Category Archives: Kidlit

One of Us Is Next by Karen McManus

One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus

A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one’s been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts. Until now. This time it’s not an app, though—it’s a game.

Phoebe’s the first target. If you choose not to play, it’s a truth. And hers is dark. Then comes Maeve and she should know better—always choose the dare. But by the time Knox is about to be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it’s that they can’t count on the police for help. Or protection.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Public outing recounted
  • Slut-shaming
  • Victim-blaming
  • Sexual assault, on-page & detailed
  • Suicide recounted
  • Alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Cancer remission & relapsing discussed
  • Mild blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Hospital
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Death of a classmate & ex-boyfriend, off-page
  • Death of a child, off-page
  • Death by a fall
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Explosion & attempted bombing
  • Death threats
  • Blackmail
  • Stalking
  • Bullying

Empress and Aniya by Candice Carty-Williams

Empress and Aniya by Candice Carty-Williams

When Empress starts at Aniya’s school, they’re not exactly best friends. But, when the two teenage girls accidentally cast a spell on their 16th birthday and end up switching bodies, they quickly learn that friendship is the most important magic of all. South London’s answer to ‘Freaky Friday’, Empress and Aniya is a moving portrayal of the importance of real friendship and the ups and downs of being a teenager. 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child neglect
  • Sexual harassment

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.

One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.

But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery
  • Attempted sexual assault

The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein

The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein

A German soldier risks his life to drop off the sought-after Enigma Machine to British Intelligence, hiding it in a pub in a small town in northeast Scotland, and unwittingly bringing together four very different people who decide to keep it to themselves. Louisa Adair, a young teen girl hired to look after the pub owner’s elderly, German-born aunt, Jane Warner, finds it but doesn’t report it. Flight Lieutenant Jamie Beaufort-Stuart intercepts a signal but can’t figure it out. Ellen McEwen, volunteer at the local airfield, acts as the go-between… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Suicide
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder
  • Explosion
  • Plane crash
  • Fire
  • War themes & battle scenes

Black Dove White Raven by Elizabeth Wein

Black Dove, White Raven by Elizabeth Wein

When fifteen-year-old Julia Beaufort-Stuart wakes up in the hospital, she knows the lazy summer break she’d imagined won’t be exactly like she anticipated. And once she returns to her grandfather’s estate, a bit banged up but alive, she begins to realize that her injury might not have been an accident. One of her family’s employees is missing, and he disappeared on the very same day she landed in the hospital.

Desperate to figure out what happened, she befriends Euan McEwen, the Scottish Traveller boy who found her when she was injured, and his standoffish sister, Ellen. As Julie grows closer to this family, she experiences some of the prejudices they’ve grown used to firsthand… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Italian-Ethiopian War
  • World War Two

The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein

The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein

When fifteen-year-old Julia Beaufort-Stuart wakes up in the hospital, she knows the lazy summer break she’d imagined won’t be exactly like she anticipated. And once she returns to her grandfather’s estate, a bit banged up but alive, she begins to realize that her injury might not have been an accident. One of her family’s employees is missing, and he disappeared on the very same day she landed in the hospital. Desperate to figure out what happened, she befriends Euan McEwen, the Scottish Traveller boy who found her when she was injured, and his standoffish sister, Ellen. As Julie grows closer to this family, sh… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Death of a grandfather recounted

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbr ck, the notorious women’s concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that’s in store for her?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape mentioned
  • Torture
  • Explosions
  • Physical assault
  • Genocide
  • War themes & the Holocaust
  • Concentration camps

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it’s barely begun.

When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she’s sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution. As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Antisemitism & Nazism
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
  • Plane crash
  • World War Two

Ghost Story by Jim Butcher

Ghost Story by Jim Butcher

When we last left the mighty wizard detective Harry Dresden, he wasn’t doing well. In fact, he had been murdered by an unknown assassin.

But being dead doesn’t stop him when his friends are in danger. Except now he has no body, and no magic to help him. And there are also several dark spirits roaming the Chicago shadows who owe Harry some payback of their own.

To save his friends—and his own soul—Harry will have to pull off the ultimate trick without any magic… 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

Sixteen-year-old Olivia Prior is missing three things: a mother, a father, and a voice. Her mother vanished all at once, and her father by degrees, and her voice was a thing she never had to start with. She grew up at Merilance School for Girls. Now, nearing the end of her time there, Olivia receives a letter from an uncle she’s never met, her father’s older brother, summoning her to his estate, a place called Gallant. But when she arrives, she discovers that the letter she received was several years old. Her uncle is dead. The estate is empty, save for the servants. Olivia is permitted to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Parental abandonment
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Mutism (protagonist)
  • Nightmares
  • Alcoholism, implied
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a brother by knife violence recounted
  • Death of a mother & father mentioned
  • Death of a cousin (on-page)
  • Murder
  • Knife & sword violence
  • Strangulation
  • Bullying
  • Graphic animal death (crow, cat)