Middle Grade & Children’s – Page 20 – Trigger Warning Database

The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon

The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon

Subhi is a refugee. Born in an Australian permanent detention centre after his mother fled the violence of a distant homeland, life behind the fences is all he has ever known. But as he grows, his imagination gets bigger too, until it is bursting at the limits of his world. The night sea brings him gifts, the faraway whales sing to him, and the birds tell their stories. The most vivid story of all, however, is the one that arrives one night in the form of Jimmie, a scruffy, impatient girl who appears from the other side of the wires and brings a notebook written by the mother she lost… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Self-harm
Murder
Hunger strike
Refugee experiences

The Ones That Disappeared by Zana Fraillon

The Ones That Disappeared by Zana Fraillon

Separated, scared and looking after a small child, Esra will do whatever she can to reunite with her friend Miran, who was captured by the police – the police who she mustn’t trust. Hiding in the shadows of the forest, Esra is found by a local boy, a boy with his own story. Together they will create a man out of mud. A man who will come to life and lead them through a dark labyrinth of tunnels until they finally have the courage the step above ground. Until they finally have the courage to speak their story. Until they finally have the courage to be free.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Child abuse
Death of a sibling recounted
Death of a child
Murder

How to Spell Catastrophe by Fiona Wood

How to Spell Catastrophe by Fiona Wood

Nell McPherson is a catastrophe expert, but nothing has prepared her for the impending catastrophe of her mum’s plans to merge families with boyfriend, Ted and his annoying daughter, Amelia. As if that’s not dire enough, grade six is turning into an emotional obstacle course as Nell moves away from her old spelling bee friends and into some rule-bending with new girl, Plum. When Nell decides to tackle the biggest catastrophe of them all, climate change, and campaigns for grade six to attend the School Strike 4 Climate, old friends and new will come together, and along the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Death of a father recounted

American as Paneer Pie by Supriya Kelkar

American as Paneer Pie by Supriya Kelkar

As the only Indian American kid in her small town, Lekha Divekar feels like she has two versions of herself: Home Lekha, who loves watching Bollywood movies and eating Indian food, and School Lekha, who pins her hair over her bindi birthmark and avoids confrontation at all costs, especially when someone teases her for being Indian. When a girl Lekha’s age moves in across the street, Lekha is excited to hear that her name is Avantika .nd she’s Desi, too! .. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Colourism
Hate crimes
Bullying

The Zoo at the Edge of the World by Eric Kahn Gale

The Zoo at the Edge of the World by Eric Kahn Gale

Marlin is not slow, or mute; what he is is a stutterer, and that makes it impossible for him to convince people otherwise. What he is also is a Rackham: the younger son of the world-famous explorer Ronan Rackham, the owner and proprietor of the Zoo at the Edge of the World, a resort where the well-to-do from all over the globe can come to experience the last bit of the wild left at the end of the nineteenth century.. In order to impress a powerful duke who comes to visit the zoo, Marlin’s father ventures into the jungle and brings back a mysterious black jaguar, the only one… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Animal attack mentioned
Animal death, on-page
Animal injury & illness

Into the Jungle by Erica Ferencik

Into the Jungle by Erica Ferencik

Lily Bushwold thought she’d found the antidote to endless foster care and group homes: a teaching job in Cochabamba, Bolivia. As soon as she could steal enough cash for the plane, she was on it. When the gig falls through and Lily stays in Bolivia, she finds bonding with other broke, rudderless girls at the local hostel isn’t the life she wants either. Tired of hustling and already world-weary, crazy love finds her in the form she least expected: Omar, a savvy, handsome local man who’d abandoned his life as a hunter in Ayachero—a remote jungle village—to try his hand at city life… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Death of a child
Gun violence
Fire
Animal death

Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson

Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson

Under the cover of night, twelve-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada, unwillingly leaving their beloved mother behind. Much as he adores her and fears for her life, Homer knows there’s no turning back, not with the overseer on their trail. Through tangled vines, secret doorways, and over a sky bridge, the two find a secret community called Freewater, deep in the swamp. In this society created by formerly enslaved people and some freeborn children, Homer finds new friends, almost forgetting where he came from. But when… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Child abuse

The Violence by Delilah Dawson

Mine by Delilah S. Dawson

Lily Horne is a drama queen. It’s helped her rise to stardom in the school play, but it’s also landed her in trouble. Her parents warn her that Florida has to be different. It’s a fresh start. No theatrics. But this time, the drama is coming for her. The Hornes’ new house is awful. The pool is full of slime, the dock is rotten, and the swamp creeps closer every day. But worst of all, the house isn’t empty. it’s packed full of trash, memories, and, Lily begins to fear, the ghost of the girl who lived there before her. And whatever is waiting in the shadows wants to come out to play.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child neglect
Dead bodies mentioned
Death of a child
Drowning
Fire mentioned

Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab

Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab

Where there are ghosts, Cassidy Blake follows … unless it’s the other way around? Cass thinks she might have this ghost-hunting thing down. After all, she and her ghost best friend, Jacob, have survived two haunted cities while travelling for her parents’ TV show. But nothing can prepare Cass for New Orleans, which wears all of its hauntings on its sleeve. In a city of ghost tours and tombs, raucous music and all kinds of magic, Cass could get lost in all the colourful, grisly local legends. And the city’s biggest surprise is a foe Cass never expected to face: a servant of Death itself.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Nightmares & flashbacks
Suicide mentioned
Near-death experience of a child due to Scarlet Fever recounted
Hospitalisation recounted
Death of a child recounted
Drowning
Fire recounted

Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab

Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab

She (plus her ghost best friend, Jacob, of course) are in Paris, where Cass’s parents are filming their TV show about the world’s most haunted cities. Sure, it’s fun eating croissants and seeing the Eiffel Tower, but there’s true ghostly danger lurking beneath Paris, in the creepy underground Catacombs. When Cass accidentally awakens a frighteningly strong spirit, she must rely on her still-growing skills as a ghosthunter — and turn to friends both old and new to help her unravel a mystery. But time is running out, and the spirit is only growing stronger… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Nightmares
Dead bodies
Death of a child recounted
Murder mentioned
Drowning recounted
Death by a fall mentioned
Vivisepulture (being buried alive) recounted
Fire
Disappearance of a child recounted