The Pants Project by Cat Clarke

The Pants Project by Cat Clarke

Whoever wrote the uniform policy decided (whyyy?) that girls had to wear skirts, while boys were allowed to wear pants. Sexist. Unfair. “Girls must wear a black, pleated, knee-length skirt.” I bet I read those words a hundred times during summer vacation. The problem wasn’t the last word in that sentence. Skirt wasn’t really the issue, not for me. The issue was the first word. Girls. Here’s the thing: I may seem like a girl, but on the inside, I’m a boy.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Queermisia
  • Misgendering
  • Coming out themes
  • Sexism
  • Internalised ableism
  • Attempted sexual assault recounted
  • Death of a father
  • Death of a grandfather
  • Physical assault discussed
  • Bullying (theme)
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The Secret of Nightingale Wood Lucy Strange

The Secret of Nightingale Wood by Lucy Strange

1919. Mama is ill. Father has taken a job abroad. Nanny Jane is too busy to pay any attention to Henrietta and the things she sees — or thinks she sees — in the shadows of their new home, Hope House. All alone, with only stories for company, Henry discovers that Hope House is full of strange secrets: a forgotten attic, ghostly figures, mysterious firelight that flickers in the trees beyond the garden. One night she ventures into the darkness of Nightingale Wood. What she finds there will change her whole world… 

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Prescription drug abuse
  • Medical experimentation mentioned
  • Forced institutionalisation
  • Death of a brother in a fire
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The Great Trouble by Deborah Hopkinson

The Great Trouble by Deborah Hopkinson

Eel has troubles of his own: As an orphan and a “mudlark,” he spends his days in the filthy River Thames, searching for bits of things to sell. He’s being hunted by Fisheye Bill Tyler, and a nastier man never walked the streets of London. And he’s got a secret that costs him four precious shillings a week to keep safe. But even for Eel, things aren’t so bad until that fateful August day in 1854—the day the deadly cholera (“blue death”) comes to Broad Street… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Cholera epidemic
  • Dead bodies mentioned
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Animal abuse
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Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani

Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani

Priyanka Das has so many unanswered questions: Why did her mother abandon her home in India years ago? What was it like there? And most importantly, who is her father, and why did her mom leave him behind? But Pri’s mom avoids these questions–the topic of India is permanently closed. For Pri, her mother’s homeland can only exist in her imagination. That is, until she find a mysterious pashmina tucked away in a forgotten suitcase… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Hospital
  • Bullying
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Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

Lately, seventh grader Nizhoni Begay has been able to detect monsters, like that man in the fancy suit who was in the bleachers at her basketball game. Turns out he’s Mr. Charles, her dad’s new boss at the oil and gas company, and he’s alarmingly interested in Nizhoni and her brother, Mac, their Navajo heritage, and the legend of the Hero Twins. Nizhoni knows he’s a threat, but her father won’t believe her. When Dad disappears the next day, leaving behind a message that says “Run!”, the siblings and Nizhoni’s best friend, Davery, are thrust into a rescue mission that can only be… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent
  • Disappearance
  • Kidnapping
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Dreamer, Wisher, Liar by Charise Mericle Harper

Dreamer, Wisher, Liar by Charise Mericle Harper

When her best friend is moving away and her mom has arranged for some strange little girl to come and stay with them, Ash—who is petrified of change and new people—is expecting the worst summer of her life. Then seven-year-old Claire shows up. Armed with a love of thrift-store clothes and an altogether too-sunny disposition, Claire proceeds to turn Ash’s carefully constructed life upside down. While every part of Ash’s life seems to be disrupted, she must protect a carefully hidden secret: She has discovered a magical jar in her basement. It’s a wish jar, full… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Prosopagnosia
  • Death of a mother
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Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche by Nancy Springer

Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche by Nancy Springer

Enola Holmes is the much younger sister of her more famous brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft. But she has all the wits, skills, and sleuthing inclinations of them both. At fifteen, she’s an independent young woman–after all, her name spelled backwards reads ‘alone’–and living on her own in London. When a young professional woman, Miss Letitia Glover, shows up on Sherlock’s doorstep, desperate to learn more about the fate of her twin sister, it is Enola who steps up. It seems her sister, the former Felicity Glover, married the Earl of Dunhench and per curt note… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
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The Case of the Goodbye by Nancy Springer

The Case of the G**** Goodbye by Nancy Springer

Please note that the title and cover contain a slur. It will be censored where possible.

As Enola searches for the missing Lady Blanchefleur del Campo, she discovers that her brother Sherlock is just as diligently searching for Enola herself! Sherlock and Enola must solve a triple mystery: What has happened to their mother? And to Lady Blanchefleur? And what does either have to do with their brother, Mycroft?

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Parental abandonment
  • Death of a parent
  • Attempted murder
  • Kidnapping
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The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer

The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer

Enola Holmes’s landlady, Mrs. Tupper, is the closest thing Enola has to family these days, besides her occasional run-ins with her brother Sherlock. Even though Mrs. Tupper is nearly deaf and can barely cook, she’s an endearing presence as Enola longs for her absent mother. So imagine her horror when Enola comes home to find Mrs. Tupper kidnapped! Who would take her, and why? And what does Florence Nightingale have to do with it?

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Parental abandonment
  • Kidnapping
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The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan by Nancy Springer

The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan by Nancy Springer

Enola is thrown into a tailspin when she receives a desperate message from her old friend, Lady Cecily. Enola knows she must help her friend before it’s too late – but she doesn’t know how! This complicated case has Enola hunting down clues all over London until she finally discovers the awful truth: Lady Cecily is being held prisoner! Enola must risk her own freedom and join forces with her brother, the famed Sherlock Holmes, to free Cecily. Can Enola trust her brother, and can they save Cecily in time?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Parental abandonment
  • Kidnapping
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