Middle Grade & Children’s – Page 17 – Trigger Warning Database

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

Sang Ly lives at Cambodia’s largest city dump, earning a living for her family by sifting through the trash for recyclables and things that can be repaired and sold. On a good day, she can earn enough to buy food for her family. She needs enough good days to pay the Rent Collector, Sopeap—a grumpy old woman who is willing to evict any tenant who can’t pay their rent on time. When Sang Ly is unable to pay her rent, she fears her family will have to leave their shanty home—a place where her only possessions can be carried in two hands. But when Sopeap sees a discarded children’s book lying on Sang Ly’s cardboard bed, her mood… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Human trafficking mentioned
Physical injuries & illnesses mentioned
Death of a parent
Gang violence
Physical assault
Poverty (theme)

The Lion of Mars by Jennifer Holm

The Lion of Mars by Jennifer L. Holm

Bell has spent his whole life – all eleven years of it – on Mars. But he’s still just a regular kid – he loves cats, any kind of cake, and is curious about the secrets the adults in the US colony are keeping. Like, why don’t have contact with anyone on the other Mars colonies? Why are they so isolated? When a virus breaks out and the grown-ups all fall ill, Bell and the other children are the only ones who can help. It’s up to Bell – a regular kid in a very different world – to uncover the truth and save his family … and possibly unite an entire planet.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Physcial injury & illness
Pandemic
Dead body
Death of a pet mouse

The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family by Sarah Kapit

The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family by Sarah Kapit

When twelve-year-old Lara Finkel starts her very own detective agency, FIASCCO (Finkel Investigation Agency Solving Consequential Crimes Only), she does not want her sister, Caroline, involved. She and Caroline don’t have to do everything together. But Caroline won’t give up, and when she brings Lara the firm’s first mystery, Lara relents, and the questions start piling up. But Lara and Caroline’s truce doesn’t last for long. Caroline normally uses her tablet to talk, but now she’s busily texting a new friend. Lara can’t figure out what the two of them are up to, but it can’t be… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Bullying

Dragon Captives by Lisa McMann

Dragon Captives by Lisa McMann

Identical twins Fifer and Thisbe Stowe have amazing yet uncontrollable magical abilities. They’re naturally more gifted than even their brother, Alex, the head mage of Artimé, could hope to be. But when they accidentally use their magic in the jungle of Artimé to strike down a beloved creature, Alex is furious, and threatens to lock them away until they can learn to control their power. The threat is soon forgotten, though, when Hux, the ice blue dragon, comes to Artimé bearing the horrible news that his siblings have been enslaved by the notoriously evil Revinir, ruler of the dragon land…. Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child trafficking
Death of a parent mentioned
Immolation
Near-drowning incident
Kidnapping & captivity
Animal abuse, including whipping
Animal death

You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P by Alex Gino

You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P! by Alex Gino

Jilly thinks she’s figured out how life works. But when her sister Emma is born Deaf, she realizes how much she still has to learn. A big fantasy reader, Jilly connects with another fan, Derek, who is a Deaf Black ASL user. She goes to Derek for advice but doesn’t always know the best way to ask for it and makes some mistakes along the way. Jilly has to step back to learn to be an ally, a sister, and a friend, understanding that life works in different ways for different people, and that being open to change can make you change in the best possible ways.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Racism
Police brutality

Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Six months after Paola Santiago confronted the legendary La Llorona, life is nothing like she’d expected it to be. She is barely speaking to her best friends, Dante and Emma, and what’s worse, her mom has a totally annoying boyfriend. Even with her chupacabra puppy, Bruto, around, Pao can’t escape the feeling that she’s all alone in the world. Pao has no one to tell that she’s having nightmares again, this time set in a terrifying forest. Even more troubling? At their centre is her estranged father, an enigma of a man she barely remembers. And when Dante’s abuela falls… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Hospitalisation
Death of a parent
Murder
Fire

The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S by David Levithan

The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. by David Levithan

Aidan disappeared for six days. Six agonizing days of searches and police and questions and constant vigils. Then, just as suddenly as he vanished, Aidan reappears. Where has he been? The story he tells is simply. . . impossible. But it’s the story Aidan is sticking to. His brother, Lucas, wants to believe him. But Lucas is aware of what other people, including their parents, are saying: that Aidan is making it all up to disguise the fact that he ran away. When the kids in school hear Aidan’s story, they taunt him. But still Aidan clings… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Drowning mentioned
Disappearance of a child & sibling
Bullying & rumor-spreading

The Lost Property Office by James Hannibal

The Lost Property Office by James R. Hannibal

Thirteen-year-old Jack Buckles is great at finding things. Not just a missing glove or the other sock, but things normal people have long given up on ever seeing again. If only he could find his father, who has disappeared in London without a trace. But Jack s father was not who he claimed to be. It turns out that he was a member of a secret society of detectives that has served the crown for centuries and membership into the Lost Property Office is Jack s inheri… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Loss of limb
Kidnapping
Blackmail
Electrocution
Great Fire of 1666 described

Poached by Stuart Gibbs

Poached by Stuart Gibbs

Teddy Fitzroy’s back for another zoo mystery—this time it’s a koala caper—in this action-packed follow-up to Belly Up, which Kirkus Reviews called “great fun.”.. School troublemaker Vance Jessup thinks Teddy Fitzroy’s home at FunJungle, a state-of-the-art zoo and theme park, is the perfect place for a cruel prank. Vance bullies Teddy into his scheme, but the plan goes terribly awry. Teddy sneaks into the koala exhibit to hide out until the chaos dies down. But when the koala goes missing, Teddy is the only person caught on camera entering and exiting the exhibit. Teddy… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Fatmisia & body shaming
Emesis
Physical assault
Near-drowning incident
Bullying

Notorious by Gordon Korman

Notorious by Gordon Korman

Keenan has lived all over the world but nowhere quite as strange as Centerlight Island, which is split between the United States and Canada. The only thing weirder than Centerlight itself is his neighbour Zarabeth, aka ZeeBee. ZeeBee is obsessed with the island’s history as a Prohibition-era smuggling route. She’s also convinced that her beloved dog, Barney, was murdered—something Keenan finds pretty hard to believe. Just about everyone on Centerlight is a suspect because everyone hated Barney, a huge dog—part mastiff, part rottweiler—notorious for terrorizing the,… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Home invasion, off-page
Animal death & dead bodies
Death of a pet dog