brother & child by drowning mentioned
Car accident recounted

Dragon Skin by Karen Foxlee

Dragon Skin by Karen Foxlee

How to save a dragon: 1) Assemble equipment. Water, Weet-Bix, sugar, syringe, sticky tape, scissors. 2) Believe in everything. Pip never wants to go home. She likes to sit at the waterhole at dusk and remember Mika, her best friend. At home her mother’s not the same since her boyfriend moved in. They don’t laugh anymore and Pip has to go to bed early, turn off her light and pretend she doesn’t exist. When she finds a half-dead creature at the waterhole, everything changes. She knows she has to save this small dragon and return it to where it comes from. But how?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Domestic abuse
Grief & loss depiction
Emesis

Soul Lanterns by Shaw Kuzki

Soul Lanterns by Shaw Kuzki

Twelve-year-old Nozomi lives in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. She wasn’t even born when the bombing of Hiroshima took place. Every year Nozomi joins her family at the lantern-floating ceremony to honour those lost in the bombing. People write the names of their deceased loved ones along with messages of peace, on paper lanterns and set them afloat on the river. This year Nozomi realizes that her mother always releases one lantern with no name. She begins to ask questions, and when complicated stories of loss and loneliness unfold, Nozomi and her friends come up with a creative way to share their loved ones’ experiences… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Suicide
War themes

Invisible Emmie by Terri Libenson

Invisible Emmie by Terri Libenson

This is the story of two totally different girls—quiet, shy, artistic Emmie and popular, outgoing, athletic Katie—and how their lives unexpectedly intersect one day when an embarrassing note falls into the wrong hands.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism & ableist language

Katie the Catsitter by Colleen Venable

Katie the Catsitter by Colleen A.F. Venable & illustrated by Stephanie Yue

Katie is dreading the boring summer ahead while her best friends are all away at camp–something that’s way out of Katie and her mom’s budget. Unless Katie can figure out a way to earn the money for camp herself. But when Katie gets a job catsitting for her mysterious upstairs neighbour, life gets interesting. First, Madeline has 217 cats (!) and they’re not exactly . . . normal cats. Also, why is Madeline always out EXACTLY when the city’s most notorious villain commits crimes?! Is it possible that Katie’s upstairs neighbour is really a supervillain?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Animal mistreatment & abuse
Animal hunting mentioned
Dogfighting mentioned

The Door in the Alley by Adrienne Kress

The Door in the Alley by Adrienne Kress

This is one of those stories that start with a pig in a teeny hat. It’s not the one you’re thinking about. (This story is way better than that one. This pig-in-a-teeny-hat story starts when a very uninquisitive boy stumbles upon a very mysterious society. After that, there is danger and adventure; there are missing persons, hired thugs, a hidden box, a lost map, and famous explorers; and also a girl on a rescue mission.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Death of a parent in a car crash
Gun violence
Kidnapping
Disappearance of a grandparent

What About Will by Ellen Hopkins

What About Will by Ellen Hopkins

Twelve-year-old Trace Reynolds has always looked up to his brother, mostly because Will, who’s five years older, has never looked down on him. It was Will who taught Trace to ride a bike, would watch sports on TV with him, and cheer him on at little league. But when Will was knocked out cold during a football game, resulting in a brain injury–everything changed. Now, sixteen months later, their family is still living under the weight of the incident, that left Will with a facial tic, depression, and an anger he cannot always control, culminating in their parents’ divorce. Afraid of further fracturing his family, Trace begins to cover… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sibling with substance addiction

Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead

Bob by Wendy Mass & Rebecca Stead and illustrated by Nicholas Gannon

t’s been five years since Livy and her family have visited Livy’s grandmother in Australia. Now that she’s back, Livy has the feeling she’s forgotten something really, really important about Gran’s house. It turns out she’s right. Bob, a short, greenish creature dressed in a chicken suit, didn’t forget Livy, or her promise. He’s been waiting five years for her to come back, hiding in a closet like she told him to. He can’t remember who—or what—he is, where he came from, or if he even has a family. But five years ago Livy promised she would help him find his way back home. Now it’s time… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Drought

The Forest of Stars by Heather Kassner

The Forest of Stars by Heather Kassner

Left all alone after her mother passes away, twelve-year-old Louisa LaRoche watches the sky for her father. Long ago, a powerful gust of wind swept through town, stealing him away on the wings of his untamed magic—the same magic that stirs within Louisa. As if she is made of hollow bones and too much air, her feet never quite touch the ground. But for all her sky gazing, Louisa finds her fortune on the leaf-strewn street when she spots a gleaming black-and-gold invitation—a ticket to the Carnival Beneath the Stars. If her father fits in nowhere else, maybe she’ll find him there… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Memory loss
Death of a mother
Homelessness

Thirteens by Kate Alice Marshall

Thirteens by Kate Alice Marshall

Twelve-year-old Eleanor has just moved to Eden Eld to live with her aunt and uncle after her mother was killed in a fire. Her birthday, which falls on Halloween, is just around the corner, and she hopes that this year will be a fresh start at a new life. But then one morning, an ancient grandfather clock counting down thirteen hours appears outside of her bedroom. And then she spots a large black dog with glowing red eyes prowling the grounds of her school. A book of fairytales she’s never heard of almost willingly drops in front of her, as if asking to be read. Something is wrong in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental abandonment & neglect
Pregnancy & childbirth, off-page
Death of a mother, implied
Attempted murder
Kidnapping
House fire recounted