Kidlit – Page 126 – Trigger Warning Database

The Mostly True Story of Jack by Kelly Barnhill

The Mostly True Story of Jack by Kelly Barnhill

When Jack is sent to Hazelwood, Iowa, to live with his aunt and uncle, he expects a summer of boredom. Little does he know that the people of Hazelwood have been waiting for him for a long time… When he arrives, three astonishing things happen: First, he makes friends-not imaginary friends but actual friends. Second, he is beaten up by the town bully; the bullies at home always ignored him. Third, the richest man in town begins to plot Jack’s imminent, and hopefully painful, demise. It’s up to Jack to figure out why suddenly everyone cares so much about him. Back home he was practically, well, invisible.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Scars mentioned
Physical assault
Bullying

The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill

The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill

When Ned and his identical twin brother Tumble from their raft into a raging river, only Ned survives. Villagers are convinced the wrong boy lived. But when a bandit king comes to steal the magic Ned’s mother, a Witch, is meant to protect, it’s Ned who safeguards the magic and summons the strength to protect his family and community. Meanwhile, across the Enchanted forest that borders Ned’s village lives Aine, the resourceful and pragmatic daughter of the bandit king, who is haunted by her mother’s last words to her: ‘the wrong boy will save your life, and you will save his.’… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Death of a mother
Attempted murder
Kidnapping & captivity
Drowning
Animal death (wolf)

The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill

The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill

Stone-in-the-Glen, once a lovely town, has fallen on hard times. Fires, floods, and other calamities have caused the people to lose their library, their school, their park, and even their neighbourliness. The people put their faith in the Mayor, a dazzling fellow who promises he alone can help. After all, he is a famous dragon slayer. (At least, no one has seen a dragon in his presence.) Only the clever children of the Orphan House and the kindly Ogress at the edge of town can see how dire the town’s problems are… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Alcohol consumption mentioned
Disappearance of a child
Fire
Animal attack (birds)
Animal abuse & injury*

*Explanation : A dog is blinded by his previous abusive owner.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, Fyrian. Xan rescues the abandoned children and deliver them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.

One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism & ableist language
Abandonment
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a grandmother
Infanticide
Kidnapping & captivity
Animal injury

A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery

A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery

When high school senior Kelsey’s identical twin sister, Michelle, dies in a car crash, Kelsey is left without her other half. The only person who doesn’t know about the tragedy is Michelle’s boyfriend, Peter, recently deployed to Afghanistan. But when Kelsey finally connects with Peter online, she can’t bear to tell him the truth. Active duty has taken its toll, and Peter, thinking that Kelsey is Michelle, says that seeing her is the one thing keeping him alive. Caught up in the moment, Kelsey lets Peter believe that she is her sister. As Kelsey keeps up the act, she crosses the line. Kelsey can’t deny that she’s falling, hard, for the one boy she shouldn’t want.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a sister in a car accident
Military service

The Night Burns Bright by Ross Barkan

The Night Burns Bright by Ross Barkan

Lucien has everything he needs: a loving mama, a library full of books, and House of Earth, a private school nestled safely in the woods of upstate New York. It’s where Lucien is taught the importance of living in harmony with nature and building a peaceful and sustainable future. But when his youthful curiosity draws him into town and to Gabrielle, a public-school student living a life wholly different from his own, Lucien’s inquisitiveness about life beyond the commune and questions regarding the events of 9/11 threaten to unbalance everything he thought he knew… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child abuse & neglect
Parental abandonment
Dead bodies
Starvation
Branding
Murder

Goblin King by Kara Barbieri

Janneke has survived the Hunt for the Stag but all good things come with a cost. Lydian might be dead, but he took the Stag with him. Janneke now holds the mantle, while Soren, now her equal in every way, has become the new Erlking. Janneke’s powers as the new Stag has brought along haunting visions of a world thrown into chaos and the ghost of Lydian taunts her with the riddles he spoke of when he was alive. When Janneke discovers the truth of Lydian and his madness, she’s forced to see her tormentor in a different light for the first time. The world they know is dying and Lydian may have been the only person with the key to saving it.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Abandonment
Disordered eating recounted
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Nightmares
Suicidal ideation & suicide (on-page)
Blood & gore depiction
Graphic physical injuries, including on-page eyeball trauma & loss of vision
Death of a newborn son from exposure to the cold mentioned
Murder & attempted murder
Torture (on-page & recounted)
Knife, arrow & axe violence
Drowning (on-page)
Kidnapping & captivity recounted
Animal attack (on-page)

White Stag by Kara Barbieri

As the last child in a family of daughters, seventeen-year-old Janneke was raised to be the male heir. While her sisters were becoming wives and mothers, she was taught to hunt, track, and fight. On the day her village was burned to the ground, Janneke—as the only survivor—was taken captive by the malicious Lydian and eventually sent to work for his nephew Soren. Janneke’s survival in the court of merciless monsters has come at the cost of her connection to the human world. And when the Goblin King’s death ignites an ancient hunt for the next king, Soren senses… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Slavery
Rape recounted
Eating disorder
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSDF)
Panic attacks
Blood & gore depiction including body mutilation
Murder & attempted murder
Sword violence & stabbing
Torture recounted
Kidnapping & captivity recounted
Animal death & hunting (theme)

Hello by Chandler Baker and Wesley King

Hello (from Here) by Chandler Baker & Wesley King

Maxine and Jonah bump into each other in the canned goods aisle of the grocery store just as the state of California is going into lockdown, when everything changes completely. Could there be a worse time to meet? Max’s part-time job at a supermarket is about to transform into a hellish gauntlet. Jonah’s preexisting anxiety is about to become an epic daily struggle. As Max, Jonah, and their friends live together but apart through hijinks, humanity, and heartbreak,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Panic attacks
Emesis
AIDS
COVID-19 (theme)
Death of a parent

This Is Not the End by Chandler Baker

This Is Not the End by Chandler Baker

On one cloudless, radiant summer afternoon, Lake Devereaux lost everything. The car crash claimed the lives of her best friend and boyfriend, the people who had become her family after her own fell apart. But she doesn’t have to lose them both.

The development of resurrection technology has changed the world. Under the new laws regulating the process, each person gets one resurrection to be used or forfeited on their eighteenth birthday. Mere weeks away from turning eighteen, Lake faces an impossible choice… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Suicide