Category Archives: Kidlit

This tag contains all books tagged as Children’s Literature, including picture books, Middle Grade fiction, Young Adult fiction, and relevant non-fiction.

The Boy from the Mish by Gary Lonesborough

It’s a hot summer, and life’s going all right for Jackson and his family on the Mish. It’s almost Christmas, school’s out, and he’s hanging with his mates, teasing the visiting tourists, avoiding the racist boys in town. Just like every year, Jackson’s Aunty and annoying little cousins visit from the city – but this time a mysterious boy with a troubled past comes with them… As their friendship evolves, Jackson must confront the changing shapes of his relationships with his friends, family and community. And he must face his darkest secret – a secret he thought he’d locked away for good

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Homophobia, internalised homophobia & slurs
  • Coming out themes & outing
  • Parental abandonment & physical child abuse recounted
  • Domestic violence recounted
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Emesis
  • Minor physical injuries, including broken bones & snake bite
  • Police violence & racial profiling
  • Incarceration

City of Secrets by Victoria Ying

City of Secrets by Victoria Ying

Ever Barnes is a shy orphan guarding a secret in an amazing puzzle box of a building. Most of the young women who work at the building’s Switchboard Operating Facility, which connects the whole city of Oskar, look the other way as Ever roams around in the shadows. But one of them, Lisa, keeps an eye on the boy. So does the head of the Switchboard, Madame Alexander . . . a rather sharp eye. Enter Hannah, the spunky daughter of the building’s owner. She thinks Ever needs a friend, even if he doesn’t know it yet. Lisa and Madame Alexander are each clearly… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Hospitalisation for injury & blood depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Death from a fall
  • War themes, including a missile strike
  • Child homelessness & poverty

Girls with Rebel Souls by Suzanne Young

Girls with Rebel Souls by Suzanne Young

The girls make their final stand in this third and final novel in the thrilling, subversive near-future series from New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Young about a girls-only private school that is far more than it appears to be. There is no one who can save your rebel soul… The girls of Innovations Academy escaped the confines of their unethical school, fought against the system protecting predators who targeted girls for harassment, and they’re not done yet. They’re still not free. Reeling from one revelation after the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotional & physical abuse discussed
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Dead bodies
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Poisoning
  • Strangulation
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

Bree Tanner can barely remember life before she had uncannily powerful senses, superhuman reflexes, and unstoppable physical strength. Life before she had a relentless thirst for blood… life before she became a vampire. All Bree know it that living with her fellow newborns has few certainties and even fewer rules: watch your back, don’t draw attention to yourself, and above all, make it home by sunrise or die. What she doesn’t know: her time as an immortal is quickly running out. Then Bree finds an unexpected friend in DIego, a newborn just as curious as Bree about their mysterious creator, whom they only know.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Blood depiction & blood-drinking
  • Murder

Breaking Dawm by Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

To be irrevocably in love witha vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs. Now that Bella has made her decision and her life seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed… forever?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Teen pregnancy & childbirth (protagonist)
  • Blood & injury depiction including blood drinking, emesis & needles
  • Animal hunting & death mentioned

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer


For Bella Swan there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella could ever have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning….

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Toxic relationship
  • Suicidal ideation & attempted suicide
  • Blood depiction & blood-drinking
  • Motorcycle accident
  • Near-drowning incident
  • Torture & stalking

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob – knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Gang rape mentioned (secondary character)
  • Self injury
  • Blood depiction & blood drinking
  • Dismemberment

Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

Chronic overachiever Prudence Barnett is always quick to cast judgment on the lazy, rude, and arrogant residents of her coastal town. Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when, after a night out with her friends, she wakes up with the sudden ability to cast instant karma on those around her. Pru giddily makes use of the power, punishing everyone from public vandals to mean gossips, but there is one person on whom her powers consistently backfire… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Animal injury

Wires and Nerve, Vol 2 by Marissa Meyer

Wires & Nerve, Vol. 2 by Marissa Meyer and illustrated by Stephen Gilpin

Iko. an audacious android and best friend to the Lunar Queen Cinder. has been tasked with hunting down Alpha Lysander Steele, the leader of a rogue band of bioengineered wolf-soldiers who threaten to undo the tenuous peace agreement between Earth and Luna. Unless Cinder can reverse the mutations that were forced on them years before, Steele and his soldiers plan to satisfy their monstrous appetites with a massacre of the innocent people of Earth. And to show he’s serious, Steele is taking hostages.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Psychosis & hallucinations mentioned
  • Blood, gore & injury depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend & sister
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Murder
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping & hostage situation
  • War themes

Wires and Nerve, Vol 1 by Marissa Meyer

Wires & Nerve, Vol. 1 by Marissa Meyer and illustrated by Stephen Gilpin

When rogue packs of wolf-hybrid soldiers threaten the tenuous peace alliance between Earth and Luna, Iko takes it upon herself to hunt down the soldiers’ leader. She is soon working with a handsome royal guard who forces her to question everything she knows about love, loyalty, and her own humanity.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Blood, gore & injury depiction
  • Global pandemic discussed
  • Death of a sister mentioned
  • Murder
  • Gun & knife violence